I don't know how it is at your household, but in my family, everyone has a specific "place" at the dinner table. The only time people sit in a different spot is when someone has a friend over, and the kids adjust so that the visitor can sit beside their friend.  It pretty much happens automatically, so we've really never made much of it.

My eight-year-old noticed, the last time his friend was invited to eat dinner with us, that we rearranged our traditional spots so his friend could be next to him.  I guess it just never occurred to him before.

"My friend is in my sister's seat," he said to me as we all brought our dinner plates to the table.

"That's OK.  That's where I told him to sit, so he'd be next to you at dinner."

"Do you think Miss Freshman is going to be OK with that?"

(For the record, she survived.)

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