To give my kids their evening meal early

[Differentstarts]

I have 2 kids and my eldest is 6. When she comes in from school she's hungry, she snacks then doesn't eat her tea at 5 when we normally have it. I'm thinking of maybe doing tea for 3.30 when she comes in and then I don't mind her snacking afterwards as at least she's eaten her tea. I was wondering if anyone has done this and if it works

They are hungry for their meal though, so whats the problem in feeding them?

When my DD is hungry after school she can't concentrate on playing, she doesn't want to run about in the garden because she has no energy left, and she can be super irritable. Yes they "survive" but they don't have a very nice time and its hard for the whole household to entertain a hungry child, short of sitting them in front of the TV for hours until the designated adult's mealtime.

Feed the child early and they settle down and play independently, and they are more cheerful and able to concentrate on things, or they want to go and play outside now the evenings are lighter.

A small child hasn't developed the logic yet to think "yes I can wait until later on because that is dinner time". An older child yes, but not the age group OP is talking about.

Do what works for you. I've often fed mine early at 3.30 or 4 if someone had a particular after school event that we were heading out to as otherwise everyone would get hungry and cranky. DD2 might be changing ballet class times to mid week at 5pm and if that happens I'll probably feed everyone before we leave

I’ve started doing this with DD; dinner at 4/4.30 and supper of toast, crackers, etc just before bed at 7. She’s 6 and she’s so hungry when she comes out of school; a piece of fruit after she ate lunch at 12 is not going to sustain her until 5.30/6.
On weekend she eats later as lunch is later and school seems to make her particularly hungry

Have you tried a protein- based snack at 3.30, as these are supposed to quell hunger pangs the most? But keep it small-ish, so it doesn’t stop them eating their tea?

Is she eating and finishing her lunch? What time do they eat at school? Maybe consider the content to be more filling? I suspect if you feed her again at 3:30 she will need more than snacks by bedtime.

They are hungry for their meal though, so whats the problem in feeding them?

Are they actually hungry if they've just eaten a snack or is the child just not full?

She has lunch at school at 11.30 she doesn't often eat all of it as I think she's more interested in going outside to play with her friends and she's quite a slow eater

Thankyou for all the replies I think im going to try main meal 3.30-4 and then supper before bed to see how it goes

Most Mumsnet thing ever.

Oh it's totally fine! Know loads of people who did a 4 ish Tea and then a cereal, fruit , toast type snack before bed.

It all works out and is basically just calories going in.

Do what suits you. Keep it healthy and It'll be fine.

And IGNORE posters who say things like "bizarre ". It's not bizarre at all.

I mentioned earlier how we ate at 4pm, my parents still eat then by the way. Growing up my mum was a TA so home at 3:30, dinner cooked and cleared up by 4:30, my dad worked nights so took his dinner with him to reheat for his 'lunch' at midnight or whenever he ate. We then went to our activities, went to the park, or a walk down the beach, then PJS on and toast or similar for tea/lighter supper with a quiet board game connect 4 / Guess Who/ Battleships etc at the table before teeth, book and bed. Having our dinner early freedom up the evening for all of us.

I know eating later is common in many families but I think that's so they can eat together, that's not essential all of the time though, families can eat all together at weekends if early weekday dinners suit better.

I wouldn't get so hung up on names for eating.

A substantial snack of toasted bagel / / chicken pieces / cheese / veg sticks / fruit etc is some people's "meal" .

In your scenario then 2 small "meals" is fine. One at 3:30 and one at 18:00. The first may be more "kid" oriented but then the second is a great opportunity for you all to eat together and they try new foods.

To be fair I basically have the diet of 5 year old so we pretty much eat the same foods anyway just at different times

I give mine fruit or salad bits (celery/pepper/cucumber/carrot) when she gets in c3:45 then dinner around 6:15, she's 7, been doing this since she started school age 4.
She has a snack at that time at after school club too.

If you are feeding your children healthy food, then the hour it is served at is not of much importance. Whatever works for you.

We did not do children's tea at all. They had a snack at hometime - cheese, fruit, sandwich fingers, something like that - then family dinner at 6 or 7 and bedtime about 8.

That would be too late for some families - everyone has their own preferred schedule!

Dc finished school at 3, snack of apple, crackers and hummous followed by cake.

Family dinner at 5.15pm and then dc bed at 6.30-7, if she could keep her eyes open long enough.

Do whatever works for you. Dc need to be fed properly at appropriate times. All else is set by you.

My ds eats his dinner as soon as he steps through the door after school. In fact, I make it and keep it on the table under a cover to keep warm so he sits down straight away and eats. He is always starving after school and I think it's better he eats a proper meal asap otherwise he will snack and then ends up too full for a meal.

Yes I do this! Works really well and then supper (some toast, a bowl of cereal, crackers and cheese ect) at 6pm

When dc were little I worked 17.00-22.00. I would feed them early so my mil or mum wouldn't have to. DH would give them something else to eat in the evening. I can't see a problem with it. If she's hungry, she's hungry. Give her a snack before bed, toast, crumpets, crackers, fruit, etc. She won't be young forever, and her evening meal will naturally get later as she gets older.

I mostly work from home and so my 14 and 12 hyear olds have something like crumpets and honey and milk as soon as they come in the door from school. Then dinner a little later. Or I might do them cheese toasties.

Then I do dinner or supper later.

They have cooked lunches though. So I could easily see a situation where you feed them as soon as they walk in and then have toast and fruit and yogurt before bed.

Have the evening meal early and a small supper later on, do what suits your family.

My little girl has dinner at 3:30-4, when she gets hom3 from school and she's 4 years old.
At about 5pm she will have some fruit or a yoghurt.

My dc eat whenever they like, so if they come home from school/college hungry they eat then, and may have a second meal and snacks later on. None of them are overweight, if anything they verge on being very slim. If they're hungry then they need food, seems simple to me.

I think that’s fine. You may just need to offer something more substantial later if hungry before bed.

My 6 year old is definitely hungry when he gets home from school. He snacks loads, but then we don’t have dinner until 7-7:30 so he’s hungry again by then.