To think that it’s impossible to have a 6pm family dinner time?

5 out of 7 days we manage a 6pm meal, I don’t think it’s that unusual these days.

WFH and all finish/get home by 5.15.

We manage it 3 weeknights and at weekends. Dh does the afternoon school run and takes kids to early clubs. They get back at around 5. I’m back at around 5:30 and we usually eat around 6, and then I take kids to any later clubs, like guides.

Next year I’m sure it will change when dd1 goes to secondary school.

When kids were little i finished at 3 and so did clubs straight after school - done by 5 then home to cook. DH home around 6 and we would then all sit down and cook.

now the kids are all teens. I finish at 5 but only work 5 min away. DH wfh mostly but in office he is home by 6. One of us starts cooking around 5ish and eat about 6. Clubs are later in the evening.

That timing doesn’t work for us and I wonder if it’s less common now that’s it more common for both parents to work

We sit down together butt it’s more like 7pm or 6:45.

Only DD left at home full time now and she cooks her own food. So i tend to eat a cooked meal at work for lunch in winter (today and next 2 days it’s a harissa chicken & spinach pasta I made. Usually have with some salad. Then I just have porridge in the evening (trying to lose christmas pounds). I made my pasta dish at 6am this morning! I like to eat before 6, i’ve always liked to eat early but when I worked in town and kids in nursery / afterschool clubs it was later. I’d hate to eat after 7pm

By ensuring everyone is home and winding down from school/clubs/work/gym by 5.30pm latest. No after-school club is worth missing out on dinner eaten as a family at a table (other than occasionally eg tournaments/ trips/ performances).

My dc’s after school clubs that I work around (I’m separated so do certain days) are at 3 til 4 so I wfh that day to drop or collect (we share with other parents) and dd has a class on one evening at 6:40 so it works well.

I start work earlier, finish at 4.45 Monday to Thursday and 4 Friday. My commute on office days is a ten min drive. My DH is self employed. Eldest two don't do hobbies anymore, youngest start at 6.45 or 7.15 or straight after school and he walks home. We always have dinner around 5.30 to 6. Tonight it was 5.15 as I made it last night and just needed put in the micro.

Back in the day before COVID, when I was in the office, I used to batch cook at the weekend

Big soup
Chilli
Quiche
Spag sauce, etc

Made things a bit easier

2 shift workers and 2 7-4's here so sometimes we do, sometimes we don't! It's not an issue

And absolutely no after school clubs

Kids are knackered enough as it is, poor little beggars

I WFH

We eat at 5.30pm

We are like coal miners

How long is your commute?

If you wfh it’s fairly easy tbh. After school clubs are usually over by five and school is ten minutes walking distance.

Well, if people aren't home then it will not work.

But we had days when DD and DS didn't have clubs, DH would arrive home by then and I was a SAHM for several years.
Both of my DC enjoyed coming home from school and not rushing off to clubs every night.

All families are different. I know one where an evening meal together doesn't work but they all sit down for half an hour every morning and have a proper breakfast with the table laid, milk in jugs, toast in the toast rack etc. Our mornings were more chaotic.

Ditch the weekday clubs?

It’s doable - but if you’re getting home comparatively late then it’s an advanced planning game.

On nursery days, first person home gets in about 18:00 with 3 yr old. And gets dinner out of the oven and plates up. It’s casserole, or shepherd pie or jacket potatoes on a timer, maybe add microwaved beans. Or something in the fridge ready to go in the microwave.

We generally have ours at 5:30, the exception is a night our son has dance and our son and which ever parent takes him that week will eat later so we make sure its a meal that can easily be reheated.

We all eat at different times in the week and together, at the same time Fri-Sunday.

I finish work at 4:30 and collect my DC at 5. Usually home for 5:15. So depending on what’s for dinner, it can be 6 - 6:30.

If I’ve made something in the slow cooker or something that I’m reheating from bad cooking, then it’s 6pm. Otherwise, I could make a stirfry or a quick chicken curry et cetera and have dinner for 6:30.

Well obviously it depends on work and routines.
i manage by wfh or doing a split day and finishing off wfh. Finish work about 5.15 and start cooking.
Some days we have it earlier or later and work around activities.

When I didn’t work from home and we all got back at 6 it was a bit of a pain but the kids were younger then and generally ate at the childminders.

Wouldn’t be possible for us for all the reasons you mention. I assume people who do, have a SAHP so kids picked up from school at 3:30, kids with fewer hobbies, and a partner with the kind of job that finishes at 5pm on the dot (and no commute).

We do often eat dinner together but a) definitely not every day, and b) it is usually closer to 7pm.