To think that it’s impossible to have a 6pm family dinner time?

[whatonearthishappenin]

Do people really sit down at 6 pm and eat dinner together as a family in the evening?

If so, how?

I’m not always home from work by then, my children have afterschool club and clubs… swimming, football, dance etc… how do people manage it?

I start work earlier, finish at 4.45 Monday to Thursday and 4 Friday. My commute on office days is a ten min drive. My DH is self employed. Eldest two don't do hobbies anymore, youngest start at 6.45 or 7.15 or straight after school and he walks home. We always have dinner around 5.30 to 6. Tonight it was 5.15 as I made it last night and just needed put in the micro.

My dc’s after school clubs that I work around (I’m separated so do certain days) are at 3 til 4 so I wfh that day to drop or collect (we share with other parents) and dd has a class on one evening at 6:40 so it works well.

By ensuring everyone is home and winding down from school/clubs/work/gym by 5.30pm latest. No after-school club is worth missing out on dinner eaten as a family at a table (other than occasionally eg tournaments/ trips/ performances).

Only DD left at home full time now and she cooks her own food. So i tend to eat a cooked meal at work for lunch in winter (today and next 2 days it’s a harissa chicken & spinach pasta I made. Usually have with some salad. Then I just have porridge in the evening (trying to lose christmas pounds). I made my pasta dish at 6am this morning! I like to eat before 6, i’ve always liked to eat early but when I worked in town and kids in nursery / afterschool clubs it was later. I’d hate to eat after 7pm

That timing doesn’t work for us and I wonder if it’s less common now that’s it more common for both parents to work

We sit down together butt it’s more like 7pm or 6:45.

When kids were little i finished at 3 and so did clubs straight after school - done by 5 then home to cook. DH home around 6 and we would then all sit down and cook.

now the kids are all teens. I finish at 5 but only work 5 min away. DH wfh mostly but in office he is home by 6. One of us starts cooking around 5ish and eat about 6. Clubs are later in the evening.

We manage it 3 weeknights and at weekends. Dh does the afternoon school run and takes kids to early clubs. They get back at around 5. I’m back at around 5:30 and we usually eat around 6, and then I take kids to any later clubs, like guides.

Next year I’m sure it will change when dd1 goes to secondary school.

WFH and all finish/get home by 5.15.

5 out of 7 days we manage a 6pm meal, I don’t think it’s that unusual these days.

We usually eat tea between 5:30 and 6.

Mon and Fri i don't work and husband gets home at 5:10pm.

Tues and Weds i wfh and husband and daughter get home at 5:15/5:20 after being picked up from nursery.

Thursday is my office day so it's usually a batch meal like spag bol or curry taking 10 mins to cook with pasta/rice. Usually eating by 6 on that day.

I'm usually in charge of cooking and when wfh can throw a roast chicken in the oven that can be eaten over 2 days.

We mostly eat between 6-7, once a week we eat at 5.30 so DD can get to an activity for 6. DH works 8-4/4.30, so is back by 5, I work nights then sleep until 3pm when I pick up the kids. My kids are quite young so go to bed 7/7.30, so couldn't eat much later. My kids don't have much on afterschool, we used to have more but they were general to tired so we moved their hobbies to the weekends.

Fine when the kids were tiny. Very hard now they have activities. Eating together sometimes feels like an impossibility, let alone at 6pm.

We don't, kids eat earlier about 5pm and then DH and I eat at about 7:30.

My twins (7) and I sit down together to eat, but rarely at 6.

6pm is much too early for dinner anyway. We usually have dinner between 7-8pm. It works better with all our schedules and means I'm less tempted to snack after dinner.

Totally depends on everyone’s schedules doesn’t it?
we sit down to eat a meal together every night, whoever’s home.
But never before 7, often closer to 8/8:30 mainly because we hate eating earlier than that. Dc are now 2 adults and one teen. Teen has a substantial snack when home from school and then does homework, football training, games, goes to a friends or has a friend round etc, I will swim after work (3 days from home), dh is usually home most of the day anyway (self employed) but does most of the cooking and starts at about 5.

but in short, some people can and do sit down to eat dinner together at 6 because their lives fit that schedule.

I do think the endless clubs some children do are not necessary. Yes, they get to try things out but they don't get the time to come in from school, have a snack and get changed, then have several hours to play. That is also a very valuable childhood experience imo. Learning to amuse themselves, pursue an interest, read for hours, all vital for a rounded child.

We have dinner anytime between 5.15 and 7.30 depending on what everyone doing that day. We manage to all sit down together twice a week - 2 days a week DH is still commuting home and I eat with the DC, and on Wednesdays DS1 has swimming in the evenings.

I agree OP! I am generally pretty happy with our parenting routine but the one big failing I how infrequently we all eat dinner together. What with work schedules not overlapping with dinner and clubs 3 days a week, it's very difficult to find the time to all eat together during the week.

30 years ago a lot more people had either a sahm or certainly a parent who worked in a job much closer to home and perhaps school hours. Loads of mums worked a daytime shift in a shop, or worked in a school or part time low responsibility admin role 15 min from home.
I also think many people don't realise how hard some working mums used to work to have a meal on the table at 6pm - my mum used to spend her evening the day before preparing a meal that we kids were instructed to put in the oven at 5.15 or 5.30 (as older kids, early teens etc) so that it was ready to serve at 6. Simpler plainer meals, mondays were always reheated plates of Sunday roast leftovers.

Why does it need to be 6? Eat at 7, make it less of a rush.

I sit down with DH and DD at around 5-5:30 every night, If I eat any later I get awful heartburn 🤢🤢

We have always eaten together at the table - I think it is really important so prioritised it.
When I was a SAHM we ate at six as DH was home around 5:45pm and the only clubs they did we 4:30 to 5:30. The slow cooker was my friend.
Now I work and the children are older we eat at 7pm.

Impossible as dh is back 6.30....dd needs food between 5-5.30. as a child I remember eating as a family at 5

We sit down at 5.45 as a family. I collect kids from school at 5. But on Mondays kids eat a significant snack and then dinner at 6.30 after a class. On Tuesdays, Weds and Thursday we eat and then eldest goes to sports clubs.
kids are 6 and 10, and we prioritised a commute of less than 25mins rather than a big house.