Parents of children under 5 - Describe 5pm-7pm in your house

[Teachingteacher]

This is mostly to make me feel better about my life! Tell me if yours is similar.

Mine looks like this:

5pm I arrive home with DS aged 4, and DD aged 6 months.
5:10pm - DS has a snack of cherry tomatoes (same every day!) at the dining table while DD sits in the high chair watching him
5:20 - DS plays in his room while listening to the Thomas the Tank Engine podcast, DD sits screaming in the high chair in the kitchen while I finish up dinner (it’s mostly meal prepped)
5:30-5:45 - DH arrives home
5:45 - We sit at the table and eat dinner. Everyone mostly eats their food. We finish every meal with a piece of fruit and a piece of chocolate. DD has a few bites of purée to keep her busy
6pm - we finish dinner and DH goes to run the bath. DS helps me bring plates into the kitchen
6:10pm - DH has a bath with the kids. I clean up the kitchen and put on the dishwasher. I also put on a load of washing. I then come over to the bath and wash both kids hair. DD comes out first and I change her into her pjs. DH gets DS into his PJs.
6:20 - We have ‘clean up time’ which involves tidying the living room and bedrooms, putting laundry away, and this is when I check DS school bag for leftover snacks and letters home.
6:40 - we attempt some kind of family quiet time, read a book to DS. DD is usually screaming like a banshee at this point. We finally give her a pacifier that she sucks for 2 seconds and then spits out.
7pm - DH puts DS to bed. I hear him singing him a song every evening. DS falls asleep immediately most of the time. I start feeding DD her last bottle. DH comes out of DS’s room and sinks into the sofa with a sigh.
7:15pm - I put DD down in her crib in our room. She cried for about 30 seconds and then falls asleep.

7:20pm - DH and I look at each other, exhausted. He makes us a cup of tea (earl grey for me, English breakfast for him) and we start our evening…

2&5yr old

5pm kids eat dinner- I clean up or iron at this point
6pm kids have a shower
read them a book in their pjs/ eldest reads a book to me
tv- bottle for the youngest
both in bed at 7pm.

Yours sounds super organised and better than mine and I only have 1 5 year old.
I do get home later though, but ours is just dinner, bath, book and then bed. All the tidying and washing them is awaiting me after a dramatic performance of Superworm has ended the day.

Working days - 5.15ish I collect daughter from childcare, she has a snack in the car (having had dinner at 4.30)
5.45 arrive home. child watches TV, I have a cup of tea, husband rubs bath
6pm bath time. I potter around sorting washing upstairs, husband tidies downstairs
6.20/30 I get child out of bath, in to PJs, read stories and child has a snack or some milk
6.50 upstairs to clean teeth, child gets in to bed
7 I go downstairs, we start dinner.

not eating together means it is not as rushed as your evening but obviously that has its downsides. With the timing of work we can’t realistically eat together in the week though.

Witching hour. It's designed to keep you on your toes.

I think it sounds like you're smashing it! Well done!

I'll give you my evening a bit earlier as we usually start dinner earlier...

• So 4pm dinner (homework just before this).
• Kids then watch TV until 5 whilst I tidy up and do dishes from that and also tidy up school bag get snack ready etc.
• 5 kids play with toys... Depending on my energy I either join in or watch. Read books about 5:30
• 5:45 joint bath time. Oldest will read his school book in bed
• usually both asleep between 6:30-7.

There is a DH but he's not available at this time.

10 week old and 4 year old.

5.30 she comes home from nursery with DP, both of them squabbling
5.40 she has a cartoon and a piece of fruit or some crackers while DS chews on my boob endlessly
6pm I start saying “DADDY WILL GET YOUR ROOM READY FOR BED SOON” eventually hurling a cushion at DP til he stops staring at his phone and goes to do it. DS continues gnawing at me
6.25 An urgent need to play with favourite toys emerges, the bath is run, the shouting begins
6.30 DP gives DD a bath; DS switches boobs
6.45-7.30pm I listen to shouty bedtime through the monitor while DS drains my life force
7.30 DS grizzles at increasing volume at the audacity of Daddy cuddles while I enjoy 3.5 minutes of me time eating, brushing my teeth and weeing before giving in to the howls
7.35 we race DS upstairs and stuff him into a sleep sack and me into PJs, then a final feed (hollow laugh) and he conks out but ONLY if I am right there and stay there all night
7.45-midnight Fuck knows what DP does but it’s certainly not stacking the bloody dishwasher 🤬

One 4 year old. By 5pm, she's been home from school for 1.5h with whichever of us collected her (we alternate pick up days).

So usually at 5pm if it's my day, we're snuggled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate watching cartoons (her) or finishing up work (me).

Whoever did not collect her arrives home some time between 5-6pm. One of us starts making dinner about 5.30. DD pootles about, plays, draws, reads, writes, whatever during this time.

6pm we all eat dinner. Bath after that. Downstairs to play a game together by about 7.10. Bedtime about 7.30.

2.5, 1.5 & 13 week old.

5pm start cooking dinner
5.30pm sit down to eat
6pm finished tea, kids play for 10 minutes
6.10pm change kids into pyjamas and get clean nappies
6.20pm put music on and dance it out
6.30pm put the older 2 to bed, DD lays talking to her teddy for a little bit then falls asleep, DS pretend his cot is a trampoline for half hour then eventually falls asleep
7pm get youngest ready for bed, get her bottles ready once she needs one during the night (very rare she wakes during the night now but like to have at least 2 clean and ready to use just in case), do dishes from tea and put a load of laundry on while DH takes the dogs out,
7.30pm give dogs their tea, I take Baby upstairs, give her a bottle in our bed and then put her in her cot and lay phone while she falls asleep then I come back downstairs and we usually watch a film or DH plays his PlayStation while I do some cross stitch or read a book.

One DS, almost 3yrs old. On days we both work DS is in nursery. He has tea there so doesn't eat again at home. Typical routine -

5.55pm - DP collects DS from nursery.
6-6.15 ish - they walk home (10min walk but can take more than double that if DS refuses to get in pram and wants to walk).
6.15-6.45 - DS has cup of milk, plays with toys or watches cartoon with DP.
6.45 ish - I get home from work, get changed, chat with DP and DS, run bath.
7.10-7.30 - I give DS a bath, meanwhile DP starts prepping dinner.
7.30-7.50 - I take DS into his room wrapped in towel, dry him and get his pyjamas on and then read him a couple of books. DP will pop up to say goodnight.
8 ish - DS usually in bed by 8. I head downstairs and DP has dinner ready and we eat together.

We only do bath ever 2nd night. Done nights everything runs later but the above is our ideal. It feels pretty easy and stress-free currently as DS is going to bed easily. Was more stressful when it took several attempts to settle him.

Loved that @bussteward, quite similar to mine.

4yo, 8mo

4pm - I jam DS in high chair, he shouts while I start cooking, checking periodically whether DH has left the office/is at nursery yet to time my cooking
4.45 - DH and DD home, drop things on floor. Sometimes ask DH to do a job like putting laundry out before tea
5pm - everyone has tea together
5.15-6.30 - DD watches tv, I hide in the kitchen tidying for a bit because if DS can hear or see me he shouts for me. DH stares at phone while holding or ignoring baby.
6.30 - bath and bedtime routine for children. DH leaves all their clothes and DS’s nappy just slung on the landing. I put pyjamas on and brush my teeth/wash face.
6.55 - I get into bed with boob monster DS who probably won’t let me leave once he’s asleep and pray the ipad is charged so I can watch some grisly crime drama until I fall asleep while DH either works on his laptop on the sofa or eats everything in the fridge and watches tv.

Really interesting reading the different routines. Two things strike me that differ for us compared to some others - if you'd asked me when DS was less than 4mths the answer would have been breast feed for me and my DP doing everything else. Feeding was truly relentless for us at that stage.

And for us bath time has always been the very end of the day. DS always goes straight to his room after bath, we read him some books, then bed. Never goes back downstairs after bath. For me that would double the work as convincing him to leave his toys to come upstairs is often a battle - don't want to have to do that twice!

We get home at 5.30; DS has had dinner at childcare so has a snack of some kind. DD has had a hot lunch and tea at 4ish so has a snack of pasta/toast/omelette.
while they’re eating I might do the packed lunch for the next day or tidy up the kitchen or try to have a peaceful cup of tea.
Once they’re finished I try to have some “nice” time with them, play together etc.
On baths nights I take them up at 6.45 and if not at 7 and they’re in bed by 7.30/7.40 while DH cooks dinner for about 8ish.
We tried eating earlier all together or even us eating while they played but it never worked and I prefer to enjoy my dinner.
I squeeze the washing into the morning so don’t have to do it in the evenings

We tried eating earlier all together or even us eating while they played but it never worked and I prefer to enjoy my dinner I echo this, eating with young children every night is a hassle, wasting the time that I can do something productive and I can never enjoy my food, I’m rushing it down.

This is my experience too

Daughter 3yrs comes home from preschool at 3pm so from 3-5 mixture of Tv, play, reading etc. at 4:30 ish I'll prep food. (I'm a SAHM) My husband finishes work at 5 (wfh) and he comes down and we all eat at 5. Then we clear up from food and play as a family until either 6pm (bath time every 3rd day) or 6:30pm on none bath nights. My husband does bath time. Then she'd get into her PJ's, teeth etc and bed by 7pm.

@drainedofalllife Yes! The clothes all over the landing! Why?! We have laundry hampers right there, and a bathroom bin. He never hangs the flannel up to dry either, it’s always balled at the bottom of the bath.

2.5 year old and 8 month old. I’m off mat leave atm.

5/5.30 dinner time
6pm bath
DH gets home around 6.15 so we do into pjs and then I breastfeed 8 month old and put to sleep and DH takes 2.5 year old for bottle and stories for bed and sleep.

usually both down by 7.30 latest so we have the evening (by that I mean 1 hour before DH falls asleep on sofa and baby wakes every 45mins. I also do the tidying and cleaning and put a wash on then so really not much time left)!

Fucking. Manic.

Sameeeee. But then I find us eating so late as DD1 (2y) sleeps around 8.30pm. It would be earlier but she's still transitioning to no naps.

5.30ish - pick up almost-3yo from nursery, walk to bus stop in town
6.01 - turns out bus is late again
6.15ish - get on bus. Ply child with snacks.
6.45ish - get home. Attempt to interest snack-filled child in dinner. Compromise on 'sandwiches and apples' or a bowl of rice krispies.
8.30ish - drag protesting child up to bed. (Always been a night owl. Which makes getting him up at 6.30am all the more fun...)
9ish - he goes to sleep

1&2 yo here.

I collect from nursery at 5 and we just Potter about while DH cooks dinner. They’ve already eaten in nursery so just have a snack while we eat our tea.

I do bathtime while DH tidies kitchen and runs dishwasher and a load of washing.

I get 1yo old out of the bath at 6:30pm and hand him over to DH who puts him to bed. 2yo old and I just Potter about his room and read books or play until 7:15 bedtime. DH usually joins us.

Then we both do a workout and agree to meet up in the living room for 9pm ready for one episode of something and bedtime.

I’m a single mum, 3 DCs ages 7, 6 and 3.
I pick up from after school club/nursery at 4pm. Kids get there chill/tv time when we get home.
Dinner all together at 5.

Posted too soon 🤦🏻‍♀️😂
Eldest DD has recently decided she likes loading the dishwasher, so she does that while I clean the table/floor, and DS and youngest DD play.
5:45pm bath time for everyone.
6:15pm back downstairs for school reading books.
7pm everyone upstairs for a bedtime story.
DDs share a bedroom, so youngest DD goes straight to sleep, but eldest DD reads with a little reading lamp on until 7:30ish.
DS does the same in his bedroom.

Another one for not eating with the whingy fuckers.

Five yo, 1yo twins.

Around 4pm we get home from school. The older one watches a bit of TV, the little ones "watch" / play with their toys. I go to the kitchen and prep their dinner. It is ALWAYS something easy/made earlier/ready - eg pasta with meatballs and veg stirred in, omelette with veg sticks and sandwich. Food sits there, ready, cooling down. I put the cups/bibs/whatever on the dining table/high chairs. Dessert is always banana or yoghurt. TBH this is sometimes when I eat my dinner - standing, in the kitchen, at speed. Still preferable to the alternative.

4.30 - hang out together in the living room. TV off, we'll build Duplo together or read. If they are cooperating I might leave them to it to do a chore.

5pm - they eat dinner.

5.30 (or earlier) - finish dinner, wipe everyone down and back to the living room. I tend to leave them to it to tidy table a bit, maybe a few dishes, get milk bottles ready.

6pm - DH home if I'm lucky. I'll vanish upstairs.

6.30 - baths for younger two, older one watches a bit of TV then reads with us and has her own bath.

7pm - all in bed.

The trick is staying out as long/late as possible imo.

We have a 19m old. Husband picks up from nursery and they’re home at 1810.
1810- I get the fruit and cheese ready
1815- toddler runs in for hugs and grabs the food bowl and we sit at the table chatting/babbling
1830- I get dragged into the play room for block/train games
1900- husband does bath/story/bed
1900- I chill for a bit, finish off some work, sometimes with a glass of wine
2000- I start cooking
2100- we eat, have a chat, then either listen to music, watch tv, etc
2230/2300- get ready for bed

i love our evenings on weekdays. Weekends are a bit different, but don’t really feel disrupted with no routine. Tend to eat breakfast and lunch together and then have dinner once the toddler is in bed, usually something more special on a weekend.