TL

“This was the norm in our house. It may get old and tiring for the kids, but they are not in charge. I guess I have no problem with parental authority, which is what I believe Mark’s example shows. I do not see any inherent male authority in it.”

Gengwall, 186

LOL I’ve no problem with parental authority either. My brain just saw something else at work there. And the age of the children makes a difference also. Requiring children to sit through a meal and engage in conversation is not a bad thing in itself. If one starts young enough, later on the rules can be slowly released as the children have learned respect for others. For many other reasons, it just wasn’t a good experience for me in my childhood. It’s the other reasons that were in play in my head.

Sorry about the misunderstanding there.