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?

We all eat about 8pm. When the kids were little they'd eat earlier but DH and I would never eat at 6. I don't think I know any adults that do.

Impossible for me. DH isn't even near being home by 6pm and DD works shift hours, usually finishing near 8pm-9pm. We rarely eat together as a family unfortunately.

No we eat when hungry not usually all together.

Lunch any time between 11 and 12noon

Breakfast 6.30am

And we do sup around 8pm. Bagels, scones, pancakes, porridge etc. Something light. Doesn't involve cooking that's the main thing 😂

Different people have different jobs and different commitments - of course the same timings don't work for all families.

My younger ones only do after school clubs at school (finished by 4.40) and my older one only does one club, and that's not until 7.30. Normal day, I get home with the kids at 5, and get the dinner ready, husband is usually home about 5.45/6 and then we all eat together. Works perfectly for us!

I work pt so 6pm works, although I have to do a lot of pre-prep. It'll be harder this year because DD has her dance class 5:30-6:30pm this year.

6pm also makes sure DH comes home on time & not faff around at work, then eat while I'm dealing with DC & cleaning up. My way he eats with us & has to get off his phone to help out.

My DM serves dinner at 5pm!

I work 4 days a week 9.15 till 4.45 from the office but only a 15/30 mins commute home.

My DH works 5 days a week, sometimes from home or sometimes from the office but works earlier shifts.

Our ds is 5 and currently doesn't do any weekday clubs.

We usually sit down between 5/6pm for tea each night and we've done it this way for a few years now.

It could well change soon as ds maybe takes up clubs or we get different jobs etc, but for now it works really well and we enjoy it.

Did you have evening clubs as a child though? I didn't, and although I understand the advantage of extra curriculars I don't think I would prioritise them over family evenings together on a school night, rushing about every day after work sounds exhausting!

I use my slow cooker, get in from work at 5 & we all eat at 5:30.

We sit down and eat at 5pm. I'm a SAHM and my children are home ed, so we can work to whatever timetable we need to.

Well I never, people can have different jobs/commitments to others…..my flabber is gasted 🙄

We eat dinner as a family at 5.30pm on 5 nights a week. The other 2 nights DD1 is at clubs until 6.30 or 7.30 (I make her a packed lunch). Other nights she has after school clubs at school so I pick her up at.4.30 (5 min walk home).

DD2 is too young for clubs but it will be harder to sit down together when the dcs get older, as clubs finish later for older age groups, and DD2 will do them too. But then we might eat later when they're older - DH and I used to eat later pre-kids, but switched to having an earlier dinner so we could have a family mealtime. It's worth it - we swap news about our day, plan the next few days or the weekend, talk about things we've seen or done.

I wfh pt and flexibly. DH works until 5.15 and has a 10 min bike ride commute from work (we specifically chose this area to live in so he'd have a quick commute and picked a school a short walk away).

OK ....

That's 20 minutes to prep and cook a main meal?

Interested to hear what you guys are eating.

Yeah it seems the commute is the killer for a lot of people to be honest isn’t it. A cousin of mine got so fed up of this that her and her dh bought a house around the corner from the school they both work at. The crèche for their ds is nearby too. They save an hour in the morning and sunup in the evening. And they can walk to work, I appreciate that not everyone can do that but she is so much happier! Less time in the car!

I wfh 8-4. DH wfh flexi hours. Kids have clubs at different times during the week but we probably eat together between 5 and 6, three days a week

Surely it just depends on what hours the parents work and what time the kids clubs are.

You've mentioned feeling frazzled and rushed in the evenings - does your DH do his share of cooking and ferrying around? It's all shared in this house and I never feel particularly rushed or stressed

We eat together most nights and quite a bit earlier than that - 5pm usually.

I don’t like to eat after 6pm really if just at home - got into the intermittent fasting habit (obvs will make exceptions for meals out etc).

But mostly it’s just because it suits us best, DD gets up at the crack of dawn if not before, that’s whether she goes to bed early or late. So in order to make sure she gets enough sleep we need to be starting wind down, bath and bedtime around 6ish, 6.30 latest, so she’s down and asleep for 7ish,

I work from home as does DH more often than not, he starts work at 7.30 in the morning if not earlier so is generally done by 4, so even if he’s in the office/ on site he’s home for 5ish. Im part time and officially finish work at 3, though if I need to do more then I’ll do it after DD has gone to bed.

DD is starving from the second she comes out of school and the constant snack demands don’t stop until we’ve fed her a decent dinner. It’s important to me that we eat together, DH feels the same, and I think it’s paid off in terms of how well she eats and just in general for us to sit down together.

It’s not every single night DH does work late one night and then eats on way to his sport, and one night a week I do a fitness class at 6 and can’t eat before or I’ll be sick. But 5 out of 7.

I’m sure as DD gets older timings will change, and there may be more clubs etc.

I collect my daughter from school so home at 6pm. She's already had tea at school. I work from home so have my main meal then and just a snack for dinner, and same for my husband so we only eat as a family at the weekend.

We eat dinner together 3-4 times per week, other nights we're busy with clubs, activities etc.

We never could - dh was never home before 7 anyway. 7.30 dinner was normal for many years.

We do it, between 5.30 and 6.30. With my first we all ate separately (with the exception being the weekend) but I had a significant lifestyle change and now we all eat together. It's a bit early for me but do it so we can all have a meal together and chat.

We do but not on Tuesday when DS has football 530-630. I wfh until 5, DH gets home just after 6 and dinner is on the table.

We do manage it most days but only because I’m part time and generally home from work by 430. Even then it’s a juggle around various children’s clubs/activities. I do think it’s lovely to sit together when possible but we definitely don’t manage it every day. Do what suits you - I think if you can do it on a weekend then they will still have the benefits of that time with you.

Well mostly people I know who do this work from home and finish ‘at 5’ but usually have finished put a wash on walked the dog and cooked dinner by 5pm

of course it’s nit impossible. Everyone has different lives! We usually sit down 5-30-6pm. Never later than 6.30pm. But that’s because I don’t work and my husband is home by 5.30. The kids are older too.