Eating a family meal together- tell this idiot how it works.....

[fustilarian]

Ok am I being really thick here?

This eating together as a family thing- do your children go to bed really late, or do you and DH eat dinner at 5pm?

I really want us all to eat together but can't figure out how (apart from breakfast). Do I just have to wait til LO is a teenager?

Am I missing the bleeding obvious?

do you mean you want to eat late. but children eat early?

Dp gets home at 5.15 we eat about 6 unless I am working late.

We eat together (most evenings) at 6 or 6.30 - DCs in bed 7.30 and 8, but maybe they're older than yours (they're 4 and 8).

In our house it generally only happens at weekends, as DH is out of the house early and back late. I sometimes eat with DS and DD and sometimes eat later with DH.

My two are 10 and 5 and we all eat at around 6ish. They are in bed by 8pm.

No you are not thick. Sometimes we eat together at around 5pm, depending on if I am back from work.

We try to do this at least 2-3 times a week.

The rest of the time we eat around 8pm when the dds are in bed. I find this a bit more relaxing tbh . I just find it all so wearing if it is every single night.

You seem to jump up and down to get cloths, refill drinks, etc etc and it is nice to sometimes have a bit of peace while eating.

Breakfast and lunch tend to be more family affairs. You could try having "tea" together maybe at the week end if it is too tricky to arrange in the week.

We try to eat sometime between 5 and 6 - the nearer to 6 it gets, the quicker dd is slung in the bath after dinner. Doesn't always work - sometimes it's just one of us and dd, and sometimes she eats first and we eat after she's gone to bed. I guess we manage it a few times a week, and it is nice.

at the moment we eat at the table together for
Breakfast
Lunch (minus DH)

DS's eat at about 5pm but if we know DH is going to be home before 6pm we wait.. but most of the time he isn't home before 6.30pm
so week days I sit with them whilst they eat and have a cuppa.

Weekends we all eat all meals together.

We eat at about 6. DS (4) goes up for his bath at 6.30 if he's having one, a bit later if not. He's in bed between 7 - 7.30.

I much prefer eating at 6. We used to eat about 8 and I was too tired by then to make the effort to cook properly.

You have to find a time that suits all of you. Dh works lates which means he starts work about 6 pm so we usualy have a hot meal about 1pm. On the days he is off we all eat about 6pm then the lo's off to bed at 7pm.

Dh and I almost always eat evening meal with 6y DD, and have done since she was tiny. We all eat at 6:30pm; I have dinner ready for when Dh gets in from work.

DD goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm.

Breakfast is usually just Dh and DD, in front of th morning TV. I leave too ealry for work.

Lunch is no go during week due to school.

I think the older they get, the easier it is, but for us suppertime has always been about 6pm (well, I always aim for that, doesn't always happen though). When they were smaller, we tended to eat once they were in bed more, but I think since DS has been about 1.5 or 2, we've been able to eat together more evenings than not. DH is often the problem, as he sometimes doesn't get home from work till 7.30 or 8.

when mine were tiny we didn;t eat together, I fed the children and then cooked again once they were in bed.

now tho, I cook for 7pm, as that is when dancing finishes most nights, and we all eat together.

bedtimes start from 8pm, so eating then works well for us.

then again tho, it wouldn;t work if I bathed mine in the evenings......mine all have baths before school so it all works for us.

From when mine were teeny, we would eat at 5pm, bed 6-630

Now older we eat between 6-7

Me, 2dss and most times dh have breakfast together. But as soon as dh has finished eating he's off. So he's never there for all of it.
Me and 2 dss always have (cooked) lunch and tea at the table together. At the w/ends dh joins us if he's about.
I then eat again with dh in the evening.

we never eat together

1. we don't have a dining room table

2. they go to bed at 6.45 (they are 3.5) and we don't get in from work til 6. so no time to cook and eat a meal before bed.

At weekends we sometimes eat together, but again due to lack of dining table it's not really TOGETHER as such, just eat at the same time, just in different places!

we never eat together

1. we don't have a dining room table

2. they go to bed at 6.45 (they are 3.5) and we don't get in from work til 6. so no time to cook and eat a meal before bed.

At weekends we sometimes eat together, but again due to lack of dining table it's not really TOGETHER as such, just eat at the same time, just in different places!

We have always eaten together. we eat at 7. we finish at around 7.30. then the chilren chill out for half an hour. at 8 it's bedtime, and they are usually asleep at 8.30.
It works well for us, we are Italian adnd 7 is a good compromise between Italian late dinners and English early ones

My dd is tiny so am more trying to figure out a good habit for the future than worrying about whether she's soaking uo all the great conversation now. She's just started having bowls of pretty much what we are eating, and so far I have been cooking a separate supper for her at 5.30ish, then I have a 1 hour (you can tell she's a first child!) bedtime routine which I really, really need to shrink as am starting work again soon, and then come down and cook for us again, then the whole evening seems to have gone......

I like the idea of supper at 6 altogether then a quick sling into the bath, but would miss intimate dinners a deux I think so prob would go for the 2/3 times a week plan......

I am always too knackered to cook properly by then, I do anyway, but with a heavy heart and legs!

fustilarian - do you really do intimate dinners a deux? When DH and I eat together, we tend to sit and watch tv while we eat, whereas when we all eat as a family, we sit at the table (unless Doctor Who is on and we haven't finished eating yet).

Yes, it's the cooking after dd's bedtime I find hard. Have taken to making and freezing a lot of things, tbh. You can always have intimate dessert plus wine a deux after she's gone to bed...

swap intimate dinner a deux for spoon feeding each other ice cream, naked, in front of the fire/in the bath/in bed.

Mine is 6 months fustilarian. DH gets home at 6ish, we eat 7ish all three at the table, ds in his triptrap rubbing banana in his hair, then when we've finished (7:30ish) DH goes up and baths him. Then I feed him and he goes to sleep (that last 'and he goes to sleep' is more theoretical than actual tho...)