If you have teens, what time do you all eat dinner/ supper?

[LesFlamandes]

We have (lovely!) friends staying with their three teen boys at the moment. Comparing notes, she likes to have everyone fed and the kitchen cleared by 6pm. I know her boys often head out to activities after that or do later homework. I’m very impressed by her organisational skills, but we never eat before 7-8pm (DH home at 7.45 3 nights a week so then it’s 8.) We tend to cook from scratch, and there is ‘gouter’ for hungry teens when they get in from school (both my own and any randoms that turn up.) DC13 and 15 have generally done after school clubs/ sports/ music practice/ homework/ tutoring by supper time and we love to just flop and relax with TV, games or hobbies (expect one evening when DD and I go to choir practice at 8.)

I’m just being nosey and wondering what other people do to manage the dinner time juggle.

I’m the same as your friend, all fed and cleaned up by 6 at the latest - usually 5.30. All eat together then the night is free, the teens normally have supper/snack at about 9. this is only possible for us because of wfh, we cook from scratch every night

We usually eat 6-6.30pm, I have a 9 & 13 year old

Anywhere from 7.00 to 9.30pm!

5pm to 6pm. Eating late is bad for you!!

I’m in the unenviable position of having teens out to clubs, a very hangry preteen and a toddler so we eat at 5pm usually. Teen sometimes has more later like a bagel or something

we usually aim for between 6pm. It does slip a bit but no later than 7pm.

It's like a retirement community early bird special in here! Hate eating dinner before 8/9 makes me feel like I'm in an institution. My mum could happily have hers at 5 (ugh).

Depends a bit if we are all eating together but I’d say around 6-7. Used to be that the children ate earlier but we ate 8ish.

Normally between 7-8, depending on the night

We eat about 6. It will be 6.30pm tonight as DS is working a bit later.

I'd either be utterly starving by 8pm or have lost all interest in it. I'm usually in bed by 9pm these days.

Same here. My eldest is 20 now so it depends on her shifts as well as she's often working until 8.30pm so depending on what we're eating it's easier to just make it for when she's home. She also goes to drum lessons once a week so on those days we eat when she gets back.

I go to Pilates once a week, yoga once a week and volunteer in a local theatre where I can be out up to 3 times a week, sometimes more during a show. So it depends on the timings of those as well as DD's shifts for us.

I couldn't eat as early as 5. We always had dinner around 7pm growing up and that just feels more natural to me. I can't have breakfast as soon as I'm awake so breakfast tends to be later then lunch later so it makes sense for dinner to be later then too.

We’re usually around 7/7.30 by the time I finished work and organise food. They usually have a snack after school and by the time dinner is done it’s showers, pjs and starting to settle in for the night. It’ll no doubt change when they start going to friends after school etc.

Same for us. DH and don't get home for work until 6pm at the earliest - I'm waiting for my train right now.

I've never seen anyone show disgust at what time other people eat their dinner before. 😂

We normally eat between 8-9. When my daughter was younger, I cooked her dinner at about 6 and then we ate later. As she got older, we started eating early at about 7 so we could all eat together, and then once she was in her teens, we moved back to about 8 again. Obviously if she was going out in the evening I would cook her food earlier, but she had a journey of around an hour and a half for and from secondary school so if she was going out during the week, she often went to a friend's house straight from school and went out from there.

Very varied replies and very interesting! Sounds like my friend and I are both ‘right’

I’m lucky that DC activities tend to be done by 7.30, so we don’t usually have to go out afterwards. I don’t like going to gym or exercise classes late (and definitely not after dinner.) so do these before work, at lunchtime or with the kids after school.

I’ve also got into a habit so am pretty adverse to leaving the house after I’ve eaten. But, especially with the light evenings it would sometimes be lovely to have time after supper to go for a walk, a paddle on the river etc. DD15 goes to bed at 9.30 on a school night (her choice) so we do have quite a tight turnaround after supper if we want to fit in a whole episode of Only Murders in the Building!

I’m in bed at 9. I could never eat that late. I’d be bloated

18:30 here. Any later and my stomach and bowels are painful.

6pm

Usually around 7pm, unless one of the DC has a later club, then we eat to time getting to that (Cubs and Scouts are at either 7 or 730).

We both work from home, so can be flexible as to dinner times.

Between 7-8pm although most nights it's around 7.30pm.

I don't get in from the gym until 7pm so even if we have something ready jn the slow cooker, by the time I've had a shower and cooked the veg, etc. it's at least 7.30pm. Perfect for me as I fast between 8pm-12pm.

7.00- 7.30pm here too. Always eaten then, even when DC were much younger.

Mine are 18 and 20 now but I stopped this madness years ago.

We all like different things, and eat at different times. I WFH and prefer to have my main meal at lunchtime, they're eating well into the night, long after I've gone to bed. I don't eat meat, they're protein obsessed.

So we all batch cook meals once or twice a week (or at least prep as much as possible) and leave them in the fridge for anyone to take. If we're all in the same place at the same time, great, we'll eat together.

We eat at 4/4.30 at the latest. Ds(12) has clubs at 6 so we leave at 5.30 4 times a week. He doesn't like eating any later because he feels bloated and heavy during activity. Dh goes to bed at 9 because he is up at 4.30 for work.
Suits us to eat earlier, we then have tea around 8/8.30 normally toast, cereal or something light.
Slow cooker is a god send. Fresh veg prepped the day before just add meat to it in the morning.

Younger child, but we eat between 6.30-7pm usually. Dh is finished work by 6pm, so we can then all eat together.
It’s hot where we live in summers so right now we usually spend 7-9pm pottering in garden or local walk. Then home for bed around 9pm for Ds (he’s 4).
Ds has no activity’s yet, but when he does most locally are 4-6pm so it would fit fine