Or is my friend regarding evening meal times?

[BoxtheRight]

We’re in conflict about what time of day most people eat their evening meals.

She thinks that your last meal of the day should be around 6:30pm, with anything after 7 being far too late.

I think around 8pm is normal, and anything before 7 is far too early.

For context, neither of us have kids, and both start work at 9am.

Who IBU?

Me - YABU, anything after 7pm is too late
Her - YANBU, anything before 7pm is too early

Blimey u all eat late, dinner time is 5.30 in this house, we all eat together and eat the same food...

We can’t eat at 5.30 as no one is home at that time.

I eat any time between 7 and 9.30pm. DC are 10 and 13 and sometimes if they have clubs after school they don't eat till 8pm either. DH works fairly long hours so if we want to eat together then it's more like 9pm. At the weekends it's more like 7 or 7.30 for a family meal.

I've got an American friend who eats at 5 and is asleep by 9, and a Spanish friend who eats at 10 and goes to bed at 2. There's no right answer

If people have DC then obviously they're going to eat with them the majority of the time, it's well documented that it's healthier for kids and at least 1 parent to eat together. We now eat at 6pm.

Without DC - I'd guess people eat later, as you can be home from work when you're done as opposed to when you need to collect DC. We used to eat around 7-7.30pm.

If people have DC then obviously they're going to eat with them the majority of the time, it's well documented that it's healthier for kids and at least 1 parent to eat together. We now eat at 6pm

If I eat with my DC then I don’t ever eat with DH as he’s home much later. I don’t think that would be very healthy.

Havelock the amount of people on MN who say "Oh we eat after the kids have gone to bed" astounds me.

It's weird!

Why don't they eat with their kids?

I know it's not always easy or perfect...but you make an effort.

I hate eating before 7 at the earliest, and our natural mealtime is probably about 8.30 because we are working so hard right now. My MIL drives me nuts for being extremely rigid about eating around 6, which is way too early and cuts into my reading and writing time.

Between 5.45ish -7 Pm

We all eat the same meal together .

I would feel like a child rather than a grown up if I regularly ate at 5pm.

When DS was younger he would eat on his own during the week. He would have had his main meal at school so would have a sandwich type meal for his tea at about 5pm. DH would get home any time between 7 and 9, I wasn't going to expect a 5yo to wait until then to eat! DH and I would have our main meal then. DS would eat with us at the weekend and sometimes on a Friday if DH wasn't too late home.

Now DS is a teenager he eats with us most times unless clubs get in the way of mealtimes, when he then may have to eat in the car between clubs! He still has a main meal at school but also at home and possibly supper too!

6-6.30. Any later and I’m hangry and unreasonable!

I'm on the fence here as we tend to eat around 7. I have brunch some time between 11 and 1, then dinner in the evening. If DH gets home a bit earlier than usual, we'll eat earlier, and if he goes to the pub for a couple in the evening, we'll eat later. It's all flexible!

5.30 to 6. That's late enough, I'm in bed around 9 if I can be. We are probably slightly later on Fridays and Saturdays but that's because we've gone for a drink after work or like today I have only just had lunch so won't be hungry for ages.

Starving when a I get home from work as is my son. We eat at 5.30.

He likes breakfast but not lunch and I like food mid morning. So early dinner works for us.

5:30-6:30 here. Me, DH and DS 3 years old

We eat around 7.30-8pm. My MIL is always on at us to eat with DS in the evening but he's only 2 and 5.30-6pm is way too early for us. It would also leave DH doing all the weekday cooking as I don't get home till 5.30-5.45ish. At weekends we'll sometimes have an early dinner out with DS at 6ish. He sits at the table with me for breakfast every morning and has a sit-down lunch at nursery too so it's not like he isn't learning how to eat with people. Once he's old enough to eat at 7, we'll start family dinners then.