What determines where people sit when "sitting down to meal"???

I believe it is random. Though I have noticed that the 2 people sitting on the short section of the table take longer to finish than the 3 on the long side.

JordanFall, I think (if VF), for example, a girl will sit somewhere. If you pick her up and put her down, she will go to the same spot. Maybe in a while, it'll change, but that's what I got.

Yeah I realised that even if you pick them up and drop them they go back to the same place.
I was trying to move my dad from sitting in the chair with no plate even though only 2 people live in the house.
Now there is a little girl and mum and dad still sit in the same place.

I found that Mom and Dad always go to the same chair,everytime they eat.

If another peep is already sitting in the "favored" chair then the peep will go sit at a different spot.

Some of my people sit down to a meal, but have no meal in front of them Why do some seats get left out? In some cases i havnt had enough seats for the whole family to sit down!

the table only gets set for 4 the 5th still eats their fill when you have more than 5 people you have to eat in shifts get the first 5 to the table the 3 non veggie plates eat quickly which lets you get the remaining ones to the table and they usually finish about the same time as the veggie eaters do.

When a kid will be around 14, he/she could have to

If you really want to see a 5th plate you can download this mod. I personally have the fruit bowl on each of my Virtual Families tables.