Food Only in the Kitchen?

Updated on September 13, 2011
M.D. asks from Rockport, TX
29 answers

Do you let your kids take food and drinks to their rooms? Is there different rules for different ages- older kids and teens? I started out saying no to this and slowly one snack here and there turned into all drinks and food going to the rooms. So now, empty cups, food wrappers and empty water bottles litter the room! Mama is ready to put her foot down on this one!!!

What are your food rules?

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A.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

No food in bedrooms. Most food is eaten at the kitchen/dining table. Sometimes snacks/meals are allowed at the coffee table while watching tv.

No tv in bedrooms either.

3 moms found this helpful

S.J.

answers from St. Louis on

No food in their rooms, ever. No exceptions. Just not worth it. If they are hungry enough, they can eat the snack elsewhere, such as outside or at the table.

I am more lax about taking food into the living room, depending upon what it is. Messy popsicles, kitchen table only, for example.

My kids are 6 and 7. =)

Good luck!

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V.P.

answers from College Station on

I have a 16 yr old and all she can have is water or clear drinks (Sprite etc.) in her carpeted bedroom. She can only have one cup or drink in her room at a time - no exceptions. I try and keep all messy food on the tile and only "dry snacks" on the carpeted living areas. My husband breaks the rule more than my teen daughter, and he spills more often too!

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E.T.

answers from Albuquerque on

No food in bedrooms. Same rule goes for the adults, so I figure we'll enforce this even when our kids are teenagers. My theory is that I don't want to have to deal with dirty dishes and crumbs in more rooms, so bedrooms are out.

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

For the most part, yes. SD has left food wrappers all over and food to rot. She used to take milk to her room to curdle til we got tired of finding it. She is 17 now and we still find candy wrappers occasionally but it's much better.

I would go back to the old rule. They showed you they cannot handle taking food to other parts of the house. I'd start with making them clean up and recycle and toss as appropriate so they SEE what they did and why they have a new rule. If they left food to rot, consider making them scrape the plates and hand wash those dishes.

The only time DD can eat in the other room is when she takes a sippy cup of water to bed or if she eats popcorn with us during a movie.

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S.N.

answers from Minneapolis on

Kitchen or dining table only. End of discussion!! Good luck turning the ship around... your future in daughter/son in laws will thank you ;)

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L.L.

answers from Rochester on

Oh, absolutely put your foot down! You'll get ants! :)

For us, breakfast, dinner, and snacks are in the kitchen. Every once in awhile I let my six year old, as a treat, eat a Happy Meal (and this is rare) on my bed, on a tray table, while she watches a cartoon. But that's rare...like, six times a year. :)

I do let her have water bottles wherever she wants, but we use a reusable so she only has one.

The food wrappers and empty bottles would drive me nuts! If you're going to allow it, there should be a rule that everyone has to immediately pick up after themselves.

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A.B.

answers from Naples on

Growing up, my parents were adamant that food only be in the kitchen and never, never bedrooms. We have the same rule in my house.
Why? One night my dad woke up with pain....a cockroach had crawled into his ear and gotten stuck. He had a habit of eating dessert in bed. After that night - never again.
I would definitely put my foot down on this one.

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B.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

For us, when we had kids at home, livingroom (rare), dining room and kitchen. The only exception to this was when I served my wife breakfest in bed for mother's day or valentine's day or that kind of thing.

Good luck to you and yours.

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B.C.

answers from Dallas on

Yes, food in the kitchen only! I let my 10 year old have water, but not my 3 year old.
Occasionally, I'll let my 10 year old have popcorn if she has a friend over so they can watch a movie.

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M.K.

answers from Dallas on

No food anywhere except the dinner table for everyone.

Exceptions are that we can have water anywhere and if we watch a movie we can have a bowl of popcorn with us on the sofa. Also, food is allowed in bed if someone is sick. We can have special occasions, like a party with muchies out or a football game we may have chips and queso on the coffee table.

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S.B.

answers from Savannah on

I grew up in a house where you could only eat in the kitchen or family room. I use the same rule in my house. Otherwise I will be cleaning up crumbs, wrappers, etc all over the house instead of in a select few spots. Now I expect my daughter who is 6 to clean up after herself...the one yr old just isn't old enough yet. :)

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C.B.

answers from Austin on

No food in any rooms of the house except the kitchen and diningroom. Period. Kids do not clean up after themselves no matter how many times they say they will. I worry about bugs.

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C.N.

answers from Baton Rouge on

My daughter was allowed to take food and drink into her room as long as I didn't find dirty dishes or food wrappers in there. I was NOT going to have my house infested with vermin.

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A.B.

answers from San Antonio on

We used to allow food in the family room because it has a wood floor and no carpet, but it just got to be too much of a mess, so now it's kitchen/dining room only. It's working out well. We put dixie cups in the bathroom. They can't take them to their rooms.
My daughter has issues with dehydration, so she can keep a water bottle in her room, but we do have to get on her to put them away.

We tried allowing sippy cups anywhere, and sippy cups would go missing, and we'd find them a week later...very bad, especially when your daughter's drink of choice is milk...my son who is cleft-affected can't have valves in his sippy cups, so by definition they will leak. That is not an option. We did try it. It was a mess.

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A.C.

answers from Savannah on

ONLY at the table in the kitchen, or the dining room (which would be adults anyway). The only exception would be fight nights or football where we would have appetizers and party fare with guests, or popcorn for our movies. It's always been that way, from day one.

T.C.

answers from Austin on

We eat at the kitchen table or in front of the TV(partly my husband's fault because he grew up thinking this is a normal way to eat dinner). Then when he refuses to pick a family-friendly show to watch during dinner, I will let my son take his meal to the small table in the playroom to watch the other TV. No food in the bedrooms at all since the upstairs is carpet.
Yes, we have ants!!! Little ants came in around the windowsill to drink a cup of coffee that I left there. Icky fire ants everywhere because of the drought. If I set the cat's food bowl on the kitchen floor, it will have ants on it in 20 minutes. Long story- we moved the fridge to spray behind it. Then the icemaker hose leaked, we've had to pull up 10 ft of laminate floor and we can't eat in the kitchen at all til it's fixed. Blame it on the ants.

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J.T.

answers from College Station on

Our rules are that no drink outside the kitchen/dining area because of spillages and them not being cleaned up (RUINED my coffee table). Food is another thing, Messy stuff has to be eaten at the table. Other stuff can be eaten while watching TV.

But, wrappers are getting out of hand in my house, too and my hubs is wanting to crack down a little more. I make my kids police the living room at least once a day.

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M.L.

answers from Houston on

The only place we allow food and drink is in the kitchen and dining room. We have an open floor plan so the dining room and living room are connected so we will occassionaly allow popcorn on movie days into the living room but nothing else. Definitely no food or drinks, except for water, to be taken upstairs to the bedrooms. Not for the kids and not for the adults either. We try to set the example so since our kids know that we don't do it, they never ask or try to take anything other than water.

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R.L.

answers from Houston on

In out house no food anywhere but the kitchen. We have an open floor plan so it's possible to eat a snack in the kitchen and still see the TV. Definitely no food in the bedrooms! (except mommy and daddy lol)

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H.P.

answers from Houston on

All of downstairs is pretty much open to eating, since that's where we watch television. House rules are no TV and no food upstairs, set up mostly for now 17yoSS who would leave empty plates and soda cans under the bed in our apartment. That includes no water in his bedroom. I got firm with this because he was at an age where he thought that his own judgment was sufficient and resented my input. (His dad and I have two different radars.) That should have been the case, but I believe that you get to exercise your own judgment when you demonstrate that you can follow the rules that are already in place. Your "own judgment" should be based in the house rules. Anyway, once he moves out, I'll have a better handle on the "house rules". (Since he's not my bio, I couldn't force all of my rules on him.)

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E.B.

answers from Houston on

No food upstairs. I have three teenagers. The only exception is popcorn because our only big TV is upstairs in the game room. Bottled drinks with lids or cups with lids are okay although I try to keep them to just water. Lids are necessary because the cats will drink out of abandoned glasses and knock them over.
Of course, they "forget" and I find stuff upstairs but for the most part this works. If they start getting horrible I crack down and ground everyone from ALL food and drinks (upstairs-I do allow them to eat!) except bottled water. A few days of that and all is back to normal.
And I do give my girls their breakfast in the bathroom so they can eat while they get dressed. Otherwise they don't take the time to eat and the bathroom is the only upstairs place I would allow cereal!
I fuss if I find granola bar wrappers upstairs-crumbly but not wet food-but I rant and rave if I find empty Mac n cheese bowls.
Overall I'm pretty easy going and overall they don't take advantage. When they do start getting too lazy, rules tighten up.

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J.T.

answers from Victoria on

my kids are very young (3 and 19 months). The only rooms with carpet are the bedrooms so no food back there. Also no food in the bathrooms or drink. if they were teens i would not think it would be an issue unless they left it laying around. your a bit further up north than i. but wrappers, plates , cups and dirty dishes with food are what attract bugs into the house. or once they get in the house they have something to live off of. i would tell everyone that no food in the bed rooms only in the kitchen and dinning rooms (not even living rooms) for a month. of course you set your own boundarys. i would also put a reminder note on the doors.

F.H.

answers from Phoenix on

For this exact reason, no one is allowed anything but a cup of WATER in their rooms. Even then it seems like all the cups end up in there! We only eat in the kitchen at the counter (seats 5) or in our dinning room at our table. All meals and snacks are eaten there and no where else.

C.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I don't let my kids bring food upstairs. We have laminate wood floors down stairs, so I do let them eat on the couch once in a while, although most of the time at the table.

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L.W.

answers from Houston on

In my house food and drink only belong in the kitchen and dining room. Period. I do catch my husband eating ice cream on the living room couch, and my tween snuck candy up to her room a few times. I told them cut it out. I do not want pests everywhere, nor the mess of food crumbs, spills, smears, etc. anywhere else. Put your foot down on this. Kids (and husbands) will not be careful about food and drink elsewhere, trust me.

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

Right there with you. We are back to only water. But still that seems to create countless cup and bottles.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

Hmmmm. I allowed food and drink in my daughter's bedroom when she was growing up and saw no difficulty with it. Mostly, she brought her dishes to the kitchen but if she forgot I'd pick them up on my way past her room. We didn't have vermain, not even ants.

Now, I have ants in the bathroom even tho no one has ever eaten or drank anything but water in that room. I strong believe based on experience that ants go where ever they want without regard to cleanliness of the room. lol

For me there are so many more important things to have rules about that eating occasionally in the bedroom is not a problem. I guess I'd see it differently if it were an everyday thing and the floors or furniture were stained.

My grandkids eat in my bedroom because I share my home with a cousin who "gets" the living room as their space when the kids are here. We do have rules for how to handle the food. We put a towel under the dishes and I take the dishes out when I walk thru the room.

They aren't allowed to eat in their rooms at home. Well, sort of. When it's convenient for their parent's they eat in their rooms or the living room. There doesn't seem to be any reason for the change. The lack of consistency bothers me. The kids are confused.

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

I allow it so long as the rules are obeyed.

You spill you clean up.

Dishes go to the kitchen.

Trash goes in the trash.

If I can walk in your room and not know food has been there you are okay.

If you fail no one can take food out of kitchen for a week, including parents.

What is funny is they will go weeks and then lose the privilege for a week. Another strange one was them outing Troy apparently not realizing that would lose them their privileges for a week. After I pointed that out my daughter promptly carried his plate to the kitchen. :)

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