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 7.30am
Hot Lunch at school
Snack after school - 3.30pm
Tea 5pm

Snack/Supper 6/7pm

We don't do supper

Mine have:

Breakfast- 7.30 am
Snack- 10 am (fruit)
Lunch- about 12 noon
Snack- 3.30 pm after school (cereal bar or cheese and cracker, etc)
Dinner (main meal of day, with pudding) 5-5.30pm
Bath 6 pm, in bed by 7 pm. DS (22 months) still has a bedtime breastfeed, DD had a cup of milk until she was about 4 but now just has water.

1 and 3 will have
Breakfast about 7.30
Snack if they ask for one
Lunch about 12-1
Snack after nap, so about 4-5
Dinner 6.30-7ish
Bed and bottle at 8 for the younger one, 9-9.30 for the older.

My kids are 5 and 7

Breakfast 6.30
School food (lunch and snack)
No one home before about 6.30
Dinner about 7 / 7.30
Bedtime hopefully before 8

Bit jealous of those who get to have breakfast at 8! We're all at school/ work by then

Mine are 3 and 19mths, and it's

0730 Breakfast
10.30 Morning tea
1200 Lunch
1530 Afternoon tea
1730 Dinner
1900 Milk before bed

I tend to do a substantial breakfast (eggs, pancakes and fruit, porridge etc) plus they have milk when they wait for it to hit the table, so morning tea is usually just an apple or something. Afternoon tea ranges from a sandwich down to a biscuit or cheese, and I try to feed them up at dinner.

DS 14 has
6am breakfast
9.30 snack at school
12.45 lunch
3.30 snack
8pm dinner

This is because he is at school from 7-12.30pm

Other three have

8am Breakfast
12pm Lunch
3.30 snack at school (school is until 5.40pm)
6pm snack/tea
8pm dinner

Bed is 9pm

Mine eats whatever whenever. He is 2 and a half.

We don't get up/ go out/ sleep at the same times everyday so he isn't hungry at the same times everyday.

We used to have a cereal supper late in the evening when I was a child too. I don't think it's a particularly helpful thing for the reasons you have already said - mainly, it allows fussy eating to persist.

My lot are 8, 6 & 3. They have breakfast at 7am, lunch around midday, dinner about 5:30/6pm. Fruit is available for snacking around that.

Ah I remember the meal terminology confusion sharing a flat with some posh English students at uni; for us Scots supper was a light snack before bedtime ( which incidentally I always had at home and my kids usually do too, although I sometimes delay pudding to cover supper) but to our new English chums it was the main evening meal ( which we called our tea or dinner ).
I don't think I ever fed mine as early as 3.30! Usually 5.30 is ( and now later as they are teens)

Who has tea at 330?!

The only time I do supper is if we have had a big lunch out so aren't eating dinner. Last Sunday we had a 3 course lunch starting at 2 so the kids had cheese and crackers before bed.

Usually on a school day it's
Breakfast somewhere between 6 and 7:30. DH is up at 5/530, I get up at 7 and the children somewhere in between.
The younger two have mid-morning fruit and milk at school.
Lunch is 11:30-12:30 for the little ones 12-12:30 for DS1 in secondary and 12-1 for DD in 6th form.
The three boys finish at 3ish and usually have a snack.
DD gets in 4:30-5 and is usually hungry.
Dinner is somewhere between 5 and 7 or even later for the older two depending on activities/social lives. If DH is home in time we all eat together if not sometimes I eat with the children other times with DH.
Younger two usually in bed for around 7:30-8-30. DS1 for 9 and DD is usually asleep by 10-30/11.

Nickname I'm with you on breakfast. I start work at 8 to 8.30am and take my breakfast in. No way could I eat it at 6.45 when I get up.

Thanks everyone. Really useful to see how everyone else works the meal schedule.

Today I tried to adapt the schedule slightly so they had their tea (cheese and onion quiche with broccoli, green beans and sweet corn followed by pineapple for DD2 and a fromage frais each) at 4:45pm, but by 5:30pm they were both begging for supper

My LO (3) is autistic and eats like a little bird but I tend to stick to the following meal times:

7:00am: He still has a bottle of fortified soya milk (lactose intolerant) when he wakes up, he eats the same amount whether he takes it or not so I'd rather he gets all his vitamins through having that.
7:45am: Breakfast, normally a yoghurt and some toast.
His nursery give them a snack at around 11am however he has never ever eaten it.
12:30pm: Lunch time once he gets home from nursery.
3:00pm: Snack time, something little like a banana normally.
4:30pm: Dinner time
6:30pm: Another bottle of milk, sometimes a slice of toast, some cereal or a plain biscuit if he wants it.
7:00pm: Bed time

Tea time should be pushed forward to 4:30pm/5pm imo. Definitely knock out the supper or push it forward, let them have their cereal or toast around 6:45pm. May mean you'd have to start bedtime routine a little earlier!

Is the meal too small? A small piece quiche and some veg wouldn't fill mine up for long and isn't really 'dinner'

Have you considered a banana each at 3.30pm, then a proper meal at 6-6.30pm. No supper.

lunch today was cheesy scrambled eggs with avocado and tomatoes. Dinner will be mousakka and Greek salad. Greek Yogurt after wanted ( they have maybe 50% of the time)

Possibly, they ate until they said they were full. I would say their piece of quiche was the size of their hand, they had two medium broccoli florets and a palm sized amount of sweet corn/green beans together. DD1 ate it all, DD2 left some.
For the rest of the day they had:
Breakfast: Cheerios
Mid morning snack: 2 rice cakes, 2 chicken pieces and, for DD2 half an orange. DD1 won't eat fruit.
Lunch: Salmon, peas mixed in rice, carrots with cheese sauce.
Tea: as described above
Supper: blueberry wheats with strawberries for DD2, rice crispiest for DD1.
Perhaps the problem is that they're not eating enough at all of their meals?

To me that is a tremendous amount of food over the course of the day. I think they're maybe unable to identify what hunger feels like.

Same as Art. I don't allow snacks as a rule as I think it prevents eating full meals where nutrition is usually better. We don't have cereal in the house either (I think the DC have tried rice crispies once) as it's pretty much all rubbish.

With my almost three year old we do...

Breakfast - 7.30/8
Snack - 10ish (usually fruit, breadsticks and cheese, dry cheerios etc)
Lunch - 12/12.30
Snack - 3ish (usually fruit or yog & honey)
Tea - 5ish
Bedtime cup of milk - 7ish

He's only just got into fruit so I'm making the most of it!

On nursery days his tea is closer to 3.30/4 so I offer him a snack when he gets home (6ish) which is often cereal but he's not usually too bothered.

Ds hardly eats anything but 4yo dd has
8am - breakfast - boiled egg and soldiers

School day starts at 8.45 - during the course of the day she has a carton of milk, 1-2 pieces of fruit, a jacket with cheese and tuna or a cooked school dinner and a pud and lots of water.

Home at 3.30 when she has a snack - crackers and cheese with some grapes or a gingerbread man or something similar.

Dinner at 5 to 5.30 - something similar to chilli and rice etc. Banana for afters.

I know I always find myself wanting biscuits in an evening even though I know I'm not hungry, with the amount of food you say yours eat it sounds like maybe they just like the habit of supper? After bathtime we all get in my bed with story books and spend 40.mins or so reading and drinking warm milk, could you something like this with yours instead?

Is your 5yo at school? I am curious how you are doing a cooked meal at 3.30 when that is middle of school run time across much of the UK. I'm also guessing you're a SAHM which means you can adapt their meal schedule as you need to on different days to accommodate after school clubs etc.
FWIW, my DC are Yr 2 & reception:
7.45 - breakfast at childminder
10.00 - carrot or something provided by school
12.00 - school lunch
3.30 - cm gives them a banana
4.30 - tea at cm
6.00 - they get collected from cm & can have vegetable sticks, toast or cheese if they want. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
Whichever of DH or I hasn't been on pick up from childminder duty (we alternate across the 4 days I work), gets home between 7pm & 8pm and we eat about 8.30/9.00.
On my day off the above routine isn't that different. At the weekend, we'll have our meals together on the Sunday. Saturday lunch is interrupted by activities & Saturday evening varies depending on what we're doing. If DH & I are out for dinner with friends (or hosting a dinner party) the DC get pizza & garlic bread about 5.30pm; if we're just out for drinks or not put, we'll all eat together about 6.00 pm.

My children are 9, 6 and 2.

7am breakfast
Dc1 takes a piece of fruit or cereal bar to school for a snack, dd is offered fruit at school but isn't hungry, ds2 gets some fruit or breadsticks.
12:00 lunch (packed lunch for the schoolies)
3:30 snack (brioche, crackers etc)
5/6pm dinner

ds1 will have something to eat after football and Cubs on a Tuesday and Thursday at about 8:30 before bed. Dd will often have something on a Tuesday and occasionally they might have some popcorn if we watch a film at the weekend.

DD is 6 and we do:

7.30 breakfast (can be anything really, sometimes cold meat and cheese, tomatoes etc or cereal)

10ish snack of fruit or tomatoes and cheese

12.30ish lunch

2.30 post school snack like a biscuit

5 if at CM, more like 6.30 at home dinner

Can you stretch out the meals a bit OP? Everything seems very early once you get past mid morning, hence needing to put another meal in!

Dc are 2 and 10 months.

Breakfast between 7/8 (weetabix porridge banana or toast)

Snack between 9/9:30 (fruit)

Lunch 11:30/12 (sandwich soup omlette etc)

Snack 3ish (crisps or cake. So flame me)

Tea 4:30/5 (hot meal)

Bed 7

Only offer supper if they haven't eaten much tea but it's toast or porridge. Very rarely do they not eat most of their tea.

Hmm ds 4 occasionally has supper who complains of being hungry ( or is trying to extra delay bedtime) - his options are wheatabix or brown bread and butter.

I really would change the 3.39 meal for a snack.
Our routine

7.30 - porridge or whestabix ( sugary breakfasts not allowed or added on special occasions to either so 10 cheerios)
Mid morning snack - banana ( same when at school) some times if at weekend and late breakfast not offered
Lunch 1 ish if at home - soups and bread, chicken peas and noodles, fish etc - pudding yogurt and fruit
Mid afternoon or after school snack 4 ish - a real sweet treat eg rice pudding, malt loaf, biscuits - something we've made jam tarts etc, sometimes what I call a snack bowl basically ade healthy things and sweet things muffled together e.g. Rice cake broken up raisins and smarties
Tea - 6 ish - hot as a family at weekends or just ds in the week as we have a later dinner when I'm in from work. Could be bolagnee, lagsagne, cottage pie... pudding varies yogurt, fruit, rice pudding, banana