Parenting poll: Do you let your kids text message at the dinner table?

I am a 14-year-old girl, though i would like to be able to communicate with my friends anytime i want i know there are boundaries. my family and i dont think you should be able to text/call during dinner, it is a time to sit down and enjoy your time with your family. :)

I agree Chloe...Adults are just as bad...texting while driving, at the dinner table, while their kids are trying to talk to them...I've seen it all many times! So sad.

Sadly, the parents are the example. I went out to eat and saw a table of five adults and two teens. They were *ALL* on cell phones. It was horrible...and this was at a nice restaurant!

So there texting big deal! I dont answer the phone anymore when iam eating but thats my choice...i remember when i was a teenager and the phone rang i would always answer it... Father eats an eye off his kid' and your worried about texting?

hey

It annoys me when other *adults* text at the dinner table - when we're at restaraunts, or meeting up with friends, and someone is texting away, it just seems incredibly rude and inconsiderate. I've wondered if it's just a generational thing (heck, my mother wouldn't let us bring *books* to the dinner table, yet when my ex met his current wife - who is 20 years his junior - sitting at a coffee shop and reading constituted a date for her, something I just don't get - texting at the table, thus ignoring the people you are with, seems about the same thing to me). *shrug*

No. Absolutely not. Not even when were are out to dinner. I have to be the bad guy and make the hubby and kid shut off or put their phones on vibrate at dinner. I find it rude to be out and have to hear someone else's loud ridiculous ringtone and their equally ridiculous conversation.

When we are home, I dont answer the phone during dinner and I wouldnt want anyone else to texting at the table.

No. I always let my children know that there is a time and place for everything, with proper guidance so they don't get hook on it. You hear people said; cell phone is only for an emergency wich I agree. Now People are making a showey display of themselves witht it, in the street, in the car, in the subway, crossing the street without even looking where they'r going, it gets to me so bad that I have to walk with my head looking down it is to much.

cell phones, TV, radio get turned OFF durning dinner that's family time

No way! My daughter used to attempt this nonsense when she was 16 and is now 18. I'm anit-text message mom...She would look so uninterested during family time and her friends where much more entertaining. So I finally said enough was enough. No one in our household is allowed to have there phone on during our evening sit down dinner. If a phone rings they get immediate grounding for one solid week. Hmm...I had to enforce the rule with harshness.

Unexceptable behavior! My daughter has a phone so I can get a hold of her. If her friend what to chat, it will not be on MY time. Dinner is for learning about your day, learning about your tomorrow. I can not do that if I can not get your attention. There are no phones/toys/books of any kind at the table. I believe that goes for adults as well!!

This shouldn't even be a question. I ask YOU, WHY do you provide your offspring with these items? The kids do not buy them, the sad sack PARENTS do. Too bad - growing up in the 50/60's meant being obedient to parents. Now you ask your kids what THEY want in the grocery store and MOLLY CODDLE your cherubs. I can only DREAM of modern day parents with backbone...

Absolutely not! All phones are banned from the dinner table, regardless of the situation. We also turn off the tv and the ringer on the house phone. There is nothing that can't wait for the 30-45 minutes we spend at the table together. That time is so valuable to our family. I no longer have to ask the kids to forego their gadgets - they just do it - which gives me hope that this is a habit that will continue. I resisted getting phones at all until the kids were old enough to be involved in extra curriculars that take them all over the county/state at odd hours. Both kids however, are on notice that 1) the phones do NOT belong to them, 2) are NOT private, 3) are not an "entitlement", and 4) are not for entertainment. It's 100% all about parental control.

I'm not going to lie. My tween text(s) at the table. NOT when we are home eating dinner but if she's out for dinner with us I catch her with the phone under the table or she takes trips to the bathroom. Shes a great kid, who makes good grades and is polite. if the worst thing she does is sneak a few texts them I'm luck. Shes just at that age where friends are important. I think its interesting that people are ranting about it. In reality it happens all the time and I notice more ADULTS checking blackberry's than tweens/teens texting.

No texting, period. Neither of my kids (16 and 13) has their own phone (they have a common cellphone they can take with them when they go out).
No, I don't live in the US, but cellphones are common among the teens where I live. They do chat on-line on occasion, but for a limited time.
Dinner is for enjoying food, company and intelligent conversation with your tablemates. No TV, no phone calls, no texting, no reading of newspapers or books. Just plain conversation. We talk about their day, their opinions, their plans...they're the star. It's our family time, and it will not be interrupted. Can you imagine that?
Who runs these folks' households, anyhow?

Phones are banned from the dinner table. I don't even allow him to chat if we watching a movie together or have friends or family over. Children are getting to use to chat online that they become socially inactive. I encourage conversation or a debate over life issues rather then letting them text away.Online conversations should be kept for when you alone without anyone to talk to or if there's a pressing issue to be taken care of.

Grl4dru and Lila - great points! I'll have to remember that.

NO WAY !I let my kids have phones for safety reasons ....BUT I dont allow texting ..noen have it and they can have it when they can pay and that will be when they arent under my roof.They drive one has a job and the other two dont I mean wat I say about the phones we gave them rules and if they arent followed the phone will be gone for good.
Texting is a gimmick and not a NEED If they get caught using while in school (CLASS) ITS OVER ..they have been responsible so far and we havent had problems....

what does it matter? science will tell you that if your daughter or son is texting at the table, then the conversation at hand is really boring to them. So they find a source of entertainment, and thus the texting begins! and so what? they're texting, it's what teens do best, you shouldn't yell at them because of it. Think about it, if they are bored then you are taking at least a half an hour out of their lives 365 times a year that's 1,095 minutes they won't ever get back and if you do that for 18 years? You are taking 19,710 minutes they'll never get back, that's 3,285 hours! Give teens a break they've already got it bad enough!

Ahh no. Dinner table means talking, no electronic devices. This is the way my family of 5 catches up on our days. It is priceless for our communication. I do not even allow tv, nothing but connecting.