It gets a little nuts, but we eat together every night.  As my kids get older, I am amazed how many of their friends families not only don't eat together, but they don't even prepare dinner.  They just let the kids forage when they get hungry.  Sometimes my kids will come home after spending the evening with friends and they won't have fed them anything!  I think that family time only gets more important as they get older.  (As does the nutritional aspect.) 

Now, if I could just get them to take turns cooking...

Excellent post!

 we need to eat together more at a regular time

Link Textmod*mom

modmom.blogspot.com

But at my parents' house, well, it's a different story.  We have always eaten together, Mum, Dad, 4 kids.  Well, there's been times when dad would only just get there in time, or not quite, or maybe have to have the news on in the backround.... but generally, we NEVER ate in front of the TV.

And once we were all old enough to wait for Dad to get home, it's always been a full house at dinner time.  As we got busier, it could be 4, 6 or 10 people around the table.  Any friends/colleagues/relatives who happened around, were always included.  My husband-to-be actually found the free-for-all a bit intimidating, with everyone talking at once, and so much laughter and carrying-on. 

I miss it.

Probably like many working spouses, my husband works late often. He gets home, on a good night, right before the kids get to bed. I would LOVE to have a family dinner together, all four of us. I know our examples as eaters would help my picky boys be more adventurous with their food. It breaks my heart that we can't do it more often than maybe once a week. But its just the reality. I try and eat with them also but often I end up snacking a bit with them and then sitting down with my husband later in the night. So we cook two dinners, one for the kids, one for us. Not good, not good, I know. But, my husband has to work late with what he does. Sure, he'd like something more family friendly but job options aren't exactly plentiful these days (not to mention he is back at school for his masters too). It is what it is but hopefully not like this forever. Maybe someday!

Caroline

http://morningsidemom.wordpress.com/

Yep, I read all the books, I know how important it is.  I keep thinking that maybe when she's older (she's 19 months now) she can eat with us.  In reality, here's how it goes down: we get home from work and have to throw something together during that oh-so-difficult 5:30-6:30 hour when the baby's crying, the dog's barking, something is boiling over on the stove, and you still have visions of a nightmare day at work dancing in your head.  She's starving, so I feed her a hot dog or whatever she'll eat so my hubby and I can make dinner without her throwing a tantrum.  As soon dinner is ready, she's done eating and is demanding our attention.  We either pop in a movie for her or try to coax her into eating whatever we have.  Typing this out is making me realize I need to change this routine- are there any working moms out there that can relate to this?  

I do love my crockpot (just posted a mean chicken stroganoff recipe), but its tough to find recipes that will cook for 10.5 hrs (long commute).  

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post.  We always have dessert together. Now that its summertime, we take the little booger outside and share sugarfree popsicles together.  Hello compromise.  

Ahhh, family dessert. Now you're speaking my language. ;)

A programmable crock can be set to switch over to "warm" after the appropriate cook time... but I hear you... I've had delicious recipes turn to mush when the day ran long, myself.

--
Mir Kamin
(BlogHer Mommy & Family contributing editor)

Personal: Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Having it all with less: Want Not

Programmable crock pots? Where the @#$& have I been?

thanks for the heads up!

-----

Cindy

http://www.maternalmaddness.com

We eat all of our dinners together now but it was a struggle getting to this point. Before our son was 18 months we did the rotating dinner game. I fed my son, while my husband ate then I ate while my husband entertained our son. It's better now that our son can feed himself and he isn't on such a restricted diet (he was lactose intolerant until he was 2).

I love it. It is the one time out of the day that we can all be together and not be distracted with other things.

--

Karen

http://www.thecommonrheas.com/

My husband and I eat dinner with our toddler (although, if the toddler had his way, he'd simply through his food around the room, while standing on top of the table) but we always have dessert alone. First, the toddler doesn't get dessert. Yet. I know that will change at some point! Second, and probably more important, it is just really nice to share some time with my husband -- alone -- while enjoying something sweet.

We usually have dessert after we've put our son to bed, so it is a quiet time and we can just kick back.

I love the tip about the crockpot -- I always forget to use mine! -- and about having breakfast together. Great idea, especially considering how so many experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Thanks for the post!

-- Felice

The Little Jobber 

When my kids were young, we always had dinner together.  They might snack alone while I reheated what I'd prepared on the weekend, or threw together something quicly but we did it.

My husband and I now eat dinner at the same table at the same time most days of the week.  We both had demanding jobs and we decided to make it a habit and we uphold the habit.

My granddaughter eats at the table with her Mom and Dad.  She'a 16 months old and they've started that habit.  There's also no television near by and, even if she's eating something different from them, they're all at the table and in proximity.

 Like everything else in life, if you decide something is important to you, you'll manage to do it.  And if your ritual is around eating dessert with Dad always, eating breakfast as a family on Sundays, and any of the suggestions made by previous posters - keep that time precious because nothing else is as important.

Before too long, your children will be grown and perhaps living in different cities or on different continenets.  Their youngest days are the ones that you have the most control over - so do it now!

We almost always eat dinner together, and lunch if everyone is home (breakfast is impossible as everyone leaves the house at different times). I was having a late breakfast today and my 10 year old son came and sat with me so I didn't have to "eat alone."

I miss so much the toddlers snatching things off my plate, and the sticky fingers! The funny thing now is that instead of my cleaning their plates, they clean mine. There is NO better time that being with your family around the table!! : )

Over the years, we've eaten dinner at 3pm if that's what it took. We've also eaten dinner at 8pm. Family meals have always been important and I was always willing to work around the kids schedules, play practices etc.

Meals at the table together just tend to be very peaceful, stressfree times for everyone, a chance to really unwind. 

Audrey :)
http://audreyshomebiz.blogspot.com

 I'm big on family dinner time together.  For us, it's a great way to connect with one another.  We also do breakfast out on weekends every now and then.

And for the nights that I don't want to cook, I declare it "Make Your Own Dinner Night."  We usually gather around the tv and kick back on those nights.

Karen

 "Life is too short to pout all the time."

A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Hands & Voices

My sixteen-year-old says "we're strange" in that we have dinner together at least four nights a week.  Both kids play multiple sports and our schedules have to be flexible, but I think the family dinner is REALLY important.

 We do the classic "favorite part of the day" (again, the teenager thinks this is lame) but we get to hear what everyone is up to and hopefully everyone gets a chance to share an uninterrupted thought. 

When either teen invites a friend to dinner we include them in the favorite part of the day topic.  While my daughter is embarassed with this ritual, we've had visiting teens say they appreciate a family meal and some have said, "my parents never stop to ask how my day was."  How sad is that?

Nancy Brown

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/What-A-Trip/

I have to agree that if you set this as a priority, you can make it happen.  I have a very busy family but we eat every meal together.  Dining table, tablecloth, cloth napkins.  I'm just old fashioned that way.  The biggest innovation in our breakfast schedule was getting a 4-slot toaster so we could keep the toast flowing. It's mayem sometimes if we start clowning around, but I love it.

Lit and Laundry

I try really hard to have our whole family sit down together most nights of the week.  I try to cook ahead of time so we can reheat dinners and on busy nights, sometimes we'll have pancakes and fruit.  We always start dinner by telling each other what our favorite part of the day was that day.  My boys, 6 and 3, are always anxious to hear our answers.  It's something small, but a tradition I hope we carry on as they get older.

Me and the girls eat together every night.  My husband joins us when he can.  Sometimes later, sometimes not at all.  The girls fight over who gets to set the table.  That's one nice thing about them being 3 & 6!