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

[FluffyMummy123]

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ds is constantly eating and skinny as a rake

He just has to eat the good stuff before being allowed the treats.

How about holding back their dessert until a bit later?

ds eats main meal with us at 6-6:30 so he does snack after school to abate the hunger.But that is usually oatcakes.

DS1 has cereal before bed as he is skinny and needs more food imo! Dd eats fruit between meals. Ds2 has a cup of milk at bedtime.

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How about just laying out a 'snack tray' at suppertime / half an hour before bed.

Just stick on it pittas, cheese, carrots, hummus, kumquats non-poncey fruit, stuff that doesn't require any prep or make much mess (they could eat off kitchen roll rather than plates if you are feeling really slatternly). Then just let 'em pick what they want and eat the rest put the rest in the fridge til tomorrow.

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We eat tea early and they get cereal or a sandwich or fruit before bed if they make it themselves.
DD1 has been known to eat 5 weeabix before bed.
DD2 has just made "fruit salad" (an apple and a yellow pepper in apple juice)

i do snack in bed after story (teeth and final wee afterwards). ds goes to bed so bloody late that i am starving by then. he has cold pasta, sweetcorn, that sort of thing. i have poncy nibbles and a glass of wine. he is still very young but i do think if people are hungry they must be fed.

could you get them to pick/make evening snack while you're doing the evening meal? Get it made - make them stick to whatever they chose - and make them wash the one plate they eat it off? Kitchen would then at least be closed and they'd learn something about packing a lunch that you'll still fancy the next day at work

or cod do the snack drawer thing
put in non-perishable non-messy things (or make strict rules about where they are to be eaten) and let them help themselves in the evening

I do understand about wanting to stop messing about with food after a certain time - SAHM thing can be so DOMESTIC and you end up making food, shopping for food, clearing up food all day long - with 3 I'd imagine it seems interminable

I think fruit & cheese sounds good but you would have to prepare toast or veg wouldn't you? let them have things they can get for themselves (oatcakes? bagels? nuts?)

We call it 'second supper' in our house. I think they get ravenous all of a sudden when they are growing extra fast.

Being skinny means there is less spare, so when you get hungry you can even feel ill with hunger all of a sudden.

Sometimes I spin out a meal by sending them away to play for a while then call them back for pudding once they have space for it.

They still feel hungry later...so eat more...

Franny .. did you tailor your post about what they're allowed because you saw me on the thread? .... or am I a self-obsessed twat?

agree with Franny's post.
Presumably they are all old enough to make themselves toast or cereal and clear up the mess after (maybe ds3 isn't - but he can have a good stab at it), fruit isn't messy.

? sorry Twig honestly have no idea what you mean
was it the kumquat bit? that was just a joke as cod said if we were poncy she would kill us

aha I'm a self-obsessed twat then

(it was the absence of the collective 'fruit' and the insertion of cheese and bananas instead .. DS has had dental problems with lack of enamel and too much constant fruit-munching)

oh yes I do remember Twig
no I thought cod's boys sounded very hungry and I didn't really think apples and oranges and stuff would help
if ds is whinging for more food at bedtime I give him what we call 'filling' food - the aforementioned bananas and nuts and so on
I try to limit his fruit because he would eat it all day, give himself the runs and not fill himself up. He is skinny ribs

Children always need feeding again five seconds after they've just had their tea. Easy, non-messy stuff is the way to go or even just a drink of milk.

Try offering kumquats. They may be so horrified they'll never ask for seconds again!

Or give them a snack at 5 and dinner at 7.30? Anyway, making toast isn't that complicated is it?