To think these are typical meal times/bed times in the UK

[Verybritishtimings]

Breakfast - between 6 and 8 (weekday/weekend dependant). Accept will be later if you have a long lie in - I have small kids so it doesn't happen.
Lunch - between 12-1.30
Dinner - generally between 6-8 - could be as early as 5 for small children.

Bedtime - between 9.30-midnight for adults under normal circumstances, no special events. Between 7-8.30 for youngish children.

I have a friend who constantly gaslights me about this. I'm crazy that my kids go to bed at 7 (they are ready for bed then and always wake before 7 regardless). I invite her round at 2pm and she brings HER OWN LUNCH because 'i eat so early and she couldn't possibly'. Is she trying to be every so continental or something?!

This is light hearted, don't care when people eat on their own time but my timings align with the majority of the population and the work/school day do they not?!

😳😳😳😳

They certainly seem in the range of “normal” to me. We ate earlier when the kids were younger but I hated it but we did what was best for the majority.
DH could eat a huge lunch at 2pm then tea at 5.30 happily I tend to not eat lunch or breakfast prefer a brunch at around 11 and dinner at 7pm

Your times are too early for me. I don't think of 12 as a normal time for lunch except for hospital patients or in an old folk's home, and likewise I don't want dinner at 6pm. I'm probably not home from work by then. And my son hasn't been in bed by 7pm since...ever actually. We are still eating dinner around 8pm.

I still think it is odd of your friend to turn up at 2pm with her own lunch, but I can believe if you are inviting people over at that time that you have eaten very early to be finished and washed up by then.

And it isn't really odd to be in bed by 10pm, but I don't know many adults who achieve it. I wish I was one of them!

I think that if you work typical office hours, these timings are reasonable. And these timings also fit in with the pattern of a school week. So yes, a lot of people will do this, at least during a working week, in term time. But you might still see them have their breakfast half-way through their morning because they can't eat much at the time they need to leave the house, or have their dinner nearer to bedtime. A few will naturally be even earlier than your timings, I have a friend made this way who is up and having a breakfast at 5am, and has a family dinner at 6pm and bed about 9pm. Fortunately they don't think they are right and everyone else is wrong.

Work and school timings are skewed towards early risers so these might not be the most natural times for quite a lot of the population and while some people will stick to them on holiday, or when retired, others will eat later and go to bed later given the chance. Some people also seem to be much more naturally adaptable about what times and quantities they eat so long as they get enough overall. And people with certain medical conditions or medications may have to time precisely to those, which might mean they have to stick to 'work/school' patterns all the time.

Your friend having a different body clock, routine etc. is fine. Your friend trying to tell you that only her way is 'right' must be annoying. Unless you were already being annoying by trying to imply that you are 'right' and she isn't.

I rarely eat breakfast, lunch/dinner (our main meal) is 12.30-ish, I have a snack about 5 and that’s it. DH eats breakfast at 7.3p, is happy eating late at night but I can’t eat late.
I go to bed very early, well before 9pm, mainly because of ill health, I can sleep until about 4.30am.
Just as well that I am retired!
When I was working and when the DCs were young breakfast was 7.30, lunch 1.00 and tea 5.30/6pm. They were usually in bed before 9pm.

Eating before you go to bed is quite unhealthy IMO.

Like many things, it suits some people better than others.

How does these work if parents work full time? My work finishes at 6, I'm home around 7. So I wont see my kid at all? Also, at weekends, if he goes to bed early he is up at 6!! no thank you. Also, in summer its still light at 7 - to me, its so weird to make kids go to sleep while its still daytime.

Good old Soviet routine here - lunch at 1-2 (when I was growing up that would be "dinner", main meal of the day), supper at 6-7 and bed at 9 for kids, 10 earliest for adults. Up at 7-8.

I still remember vividly the the tune for the evening news at 9, our household's signal for me to be in bed, or else!!

Oh she’d hate me!!

I get up at 5, breakfast 7, lunch 10/11, dinner 4/5, bed by 8/9.

29, two little kids (5 and 2) and 16 weeks pregnant.

So if a friend invited you for lunch at 1.30 and you hadn't had breakfast you couldn't manage a small lunch Surely if a friend invited you wouldn't you plan ahead and eat less prior to the lunch date?

I think your times are quite normal for the UK. We do everything quite early as I’m in the gym at 5:30 and the kids exercise before school most days too. So we eat no later than 7 as I’m up at 4:15. It just depends how your household works.

I think your timings are a bit stingy on the later side. Hotels usually serve breakfast 7:30-9. 6 unusually early. And a lot of adults working late will be eating at 8:30/9 by the time they've cooked something.

I'd say 7-9 for breakfast

12-2 for lunch

6-9 for dinner

Adult bed-time between 9 and 1. (I go to bed about 12:30 and get up at 6:30. Would be up at 3 am if I went to bed at 9! But some people need more sleep.)
Kids bed-time at 7-8 seems right.

Yes OP, your eating times are pretty standard if you have smaller children - 3 meals split between the day - slipping supper in at about 19.00 before bed.

I like structure, our DS behaves better with structure and knowing when things are happening and needs a good 10 hours kip at least, so bed at 19.30/20.00.

I know most my mum friends stick to them times, one doesn't have any set times and just lets her DD decide, I find that bizzare as she can miss lunch completely but them have tea 20 mins before bed. But it's her house her rules, each to their own.

I find it bizarre when people act shocked at something that is commonly a norm.

We've been largely WFH for 4 years so it's rarely an issue that at least one of us is not home for dinner at 6.

My kids sleep 7-6.30 so we often play and read before school and nursery for 2 hours. Then we all eat dinner/do bath together. We spend plenty of time together regardless of their bedtime which they definitely need.

My child, who attends pre-school, has breakfast around 0815 on weekdays and 0915 at the weekend.

Lunch is anywhere from noon to 2pm.

Dinner is anywhere from 1730 to 2100 depending on when DC had lunch, when bedtime is (we do bedtime relative to waking up time which varies), and whether DH and I eat with DC or after they are in bed.

Bedtime at 1900 happens occasionally if it's been an abnormally long and busy day, but mostly between 2000-2030. That means 11 hrs of sleep before DC gets up at 0700 which is plenty. There's no way I want DC to get up at 5am, which is what would happen if they went to bed at 6pm. When DC was younger bedtime was frequently the same time as me, around 1030pm.

I don't know any adults who go to bed at 9pm.

I assume everyone has a similar amount of evening to themselves whatever the schedule. Kids awake 5am-6pm? I assume the parents probably go to bed at 9pm, so three free hours. We operate on 7am-8pm and I go to bed around 11pm, so still three free hours. Whatever works for you. I am not a morning person.

Your later time for each meal is slightly earlier than I would place it. I don't think 1pm is ridiculously early for lunch, though!
Pre-kids I would often not eat breakfast til 9 or 10 on a weekend. Lunch often bumped accordingly.

I guess it depends on what hours they work full time. My partner works shifts, as did both my parents when I was growing up and as did I until my little one was here. Also of course these days a lot of people working 9-5 type jobs are WFH atleast a couple of days.

Yes I think people are missing the 'shocked' bit as if I'm some kind of freak of nature. I find bringing a packed lunch (when she'd just been at home beforehand) odd, almost a passive aggressive dig at my insanely weird timetable!

Me and my Dh
breakfast 10.30-11.15
lunch 2.30-3.30 (could be later on busy work days)
dinner 8.30-10

I wonder whether the snobbishness comes from plebs having to be up early for work and therefore bringing all the timings forward whilst the aristocrats dressed for a late dinner, the children having eaten with Nanny in the nursery?

Partly, and I think it’s partly the ‘on the continent they don’t go to bed so early’ thing, the implication that it’s far more sophisticated there. I grew up in Spain and the main reason things are different there is the weather. As you can barely leave the house in the middle of the day in the summer, it makes much more sense to nap then and then go to bed far later. It means you get to spend a few hours outside in the evening when it’s cooler. Nothing to do with sophistication, everything to do with practicalities.

Breakfast - we don’t eat it unless in a hotel or b&b and it’s part of the booking. Always have a coffee in the morning though

Lunch - I don’t eat it during the week but he eats his main meal of the day at around 12ish during the week (as he is at work with no ability to cook at dinner time) but we eat between 12-1.30 on weekends if we’re at home.

Dinner - week days generally between 6-8 although normally closer to 6 for me and he has a sandwich on work days at his break somewhere between 7-8pm and weekends again we eat probably again 6-8 but closer to 6 as I am ready for a glass of red by then on sat night 😂

if we go out to eat on a Saturday night we book for 7:30pm
earlier or later if eating around going out to theatre or cinema etc

he gets home at somewhere between 11pm-12am he will have a snack I might join in if I fancy it but I’m trying not to lately to combat the menopause weight!

Bedtime - 2am
get up probably somewhere between 7-9am depending on work or schedule for the day. He gets up at 8-9am

no children in the house and our work is not standard hours though.

i will say though she is being a dick! If we visit someone we generally fall in with their routine because we are in their house. So I have a couple of family members who eat early so we adjust accordingly. I have another family member who wants a table the moment the restaurant they like opens so that’s when we eat if we go out to lunch with them. Food there is glorious so would eat there any time of the day!

we are more flexible if we have visitors who maybe have traveled or if we’re doing something on a Sunday and doing a meal or something but if it’s just us doing our standard it’s as above.

When do you get adult only time?

As I saw Spain mentioned a lot as an example, let’s talk about the Spanish culture and attitude towards children - adult only time is not really a thing. Families usually spend all / most of their waking hours together and the evenings are sacred when it comes to eating and socialising outdoors with the whole family. Parents don’t put their children to bed and go out to dinner on their own - that is such a strange concept over there. Children are up and about until midnight / 1am in summer just as the adults (obviously not as late during the school months).

Like you’ve said, the issue isn’t her mealtimes but that she makes you feel weird for your schedule. Yours definitely wouldn’t work for us (tend to eat around 2-3pm and again 5-6pm, in bed by around 8.30-9pm). But ours works for us, yours works for you and hers works for her. Don’t let her sniping about it get you down!

My job is 9-6, never heard of 9-5 )) I wfh two days a week as well but in my household al the action (eating, socialising, etc) happens between 7 and 10 so no chance my DC will be missing out )) I have mainly Mediterranean and Eastern European friends so we consider going to bed at 7 weird. )) Bloody foreigners!