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.

I will be introducing supper for 10 month old DS when he starts nursery as they too feed them tea at 3.30pm for some mad reason our schedule at home is breakfast at 8, lunch at 12/12.30 and tea at 5, bed at 6.45. When he goes to nursery we won't get home until about 6.15 so I will give him a piece of toast or some porridge then and bed at 7ish.

I expect this will last until he goes to school and then it will be evening meal back to a more sensible time e.g. 5-6ish.

They have breakfast, packed lunch, snack at after school care, tea, snack before bEd if hungry.
Weekends we take a very relaxed eat when we're hungry approach. I can't be doing with strict schedules and mealtimes.

"nickname my DD is 16,"

So she is either doing GCSEs or A levels? How does she find time to study and go out so much?

DD is in year 12, doing 4 A levels. She gets so much homework that she ends up crying over how much work she has. She helps out at Brownies once a week and that is it for extra curricular activities.

We have a cooked dinner at around 6 (DCs 2 and 8). Then bedtime routines, both of them wash then stories for little one (DS), his bedtime and then reading with older one (dd) (or sometimes something else she wants to do before bed).
He goes down 7/7.30 and then she should be in bed for 8.30.

The older one does sometimes want a little something just before bed though as I guess 6 might be a bit early for an 8.30 bedtime.

Me264

I found nursery 'tea' to be basic and DS needed a proper dinner about 6.30pm with us.

Steppemum I give my baby tea at 5ish and eat later with my husband who doesn't get in until 7/8pm. Yes would prefer to eat as a family, but quality time with my husband is also important and so it works best for us this way.

DS is 17 do you want to know what he eats? Wake up is shake with 2 raw eggs, banana, yogurt oats and frozen fruit. Then at college home made tuna salad plus cooked meat sandwich plus crisps. Then he comes home to nearly half a chicken a mound of spuds and a load of veg. Then about 9 he'll have a homemade Shepherds pie and then before he goes to bed he has a huge bowl of porridge. And he hasn't an ounce of fat on him

Busy really? A full tea? DS loves his food and eats loads at the moment so he may well be the same if the nursery tea is not up to much! I know they give them their main meal at lunch so I think tea is lighter.

Breakfast
Lunch
After school snack
6pm - Tea

Breakfast
Packed lunch
After school fruit
Cooked dinner at 5 to 5.30
If he's hungry before bed maybe a piece of toast.

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

Perhaps it's because I live in London so everyone has a bit of a commute home, but I don't know a single adult with a job that allows them to get home before 6pm. So I find the 'families should eat together' thing a bit annoying

TAllulah - why? We don't get home at 6pm either, but we still eat 'family dinner' after we are home. It will be around 7.45pm this evening as just home

Breakfast 06:30-07:30
Luncheon 12:30-13:30
Fruit Snack 15:30-16:00
Supper 19:00-20:00

Tried to always get them to eat at adult times. I like others would think 15:30 for food would seek very early

I can't believe the number of people eating breakfast at 6.30am! That's the middle of the night

nickname my DD is studying highers, no A levels or GCSEs here.

Yes she is mega busy but dancing is a passion and she dances to a high level, already with professional and teaching qualifications under her belt.
She is very disciplined about both her school work and dance and achieves high grades at school.
Many of her peers at her dance school do a similar - if not more amount of dance and achieve high academic grades too.

I eat breakfast at 6.30

"Perhaps it's because I live in London so everyone has a bit of a commute home, but I don't know a single adult with a job that allows them to get home before 6pm. So I find the 'families should eat together' thing a bit annoying"

Not just London. I work in Sheffield and the M1 near Sheffield is horrendous. I don't get home much before 6, and we eat after I get home and have cooked. I did this even when DD was at primary school. We just don't eat our evening meal really early as we all eat as a family. We always have done.

Yes.

Breakfast at 8.00 am
Lunch at 12.00 am
Dinner - 17.30 or thereabouts
Supper 8.00 pm - usually toast or hit chocolate made with milk.

I think they'd really struggle without supper, it's a long time from dinner to breakfast the next day.

I find the 3:30 meal a bit odd too. My children always had breakfast, lunch, then dinner at about 5 when they were little, and moved dinner later as they got older so we could all eat together. A snack in the afternoon to keep them going until dinner time. 3.30 seems more like a very late lunch than an evening meal to me. They've never had supper or anything just before bed time.

Oh I couldn't be arsed with cooking/prepping all that!

Breakfast 7.30-8 ish

Lunch at school

After school snack if requested, usually fruit or a yoghurt.

Teatime between 5.30-6.30 then nothing
Bedtime 7.30-8

I accept this may change as they get much bigger and starving, but has worked well for us so far....

8 year olds breakfast is 0600.... snack at school is 1000 and a large packed lunch at 1200. He gets a small snack around 1630 and his main evening meal at around 1930....
Works for us and have been doing this since he was small... at 1-2 he probably ate his evening meal around 1830 and breakfast around 0530 but not much else has changed.

Hi OP. Mine are 12 and 7. They have:
Breakfast 8am
Lunch at school 12-30pm
Treat 3'30pm
Tea/dinner 5-7pm, depending on whether DH home in time to eat together.
Supper 8'30/9pm. This is usually milk and a biscuit or pancake/malt loaf/banana or apple.
In Scotland supper is a snack at bedtime. The thought of eating dinner at 3'30pm alarms me, but each to their own!

Artandco well it's because my DCs are only little so bathed and in bed by 7.30pm in theory

It's like this for us:

7:30 - Breakfast
10:30 - Snack at playtime
12 - Lunch
3:30 - After school snack
6pm - Dinner
7:30 - Bed

TALlulah - see mine have never had 7.30pm bed. That's dinner here. 0-4 years no bedtime but usually between 9-11pm, now at school bed is 9pm. They wake 8am

DS is a toddler:
Breakfast 7ish
Snack 9.30ish
Lunch 12ish
Snack 3ish
Tea 5.30ish
Bed around 7.

This is much the same on both his nursery and non nursery days. DH and I eat after he's gone to bed as DH isn't home from work til after 7.