how do you make your kids eat ALL they need at one meal

[FluffyMummy123]

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My boys have cereal/toast after shower, before teeth and bed.

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Fruit only after pud.

Ds often has an apple.

Mine eat at 6, I don't know if that has an impact. If they ate earlier they might want a snack later?

they have a snack when they come home from school

Fuck. Not kumquats, apples and bananas, can I live?

my too are sniffing around half an hour after tea, ds is eating a bowl of cheerios at mo he had salmon capers and pasta at 5.45pm

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Why don't you like the cereal thing?

DS has recently started it - my sis's DCs do it. I don't mind it. Beats making sandwiches all evening!

mine do the same and are both lean.

I think they have smaller stomachs and fell fuller quicker, so they eat little and often rather than fuelling up at one sitting

I used to have 'supper; of tea an toast before bed when I was a nipper. But we had out dinner at lunchtime, tea at 5.30 and I was an official guttersnipe

We have a thing called "night breakfast". I have no idea how it became family routine but every night my two big sons 15 and 12 and my daughter 2 have several weetabix and make a mess of the kitchen all over again. Grrrrrr.

Swedes I feel your pain

whats up with capers? they love em, olives too
when dd gets homefrom school she is always starving she has a big snack then dinner then toast or cereal before bed but she always has a small portion of dinner tried not to give the snacks but she still eats the same amount

fairly certain that you once advised me to shut the farkin kitchen when I was complaining about the never-stopping eating children

didn't you?

let them help themselves to bread

ds2 has kid's tea at 5pm and often has a portion of our meal at 7.30pm. I love it as he is a very adventurous eater and tries all sorts, quite unlike ds1

I am currently having a stand-off with my children

"You are not having anything till breakfast"

it really isn't worth the angst you know

my boys continually eat ......they are quite slim but have voracious appetites.

snacks after dinner might include tuna pasta,chicken sandwiches,fruit,yoghurts cereal, choccy biscuits anything at all.....ds3 has been known to wake at 11pm with a hungry tumbly and wolf down half a ham sandwich and a banana!!

i think its cos they are so active.

was thinking might do tea at 4pm then she will eat more then snack before bed but so far could nt be arsed to cook so early!!!

ELR ds2 ate a huge tubfull of varied olives that id bought that day at the market .......he wont do that again(he had a tummy ache for 2 days) at xmas i made a huge trifle ....to be fair i did say it needed eating but meant after lunch ......after lunch ds1 announced ohh i got rid of that trifle mum.....ffs it was HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGE - and hed eaten it s 'snack'

5 pm is quite early to eat and then eat nothing till bedtime IMO

I think if they are skinny and active etc (high metabolisms) then what you are asking them to do is to eat MORE than they need at tea time - fill themselves up and make their stomachs feel over full - in order to make it through to bedtime

adults are quite good at doing this "oh I will have a big meal now as we won't be eating till late tonight" or whatever, but children aren't, and it isn't a healthy attitude to encourage IMO

I would give as much food as they want at dinner time and then have agreed things they can snack on before bed - bananas, kumquats, nuts, cheese, yogurts etc

I don't see why you need to be making them more food but I don't see why they can't eat something else 2 hours after a meal when they need a snack
tell them what they're allowed and let them help themselves

What I don't understand it why, if they are hungry, they can't have something to eat! Am I missing something?

I wouldn't worry. I have a tall, skinny 'little' boy who grazes a lot. He has breakfast at about 8am, then a snack at 10am, then lunch about 12, then one or two more snacks in the afternoon, then dinner, then often another snack or small meal before bed. 5- 6 small meals a day is actually a healthier way to eat than 'three square meals'.