Do you sit and eat dinner as a family ?
If you’re Charlie, a TikTok star with over 2.2 million followers, that answer is no.
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The dad’s dinner routine of letting his kids eat in their rooms was all people could focus on after he tried to poke fun at how middle children are overlooked .
It’s left viewers shocked and asking him to consider changing his ways.
Sitting around the table to eat dinner is a tradition as old as time.
Many Ancient tribes did it to foster a sense of community and there have been plenty of Western sitcoms that featured a mother yelling, “dinner’s ready!” to her family.
Sitting and eating is a way to come together as a family.
Memories are made as stories and dishes are passed around. A 15-year study by Harvard Medical School even found that families who dine together five nights a week have been found to be more healthy, stable, and happy.
It also found that teenagers from families who don’t eat together have higher rates of mental illness, pregnancy, and disorderly behavior.
Finally, eating around the dinner table with friends or family, or both, is fun! It’s a way to “break bread” together.
As in, gather together and talk about a range of topics.
This could be how your day was, a prayer at the beginning of the meal, or complimenting the food that’s made. But as time went on, more and more families began doing solo dinners .
With busy schedules and some teenagers refusing to sit at the dinner tables, parents began accommodating these requests.
This soon led to children eating their dinners in their bedroom or in the living room in front of the TV.
One dad who does this is Charlie, a social media star on TikTok with over 2.2. million followers.
He didn’t even intend for his family’s dinner whereabouts to become the focus of one of his most recent videos — but that it did.
His intention was to poke fun at the cliche that middle children are overlooked.
He showed this by presenting his oldest and youngest children with hot dogs and a side of curly fries. He then hilariously made a sad-looking ham and cheese sandwich (including the end slices of the loaf) for the middle child.
While some found the video funny, many users were more baffled at how his “favorite” children were allowed to eat dinner in their bedrooms alone.
“Y’all don’t eat at the table?” one user asked. “why they eating in their rooms,” quipped another.
“Nope. Kitchen table or nothing at all,” a mother shared.
Another fumed: “I would not be delivering food to their rooms for sure – they can come and get it when it’s ready – snacks are okay eaten like this but main meals should all be together if possible.”
They encouraged Charlie to change his parenting ways.
“Breakfast together, eating out together, dinner together are special time to spend time together and talk about what your plans are for the day or how the day went. Talk to your children!!!!”
For many users, getting to eat in their room was viewed as a “treat,” not an everyday occurrence.
“I’d get yelled at for eating in my room. Y’all don’t eat as a family?” one wrote.
Charlie has yet to respond to the comments. He’s probably too busy thinking up the next middle child prank!
