The dinnertime surroundings

There are a lot of things that I love about our home - the loft area with the bookshelves that my wonderful husband built, the ability for me to have my own office, and the breakfast nook where we eat the majority of our meals. I love that little nook. There are large windows that look out onto our private backyard so the view is very green and it is not facing the street, so it tends to be quiet.

While we do take our meals in the dining room on occasion, I feel that the nook is cozier - especially when our cat winds her way through our legs during dinner. (She's not begging; she just really likes us to know that she is there.)

We don't eat out that often, but when we do, I find myself easily irritated by restaurants that have multiple televisions in them. I understand if we choose to eat in a sports bar type of place, but I have seen more and more televisions appear in restaurants that don't make sense. I am annoyed by them, because they capture my son's attention as he eats and he will inevitably end up ignoring us - even when there are just commercials on.

I do my best to keep us away from all screens at the dinner table, and we are pretty good about it. In addition to having us all pay attention to each other, it turns out that meals that are screen-free tend to be healthier. Maybe that feels a little obvious: When you are staring at a screen, you aren't necessarily paying attention to how much food you are shoveling into your mouth. (This is the reason I always run out of popcorn so early in a movie - I am eating it during the previews and don't really notice.)

So, we will continue to eat at home whenever possible and enjoy the good conversation and views. And, when we do eat out, I will try to not be overly annoyed at the televisions that crop up into our views. Or, maybe I'll start keeping a mental list of the places that don't have them.

Where do you eat most of your meals as a family? Tell me in the comments.