..to wonder why everyone refers to the evening meal the kids have as 'tea' not 'dinner'?

[Tweettwo]

We don't live up North so why call it 'tea'?

We call it dinner :) Mid day meal is lunch.

I call it dinner for adults and kids.

I thought that tea was the afternoon snack. Evening meal is called dinner.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner here for everyone.

Oddly enough, if I'm talking about school I always say school 'dinners' though

Only ever heard it called tea up north. Unless you are having 'afternoon tea; with finger sandwiches and little cakes!

If it's a cold meal I call it tea, if it's cooked it is dinner.

Tea is served at around 5 and dinner is served at around 7 so it depends what time you are eating.

Tea is a drink, dinner is dinner, so it's not quite everyone (even if it is just us 5!)

Breakfast, dinner, tea.

I live in the NE.

...because it is generally earlier for smaller children (around 5pm)?

We have dinner. (Adults and children) at around 6 pm.

x-post with cashew

We have our cooked meal at lunch time.

Evening meal is toasted sandwich/cheese on toast/cobs.

Don't think that you can really call that dinner!

Always called dinner here.

Breakfast
Tea
Supper

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

For everyone

It is supper of course.

If its light and happens before 6.00pm it's tea.

We're in Yorkshire and it's teatime

And we rarely say lunchtime either- we call it dinnertime!

Breakfast is still breakfast though

Breakfast
Lunch
Tea

maverick

Always dinner here.

I thought supper was a late meal you had before bed?

We use lunch and dinner interchangeably for the midday meal and dinner and tea interchangeably for the evening meal (mixed Northern and Southern heritage).

Nursery serve tea at around 4.30. We serve dinner (and eat together) closer to 6 when we're home.

I get the feeling it's a hangover from when kids ate separately from their parents as a regular thing?

I go out to dinner. If I'm having it at home, it's tea, because we are too hungry to wait so we eat at teatime. Doesn't matter if it's a small snack or a mighty roast.