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

I used to be starving after school and be thrilled if we had tea at 4 or 4.30. I say go for it! You can always do a light supper later if needed.

My mum always gave us tea after school as dad didn't get home until after 6. A piece of fruit doesn't cut it when you're 'starving'! She then ate hers with dad later. I will always appreciate that.

We've always done dinner as soon as we get home. Then supper before bed if hungry, sometimes they're not.

We have tea around 4/4.30 on a school day.
Kids are too tired and hungry to wait. Especially when they have lunch at school around 12. So it is a good 4+ hours since they had eaten. They do snack before bed, usually fruit. But atleast I know they have eaten their main meal.

Just do whatever works for you. By the time my dc were in school, we all ate together at 6. That’s the earliest I could make dinner, getting home from work at 5ish. 3 days a week they were at the childminders and the other 2 days we were at activities - either way they had a big snack at 3.30 then dinner at 6. But that’s what worked for us - if you don’t eat together anyway it doesn’t matter if their tea is earlier.

Do it. Give them their main meal when they are hungry for it and a light snack before bed if they want one.

As they get older, their appetite will change. But for now, if this is what they want and need, it sounds like a good plan.

My DC eat dinner with their Nanny when they are home from school, around 4pm. I have dinner around 6pm, when I get home from work. If the DC are feeling hungry in the evening, they eat fruit, and it's absolutely fine.

My DC (6 and 7) were similar; now I've started giving them a small plate with a more substantial snack with protein when we get in around 3.45, then that's it until dinner at 5.30.

So for example, a Warburton's wholemeal thin with peanut butter, a banana and carrot sticks... Or bread sticks and hummus, fruit and veg.

That usually does the trick.

Just do whatever works for you & them & don't worry about anyone else.

Exactly. When my son and DIL both worked in hospitality they and the children would eat together at 16.00, as by 17.00 one or other had open up the business. The children would later have toast, fruit, cheese, whatever before bed, and the adults would also snack later.

Whatever suits you and your children.

My younger 2 have always had dinner early, they then have a snack later on if they want one

I really appreciate the replies. I understand their my kids and I can make the decisions but as a young single mum it's nice to have reassurance from other mums to know im doing the right thing by them

If you do an early dinner won’t she be hungry during the night? We do cheese, crackers and fruit at 3.30pm and dinner is also at 5pm here. If he tells me he’s hungry before then I tell him to wait until dinner. He just turned 7 but that has always been the rule since forever. We don’t snack between meals and if he’s that hungry he can have two servings at dinner.

It will be the same amount of food just the opposite way round but this way she actually eats her main meal

That's exactly what I had as a kid - dinner at 4, supper at 7 before bed (toast/cheese and hot chocolate for supper)

I think you are doing fine. Just feed them at a timetable that suits your timetable. One of my favourite sayings ever (on MN and I have a disabled child who was exceptionally challenging when he was young) 'everybody's fed, nobody's dead.'

Food is just food. It doesn't matter when it's eaten. Work with what is best for your DC.

My boys are always starving when they come in from school. They have a piece of fruit or a biscuit and I cook tea for 4.30. Sometimes they will want a little snack before bed (crumpet, banana) but not always. We can’t eat later as baby DD goes to bed at 6 so 4.30 works well for us.

I’d do a snack at 3.30 and dinner around 4-4.30 else I encounter the same problem of lots of less nutritious snacks then not wanting to eat dinner at 5.30

5pm is early to eat an evening meal,
Even at 6.
Give her an after school snack and then you can all eat together later.

3:30 seems too early to me but then I know nurseries around here feed dinner at 3:30-4:30. Could you compromise with 4 pm, let her eat an apple and tell her it's just half a hour, then cereal or toast later.

I am an adult like to eat as soon as I get home from work as I'm hungry then and otherwise I would snack when actually I just need my meal and then I'm fine so feed her earlier if that works for you and the best way to get her to eat a nutritious meal.

Then after the piece of fruit she's still saying she's hungry

And what's wrong with being hungry? She's not by ping to starve.

I think if she is really hungry then feed her the main meal early. She could then have a small supper before bed toast/cereal etc. It's better than snacking and ruining her appetite IMO. Or depending on what time the adults eat maybe you could give her a small portion of the adult dinner later too? I sometimes do this with my preschooler.

I used to have my dinner as soon as I got home from school. Would then have snacks and a bowl of cheerios or something before bed.

Not sure why someone used the word 'bizarre' for this 🤣

When mine was in nursery I used to do dinner soon as we got in about 4:30 as she was too tired to eat all her dinner when I had my dinner. Just be aware I've set mine up to have a snack before bed forever I think now. 10 years later still snack before bed even though we all have dinner together. Try offering a drink after her snack as sometimes hunger isn't hunger it's actually thirst.

I like to do dinner as early as possible for my kids. Between 4 and 4:30. Then it's all done, we're all nicely fed and tidied away. Homework gets done and we all have sandwhiches or cereal / light snacks before bed if we're hungry.

I hate tidying up at the end of the day when I'm tired. By 5:30 dinner is done and the kitchen is clean. X