As the kids have gotten older, this has gotten increasingly important to us.
It's hard though, because it shaves hours off of my work day and after the kids go to sleep... it's hard to motivate to work! Sometimes I am not sure how to realistically balance family and work. So far, I've just chosen to prioritize family and am hopeful that we'll figure out work eventually.
Do you eat dinner together as a family?
pineapple / 12802 posts
We do. I guess our situation at the moment is a little different since I'm a stepmom and we only get my husbands kids every other weekend. However, we want to make it a habit in our house since it's not one in their house. When we have a baby we want that tradition to already be established so the boys don't think it's something new for this new little person. Not to mention it's just an important part of family time for us. 
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
No, we won't be able to do this until the kids go to bed later. Not sure when that will be!
persimmon / 1479 posts
We do every night. Dinner at the table together. We go around the table and say what our favorite part of the day was. On the nights I work we eat as soon as DH gets home from work.
Our evenings are homework, dinner, bath/PJ's, and then bed at 8. DH will do work on his laptop if he has things he needs to be working on after the kids are in bed.
pear / 1723 posts
The kids are still nursed/bottled, so we don't have true family mealtime yet, but Hubby and I eat dinner together every night. Right now, it's usually on the couch so it's easier to keep an eye on the twins, but eventually we'll move back to the dining room. I stay home and hubby is home in the 4 o'clock hour, so it's not really a challenge.
We always ate dinner together in my family of origin, so it's important to me to continue. I also like the idea of doing daily 'high/lows' at the dinner table every night once they are old enough.
coconut / 8305 posts
@mrbee: We've definitely been re-prioritizing this! DH doesn't get off work & home till about 7:30 so when DD was first born it was pretty fleeting that all 4 of us go to the dinner table. Many nights DS would eat before us and then go to bed right after DH got home. The last month or so though we've decided that it's better to keep DS up later to have that time to connect than be super strict on his bedtime. (he's homeschooled so we just re-arranged his school time to the afternoon as opposed to in the morning). It's been really nice getting us all back at the table & talking about the day! =)
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
We try really hard. DS's dinner is easier to prepare and DH isn't home half the week. But it's important to me too. It has gotten easier and Cobi increasingly eats more and more of what we eat. But trying to get dinner done before his bedtime is really hard because he will allow us to leave him to play on his own for about 20 minutes before he starts whining. We have a small window of opportunity to get dinner ready!
pomegranate / 3716 posts
No kids yet, but DH and I eat dinner together almost every day, unless he has to work late or I have an evening meeting. My family always ate dinner together, so I want to continue this tradition.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Right now, it's just me and the hubby so yes. When we start having LOs, yes, I plan on continuing to eat dinner as a family. I grew up having family dinners and I liked it.
pear / 1961 posts
Husband and I eat together every night that he is not on-call. Now that LO is starting to eat solids, we're trying to figure out how to reconcile working, cooking, and early bedtimes. So far LO has her solids around 6, and we eat after she is asleep (around 7 or 730). Ideally we would all eat together!
coconut / 8483 posts
Its only DH and I, but we do every night. Growing up my family ate every single night around the kitchen table. DHs didn't.. if I ate there we would sit infront of the TV. I really don't want to do that with my kids!
persimmon / 1379 posts
We do about 95% of the time. It is really important to me both for social and nutritional reasons (our kids try new things much better with us around to show them that those things are ok to eat). If my husband is going to be later, I eat with the kids and then just sit with him while he eats!
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
95% of the time we eat together, LO is just shy of 8 months, we started at about 4 months having her sit at the table with us for dinner even though she wasn't eating. Since we're doing BLW it's an easy way for us to get a break so we can eat, because she is mostly distracted eating her own food.
DH and I agreed that dinner time should be family/no TV time where we can discuss our day. For the most part it's the best part of my day
pomelo / 5178 posts
Yes, we do the majority of the time. DH gets home from the day at about 5:15 and we're usually at the table right after. Our evenings are pretty structured, and we don't get much play time, but we wanted to eastablish family meal times together from an early age. On the days DH is working late or I don't have time to cook in the afternoon, DH and I sit with the kids at the table while they eat dinner, and then I cook after they go to bed.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
We do. DH gets home pretty early so it's not an issue for us.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Yep. right now the baby sits in a bouncy chair next to our chairs while we eat. I look forward to when she is in a high chair up by us, eating with us!
pineapple / 12053 posts
DH and i are apart for M-F and i am usually working on saturdays, so we don't get to sit down and eat. this will definitely be a priority when DD is here and we're back on a normal schedule (aka: DH not being in school in LA!)
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
Yep, husband four kids and my parents every night for dinner. It's very important to me. It's s lot I food cooking for eight but I love the time together.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
Absolutely. This was a must in my family growing up (my dad would wait til everyone was seated at the dinner table so we could all eat), and I have such an appreciation for what he did now that I have my own family.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
Right now, with just the two of us, we eat together....but it's in front of the TV (unless it's a super messy meal or it's BBQ outside. Once we have kids, it will be at the table, though.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Yep almost always, if we're not both eating, we're at least sitting together at the dining table talking about the day.
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