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.

I can't wait for mine to be that age so we can all eat together around 7. I don't get in from work til 6, dh rarely back before 7, kids eat at childminders and we eat at 8:30/9. At weekends we all eat around 6:30 though, sometimes later

I'm not bloody eating at five.

When I cook we eat at 7ish. More or less the same when Mr Inferior cooks. If one child (usually DD1) is starving we might eat earlier. If I can be arsed.

Cooking and ironing.
Maybe you should shove a broom up your arse so you can sweep up as you go along as well...

We eat at 6.30ish every night, sometimes even 7pm and DS is 5.
He gets a substantial snack when he gets home but is otherwise fine.
If we eat earlier he gets up at night saying he's hungry.
Before he went to school he would eat dinner at nursery at 4.30 but then have a huge snack at 6.30 when we got home. Once he was at school, he didn't get back from after school club until 6 at which point I raced to do dinner for 6.30. I'm currently not working but we've stuck with the timetable because it works for us.

Jesus, we eat at like 8 or 9. But then we don't have kids. Couldn't eat earlier than 7 though I don't think. Balls to this 5 o'clock business, I'm still at work at that time!

He sounds like a twat, all things considered.

Sorry, I know he's your husband and everything.....

Are you a SAHM?

Does he do very little around the house?

Was his mum a SAHM and a paragon of housewifely virtue and her DH did very little around the house?

I started a long anecdote then lost the will to live.

OP, seriously..... how is your relationship otherwise?

I would also feel very sad if I'd eaten by 6pm and as if there was nothing to look forward to so I'd probably drink and eat chocolate

And what are you cooking every night?

If it involves "timing" and preparations it sounds a bit elaborate.

The ones person I know whose DH insisted on a cooked meal every night at a specified time was married to a big old bully

I am going to give up posting my boring old crap and just start saying 'I agree with motherinferior' as I think I agree with everything she has postyd ecently

I am most flattered, GOML.

Is your dh the boss of you?

We don't answer the phone when we are doing something important.

I don't accept unwarranted criticism from those who are supposed to love me.

we eat at varying times depending on DCs after school and evening activities. I usually cook, and aim for about 6.30 so we all eat together once DH is home from work. Tonight, however DC are having chippy tea, and Dh and I are having a curry a bit later. End of a long and busy week and I CBA to cook, plus DC will enjoy chippy - bit of a post SATS treat!

When I see these posts I often wonder if there is a north/south of the border divide in this.
In Scotland I don't know anybody that eats late like that.
I do see half 6 as being late to eat and so would all my friends and family. I'm not saying it never happens it does when we ate busy but we would class it as a pretty late dinner.

Dc are 12, 9, 9 and 8 and sometimes the older two have dinner at 8 after swimming. (On a Wednesday) I can't get it done before so I do it after. They are still alive so I'm not sure why your dh has a problem with it because it doesn't affect anything unless they would e in bed by this time otherwise.
No-one's allowed to leave the table when we eat for anything (except doorbell when expected) even dh. We survive!

We live down south if that helps...

I'm in Scotland Geeklover and we eat at 8.30 ish

I'm in Scotland. Eat about 8. So do most of our family/friends. I do know a lot of people through work who always eat early - 5.30/6. I just don't get it. I can't see how you can get home, wash your hands, prepare a meal and serve it in that time. It must be stressful.

11y dd usually eats at 6:45-7:00pm once DH is home from work. Has done for ears. Not a problem here.

Next time MIL rings during dinner yell very loudly "get off the fucking phone, your dinner is getting cold!!"

I think 6.30pm is too early for dinner!

OK, not for my 2yo, but definitely for my 9, 11 and 15yo!

They want to be out playing until 6/6.30, then they come in, have dinner, then we have 'quiet time' where they do their homework.

While they are doing their homework, I wash DS3 (the 2yo).

Then again, dinner crept later because at DD's Secondary (soon to be DS1's too), they have lunch at 1.15-2.15pm, depending in what sitting they are.

Dinner at 6 was just too early of DD had eaten lunch at 2pm.

So now they have all got used to it. We all eat together, even the 2yo. He's never known any different.

I don't see Spanish DC's keeling over and dying because their dinner wasn't on the table at 6pm!

If my DC's are hungry before dinner, they know where the fruit bowl is...

I'd think that it's what works for your family.

We eat at about 5.30pm because the 4 yr old needs to go up to bed at 6.15pm or she's knackered. Ironically the 1&3 yr old go up a bit later. I have a repertoire of thing that are very quick to prepare, or a slow cooked etc. I still find it a rush though. We do all eat together now, as it was pretty wearing to be cooking twice. In lucky in that H works from home and appears at 5.03pm!

If it suits your children then why does your H have a problem with it? Are they crying with hunger/late to bed/filling up on snacks because of it?

1. tell him to make the fecking "tea"

1. er, how old is your husband that he scurries off to answer the phone lest his mummy tells him off?

1. NO ANSWERING THE PHONE DURING DINNER - sorry for shouting but that's a real pet hate of mine SO rude and that goes for texting, tweeting and fbing in the middle of a meal. URGH.