Evening meal 6.30 for 9&11 yo DC's is NOT 'too late'...

[wol1968]

I'm fed up of DH chuntering and grumbling if I don't get the DCs' dinner done before 6pm. I do aim to do it, and we all do have dinner eaten and cleared up before 7pm on most nights. But with the best will in the world, I get days when my timing slips. Interruptions happen, preparation takes longer than intended, sometimes I'm not on form, I get sidetracked and my organisation is crap. AIBU to get really annoyed when 'D' H starts rolling his eyes and making critical mutterings about what I should have done when and know darn well exactly what I should have done when but I was being crap and didn't ? AIBU to be even more annoyed when we then get an 'unexpected' phone call from MIL (who always did 'tea' at five when hers were kids) in the middle of our meal, and H then has to disappear into the next room with the phone, pretending to have eaten, with me being the one to keep the kids quiet in the kitchen?

He says he does this so his mum doesn't tell him off. I told him it was none of his mum's business what time we had our evening meal. And I don't think 6.30 or thereabouts is that catastrophic for 9-11 year-olds anyway, is it? 7.30 might be taking the mick a bit on school nights, I suppose...

Off to keep up with the ironing.

[systemsaddict]

Glad people who work till 5 or later are chipping in now, I was starting to feel like a pariah!

I work till after 5, get home between 5.30 and 6, eat between 6 and 7, kids in bed at around 8. (They have a snack and drink around 4 when they get home from school.) They are 4 and 6. Ds(6) is morning person, tired by that point and would benefit from earlier tea and sleep. Dd(4) is a night person and really struggles with bedtime at 8, she would be much better off in a culture with siestas and late bedtimes. But this is basically what is possible given the way our family and work lives work.

[bigkidsdidit]

I've never understood how people manage to have family meals with very small children. DS eats at 5 and bed at 7. DH and I eat 8.30 ish. I can't wait till DS is a bit older and we can compromise at 7ish for dinner. I can't imagine eating at 5

[IneedAyoniNickname]

We eat between 6-6.30 on a school night, sometimes not until 7at the weekend. Dc are 8 and 6.
If we ate earlier they'd be hungry again by bedtime.

Last night ds1 ate between 7.30-8pm, but then he didn't go to bed until 10 (hes away and didn't have school today)

Cantspell, a 9 year old might be in year 5 (not that that really makes a difference)

[cantspel]

IneedAyoniNickname You are right I was just going on the age mine were when they were in these years.

My oldest is eating his diner now but then he is 17 and always starving after school. He will no doubt have supper at around 9 oclock.

[whois]

I'm partial to an early tea. Yes, I call it tea much to the amusement of my southern friends.

DH being a bit if a twat about this, tell him he knows where the kitchen is if he wants to eat early!

[SusanneLinder]

5pm? I havent even got home form work!

If my DH had a strop about what time his dinner was, I'd tell him to cook it himself. telling his mother he has eaten, is he a man or a mouse????

When myyoungest DD was a baby, she was fed early, by defrosted home cooked meal in freezer. rest of us ate when ready.No one died.

I would never presume to tell my 24 year old DD and mother of two small children when she should have her dinner. Kids can snack when they come in from school.At 9 and 11, they arent babies!

[whois]

Oh, and when I was a kid it was usually: snack eg kittcat or piece of toast at 4 after school, tea at 6, supper before bed eg banana in yog, cheese and crackers.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

God the miserable bugger, tell him to sling it.

It's not to late at half 6. We ate at that time when dd was younger (say 5,6) and then as she got older we ate later. About 7 or so when she was in junior school and about 8 - 9 when she was in senior school. I wouldn't have been in to cook any earlier than that.

It's fine, we had a routine.

I couldn't eat that early without wanting to eat again later, as others have said.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I would give your kids some whistles and bongo bongo drums to play with during the telephone calls, frankly.

God I am a sourpuss at the moment. keep on reading of these fucking godforsaken miserable entitled husbands from the ark on here. Depressing.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

hahaha at lequeen. What she said.

[rainbowbrite1980]

People have dinner at different times, depends what works for your family. Your children are totally old enough to help themselves to a snack after school to keep them going if they're hungry. We eat at 5pm, b ut if I worked that would be different - my children are 5, 3 and 1. My friend with kids the same age as mine eats at 6 - 6.30pm. Your dh knows where the kitchen is if he doesn't like it!

[Sallystyle]

I am never starving before bed and no are the children.

I don't work so I can easily cook a nice meal while they are at school. My youngest children are in bed at 7.00pm. I like to eat with the children, but I don't eat dinner so by 5.00pm I am ready to eat as well.

[HalfBakedAlaska]

How spineless! He's scared she'll tell him off? Is he 2? Tell him to grow a backbone.

[Sallystyle]

That was in response to the question by Seeker about being hungry.

Obviously if people are working they will naturally have to eat later.

[Pinkflipflop]

Tell your MIL to mind her own feckin' business

Tell your dh to feck off into the kitchen and help cook the food for the dinner.

I hate in laws who stick their noses into children's business and I also hate lazy men who sit on the armchair and dictate how things should be done whilst doing nothing themselves!

[schooldidi]

We try to have dd2's dinner ready by 6pm as she's only 3 and needs to be in bed by 7/7:30.

Dd1 (13) eats with us much later (although she has sometimes prepared her own meal because she's fussy about some foods we like), usually about 7:30/8, depending how long it takes to get dd2 into bed.

I couldn't possibly have a decent meal ready for everyone by 6pm as neither of us get home til 5:30 during term time (in the holidays I suppose I could do it but we like to be out and about doing things), so dp makes dinner while I put dd2 to bed, then she eats the same meal at 6pm the following day when it can just be reheated which is quick.

[Sunnymeg]

We eat at 7.30pm, DH is type 1 diabetic and that is the best time for him on his regime. DS used to have an earlier tea until he was about 8, but now we eat together even on school nights. DS has milk and a snack when he comes home from school, and is fine. He goes to bed at 9pm.

[ouryve]

So long as they've not gone since noon without eating, I don't see the problem with 6:30. We eat at 6-ish. We ate earlier when DS2 was small, or else he'd fall asleep halfway through the meal, but he's rarely tired before 8, now that he's 7, so 6pm it is. It means they're not hungry again before bedtime (though DS1 usually scrounges for food when I make packed lunches!)

[Helpyourself]

How common.

[Mintyy]

Fee! you said it Helpyourself .

[crunchbag]

We eat any time between 6 and 7, no set mealtimes just depending on what is for tea. The only days the DC eat at 5 is when they have football training and then they eat more when they are back home.

Your DH is ridiculous in pretending to have eaten at 5 when his mum phones and why are you keeping up the pretence by keeping the kids quiet?

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

There are some very....twattish DHs apparently.

I have read thread after thread the past couple of days about DHs who expect their wives to literally clean up their shit, run around after them, dictate what time they should eat, basically run everyone's lives whilst doing fuck all.

It's amazing how some people think that being in possession of a penis makes you somehow superior.

[calypso2008]

Helpyourself

[Sugarice]

He lies to his Mother in case she tells him off?

What a tool he is, does MiL interfere in other areas and still maintain a vice like grip on your H?

[MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic]

Mine are 9, 12 and 15. We get home around 4ish (DSs get back before me and DD - her school finishes at 3.30 and we have a 30/40 minute journey home) They snack on fruit/yoghurt/toast when we get back and then we eat dinner at 7ish when DH gets back from work. If I'm lazy/it's holidays or weekends it can be later.

I'm repeating what many other s have said but a, if he has a problem he knows where the kitchen is and b, his MIL will tell him off? Yeah, no. Tough on him then.