To ask whether your DCs have supper?

[Readytomakechanges]

When my DCs were younger the schedule was always:
7am - breakfast
10am - small snack
Midday - lunch
3:30pm - tea
6pm - supper (which consists of cereal or toast).
6:30pm - bedtime routine starts
7pm - lights off
This was how I ate as a child and I remember having supper throughout primary school.
Now DC1 is at school (DC1 is 5, DC2 is 2), tea is getting a little later - around 4:30pm. I'm finding that sometimes they've only just finished eating tea and it's time to eat again. Other times they'll refuse the healthy tea (we have a take it or leave it, but you get nothing else until the next scheduled meal approach to eating) as they'll put up with the hunger for a short while as they'd prefer cereal.
I think I'd like to knock supper on the head, but not sure how to go about this as the kids love it.
How do other people organise their meals? Is it normal for primary aged children to eat supper?
Ultimately I want them to eat healthily and have a healthy attitude to eating.

Breakfast - whenever they wake up, between 7-8am
school - primary and nursery dc get a midmorning snack, older dc do not
After School Snack - about 4pm, but sometimes as late as 5pm if they have clubs etc
Dinner - usually between 6.30-7.30pm as they aren't hungry beforehand owing to their late snacktime.

If I were you, I would probably knock out tea and supper, and just eat an evening meal around 5.30pm.

Breakfast at 8 / breakfast club
Lunch at school
Dinner about 6.30

When you say tea do you mean a snack or a proper meal?

That's what I was thinking SerialReJoiner. Possibly offering a small after school snack of fruit/rice cakes/chicken pieces and then having tea later, around 5:30pm.

I do however think this will go down like a lead balloon initially with the DCs who love their supper (even though they don't like the same food at breakfast time).

Sorry, 'tea' and 'lunch' are both proper meals with meat, veg etc.

In our house supper is only for if they are still hungry before bedtime. Only weetabix or a banana is offered (so I know if they really are hungry or just hoping I'll give them a biscuit).

7.30:breakfast
10.30: small snack for dd if she's at home. I have toast around this time and ds is asleep.
12/1: dinner
4:tea
5.30: milk for dd (ds just spills it everywhere)
6: bed

Breakfast 7.30
Lunch 12.30
After school was a piece of fruit or just a drink
Tea 5.30
Occasionally Supper (toast or cereal) 7.30

That was when I was at school many moons ago

We had the same with my DSC. They would refuse the healthy tea and then fill up on cereal before bed. They now have a snack after school and then tea about 6. By the time that is finished, its bed time anyway so no time for supper.

Supper in our house is the evening meal when it's not a formal dinner.

Saw the thread title. Came to see if even one mother would admit to ever not feeding her child in the evening.

Quite relieved that's not what you meant!

My toddler has:

Breakfast around 8ish
Snack around 10-11 if we're out somewhere
Lunch 12ish
Snack at 4pm
Dinner 6ish
Bedtime 8pm (woohoo!)

Dinner is the hot meal in the evening. Lunch is just sandwiches or whatever.

chickpeas? what kinda snack is that?

how about a couple of crackers with cream cheese and cucumber, or bread and nutella?

7.30/8.00am - breakfast
10.00am or after morning nap - snack
12.30pm ish - lunch (sandwich, omelette...that kind of thing)
3.00pm ish or after nap - snack
5.30pmish - tea (hot meal)
7.00pm - milk and bed

Cereal or toast isn't supper though it's just a snack? Surely you have tea or supper not both?

Also supper can end up being a delay tactic for not going to bed...ie I've not had my supper...even though it isn't needed as had dinner/pudding. I wouldn't eat a snack before bed unless I hadn't had a proper tea earlier in the evening.

I can't see why you'd want to have your main evening meal at 3.30pm.

me either. We eat with DS so wouldn't want it any earlier than 5.30pm. At 3.30ish he's having his snack.

You need to space out lunch and dinner.

For your own sake as much as anything. Do you not just spend all day in the kitchen?

when I was at school 5-18 years old in 1960s and 70s my routine was:
cooked breakfast - bacon eggs sausage
cooked dinner - meat and two veg plus a pudding
cooked tea - chips and something
supper - toast/sandwich
I was as thin as a rake as I played out before I had my breakfast, at break times at school, during dinner break and after my tea so ran off all the calories. The youth of today given their sedentary life styles would be a billy bunter and very unhealthy

A proper meal at 3.30 is very odd.

There seems to be a thing nowadays for constantly offering children "snacks". I went out with a friend. She bought her child pancakes in the cafe but also offers him breadsticks, fruit and something else that she brought with her in Tupperware. I was

Supper is just a snack here. We've always done after school snack if wanted (not always), dinner between 5 and 7 depending in who is home and when, fruit later as a supper snack, sometimes supplemented by a piece of toast or similar.

My kids like pieces of chicken waggymama. Not chickpeas

As a little tot, DD1 ate little and often. She only eats small amounts of her meals even now. However the tea at 3:30pm thing also stems from the fact that that's when I had tea as a child.

Supper is a slice of wholemeal toast with butter or a bowl of cereal (weetabix/porridge/wheetos/shreddies). Essentially exactly the same as what is offered at breakfast.

main meal at 3:30 is very early. When do the adults eat?

I have always worked on the principle that as far as possible we sit down to an evening meal together as a family. I could never understand the idea of feeding one meal to kids early and second meal to adults at 7-8 pm.

But then I am 1. lazy and don't want to spend lots of time cooking, and 2. never fed my kids 'kids food' I just fed them the same as us.

So, after school, I offer snack, fruit/milk/caek/biscuit/cracker and cheese whatever. Then we eat evening meal all together at 6 ish.

I realise that some parents can't be home early enough to eat early enough for kids, but if that was the case, I think I would still cook at 6 ish, and serve the later parent when they came in.

My kids have always had supper. We eat early as they have evening activities most nights of the week.
So main meal is 4.30-5pm.
They are teenagers and will usually make their own supper- toast, noodles, pancakes or leftovers from dinner

Breakfast at around 7.30.
Lunch at school.
After school snack when they get in. They are generally ravenous, as school dinner portions are small, so it tends to be something fairly substantial, like a pitta bread pizza, or boiled egg and soldiers, or Greek yogurt and fruit.

Dinner at around 6.30 with several courses (starter/main course/salad/cheese/pudding).

Then they go to bed.

I think what you do is fine as long as it works. But I'd say it's not working if they're willing and able to skip the healthier balanced meals and hold out for the stuff they like better. Mine are the same. They have dinner late (according to mums net) at around 7 (we also have breakfast and lunch late). I used to give them a snack in the afternoon but found that was filling them up enough to not be too interested in dinner!
In your case I would push their dinner/ tea later and forget supper. Maybe a light snack after school to keep them going until dinner at 5.30 or 6?