Do you eat with your toddler?

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I eat breakfast with ds 19mo every morning, and we have lunch together on the days he's not at nursery. But he has dinner at 5:30 and only eats certain things, so I never have dinner with him. I want to wait until he's in bed and cook a proper grown-up dinner with DH when he's home from work, rather than have fish fingers or whatever in what I consider to be mid-afternoon! Usually while ds eats I sit with him and chat and have a cuppa, or unload the dishwasher or something in the same room.

Do any of you out there actually eat that early? Should I feel bad or stop being such a pfb mum?!

I do the same as you I'm afraid :) but I do always sit with DD and have a chat etc. DD is just 2.

I eat with my toddler but at 7pm - and mostly proper food rather than kid food.

You do it the way that works well for you so I wouldn't worry.

I do eat with DS as he eats the same as us so it makes sense.

We eat together, she has what we have at 7ish. She's 2.5.

Oh I would add though that she has the same as us, just earlier!

I've always eaten with my toddler - around 5.30 ish. We eat the same thing, and then I save some for DH if he's eating at home that night too. I prefer eating that early now - it's healthier and once DS is in bed, my evening is my own.

We have DDs 3,9 and 1,9 and we aim to all eat breakfast together unless DH is leaving early for work. Lunch is either them at nursery or them and me together at home, eating the same things. I just do one dinner, which DDs and I eat together at around 6. DH joins us if he's back from work, or eats the same thing heated up later on when he gets in. I can't face cooking a second time after the kids are in bed, though I would love to have something a bit more grown-up some days! Occasionally we'll treat ourselves to something like shellfish which the kids aren't keen on, and then they'll have hotdogs as a treat for them. We still eat it at the same time though.

Yes, I eat with my DC around 5pm and always have done. If DH is home he eats with us but usually he gets his warmed up.

No we eat after toddler is in bed. DS eats dinner at 5pm and depending on the day only myself or DH are home. So we feed him and then wait for each other before we eat.
I feel quite guilty about it, but we do eat together at weekends and it's the only option we have.

I have 6 kids and this is one of those weird things that sort of sorts itself out.

They do eat early when they are little (I have a one year old who eats her dinner alone), but as they grow they start to eat later and start to eat more grown up things. So you bring your meal forward and put hers back and eventually you end up around the same table at the same time :)

Unless you are my friend who still does "nursery dinner" at 5 and eats with her husband at 8:30pm when her kids are 8 and 6 and then wonders why they wont try anything new or have no table manners

We all eat breakfast on our own, my son and I have lunch together on the 2 days week isn't at daycare and then we all eat dinner together around 6.

He's 3.1.

On the days DP cooks we tend to eat with them; I think he felt 'we ought to' with the much talked about 'family meal' ideal. I've gone along with it for a while, but to be honest, by the time I've got up and down five times to get drinks and solve problems, my own dinner has gone cold or I wolf it down...so for now on the nights I cook, I'm done with it. I do two different meal times. I'm too selfish about needing to enjoy my food...maybe when they're older (mine are 2, 4, 10).

I eat at 5 30 with pre schooler and baby. For us it's important the meal is a family occasion, at the table, with conversation etc. Healthier not to eat late and is teaching them about mealtimes. Very occasionally we'll have something later but I'd sit with my child and have a cracker or toast or small portion. Can't imagine just leaving her to eat on her own and doing chores!

Yup. My 2 year old eats with us. Dinner at between 6 and 7 except when I'm having a culinary disaster when it is more like 8

I don't like eating separately, we eat all together at 6 throughout the week, unless DH and I are going to have a takeaway later. I can't imagine why you'd all eat breakfast separately - that is sad. I think it's very important to eat together as much as possible, for social and nutrition reasons. Table manners are important and it is healthy to hear about each other's day too. It's something I will insist on for years to come.

It depends what's going on in the evening tbh. If either me or dh are going out in the evening then we will eat with dd at 5:45ish. But if we have a busy afternoon and don't have time to prepare dinner in time, dd will have left-overs and we'll eat after she's gone to bed. It probably works out 50:50.

I have breakfast, snacks and lunch with toddler ever since we weaned but dinner is had seperately. If DD eats too late she gets too tired and gives her tummyache and if we eat too early we are climbing teh walls. She is just 2 so in another year we might eat together at 6 but even that I suspect is too late.

Sometimes if DH is working late I eat with DD, but she is usually quite happy to eat while I sort out the chaos from the day and tidy up in the Kitchen. I'll sit and eat fruit with her and we chat about the day and about bathtime, bedtime etc.

My DTs are 2 - we eat together. I am too lazy to cook then cook again.
You shouldnt feel bad just do what works for you sod everyone else.

Yes, 3 meals a day and 2/3 snacks. We have dinner all together at about 6 / 6.30 - DS goes to bed late.

That's what suits our family though. What suits yours is likely to be different.

I used to do this but found I was never out the bloody kitchen, making DSs dinner, cleaning up, making our dinner, cleaning up - then it was the back of 9 and I had had no evening!

My friend with older DC enlightened me! So now I cook one meal for the whole family - yes things need to be adjusted but you can adapt, stir in chilli after taking out the DC for instance. I now eat with the kids at 5.30/6 - I am hungry at that time now as my body is used to it and I eat a light lunch and DH heat his up when he get home. This means the kitchen is all done and dusted by 6.30 at the latest and I get a whole evening sans kids and cooking - joy!

We eat breakfast separately because we get up at different times and/or are ready to eat at different times. Husband and son like to eat as soon as they are up. I need at least 30 minutes to wake up before I can even think about putting food in my mouth.

I think it is much more important to eat big meals together and in our house that's lunch and dinner.

So don't be sad. Just accept that not everyone is like you. It's liberating to accept that.

And not so judgemental.

Mine are 5 & 3 now but I usually only eat with them once a week or so. However due to the smallness of my house I am usually only feet away in the kitchen while they eat their food.

Although I try to make sure we eat out a couple of times a month, it's usually quite civilised. But I never eat breakfast with them.

God no.

I'm a SAHM and I don't eat any meals with my DC (2 and 4). I serve the food to them at the table and disappear into the other room.

I have my reasons for this - I am so against food being emotionally loaded and can't bear the idea of watching them dick around with food that I've prepared and don't trust myself not to encourage them to eat it that I take myself off into another room and leave them to it.

I used to sit at the table when I only had one, to keep her company. But no, very rarely eat meals together, even at the weekend.

how sad holyshow :(

I sit down and eat with my 3, aged 8, 5 & 1 and we usually eat around 5.30 pm. Dh gets home late, so eats on his own - he usually has what has been left or cooks something else.

Dh & I always cook the same food for all of us (bolognaise, fish pie, salmon, roast dinner, pasta dishes, casseroles, aswell as occasional fish finger / pizza dinners).

After dinner everything is cleaned away & we're ready to relax in the evening.