Schools ends 3:30, fruit after school then dinner 5pm and snack before bed ?! Is this too much or wrong

[Momofmanykids]

hello I used to do dinner 6-6;30
now I moved it to 5 and from what I come from it’s not the norm . The norm is 7pm but because we are in the uk I decided to give it a try. Yesterday was the first attempt. I gave my child fruit pear after school 3:30 and he ate dinner 5pm and then pudding 7:30!
should I skip the fruit after school and go straight to dinner ?

You should do what works best for you.

My child finished school at 14:00 and is always hungry, so I give him plenty of healthy snacks - fruit, veggies, breadsticks, nuts, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc it’s sometimes hard to keep him from eating too much before dinner time…

We have dinner at around 17:30, sometimes even at 17:00 if everyone’s at home early.

He usually has a bedtime snack (usually hot chocolate/milk and toast) at around 19:00-19:30, and sleeps by 20:00-20:30.

Do what works for you and your kid. My son was/is always starving after school. I wfh, husband works odd hours so at primary age we would have a family meal at 4pm. Then son would have 'supper' at 6.30/7 (healthy snack and glass of milk).before bed.

He's 16 now - still wants dinner as soon as he gets home 4.45pm. It works for us. Even if we aren't all around to eat together I have a freezer of dinners to choose from and he happily cooks for himself too. We just make a point to eat as a family at the weekend.

Do what works for you! Sod everyone else

Mine have an after school snack, dinner, pudding and then more often than not, a bed time snack. They both play alot of sport and are always hungry.

7pm isn’t the norm, at least not for primary school children. Why on earth would you cut out the fruit from your little scenario? The fruit is fine. I’m not exactly sure what the issue is. Feed your kid enough food.

My dc always ate at 6.30 as we believe eating as a family is important. They had a snack of fruit, carrot sticks and hummus or occasionally a biscuit at 3.30 during early primary and nothing once older

Unfortunately I often get home with my DD 5 between 6:30 and 7 and we usually eat between 8 and 8:40pm...
Every family is different so please do what works for you! When I was young I remember eating around 5:30-6:30 pm but we always had a supper around 9 as well so I think eating early can leave you hungry later.

Sounds like it’s working for you so go with that.
Ours changes daily depending on activities.
Monday dinner is 4pm as gym is at 5:10. Get back around 6:45 and then straight into bedtime routine so in bed by 7:30.
Tuesday dance is 4-5:15 so dinner is at 5:45.
Wednesday karate is 6-8 so dinner around 4:45
Thursday no activities so probably around 5-5:30
Friday swimming at 6 so dinner is probably 4:30.
I would say snacks after dinner only happen on days when dinner is before 5 as they don’t really snack before that. So for us it is either a snack before OR after dinner. Not both. But if it works for you who cares!
Ours are 6 and 3 though so always in bed by 7:30, other than the 6 year old on a Wednesday but goes straight to bed when she gets back from karate

Aww, poor love, that's horrible for him. If am right in thinking, people tend to have movements in the morning, so it prob helps having more time and liquid in your son for night time to do it's magic when eating earlier! Hopefully enough time to go before school in the morning?

I don't know if helps or if he will like it, pure pear juice is very good for constipation but it's very sweet. Can be frozen into lollies if you want a break making biscuits!

This sounds perfect and similar to what we do. Did it work well for your child and for you as a family? If so stick with it

Well done you! Fruit and exercise and calm and the best for constipation

If you just do the meal at 5pm it’s an awful long time before food the next day and low blood sugar causes earlier waking …

I'd do whatever feels right for you and fits with your child's hunger. Schools are all different and so are families. I'm not sure 11.45 lunch and 5pm dinner are "the norm" at least not where I live, because parents work and kids have hobbies etc. Maybe for younger ones who go to bed early.
We do (kids 7 and 10);
Snack after school (school lunch is 12.30-1.30 for 1 child and 12 for the other) normally fruit plus a little treat or a lolly on a hot day
Family dinner for all of us 6-6.30, we might have a pudding or we might not, the kids have free access to the fruit bowl anyway, so if they're still hungry they can grab an apple/kiwi/plum (normally) whenever they want and I dont monitor it.
Bedtime 8pm ish
Dinner also moves if someone has a club, so might be 5.30 if they've a 6pm sport or might be 7pm if they've a 5pm club.
I wouldn't worry about how spot on the time is, just fit it around what works for your family.

My dc have a snack after school each day either a small banana or a little chocolate bar eg freddo. Dinner at 5 then bedtime milk at 730pm with 1 cookie.

DC has a sandwich, fruit and snacks for 3.30 after school then dinner all together about 6.30 .

If there is a club after school then the sandwich and snacks go to school to be eaten before the club.

Bedtime between 8.30-9pm.

This works for us as we want to eat dinner together and both DH and I work full time sometimes wfh.

Sounds good - you could bring the dessert earlier so it’s not too sugary at bed and helps him sleep better too. Keep the fruit, they’re depleted after school, mine eat quite a bit after school and could still eat dinner at 5.30.

good luck.

We used to eat dinner at 5. My husband would get home at half 4 & I would work the 6-10 shift at a supermarket. Retail staff work all sorts of different shifts

What is the actual issue op? Why can't he have the fruit after school, then dinner at 5 then a snack before bed?

We always used to do dinner at 6 until DD started school and she was so hungry afterwards we started giving her an early dinner. If we have activities straight after school she'll have a substantial snack similar to a lunch box then dinner when she gets home. Unless DC is very fat or always complaining about hunger then I don't understand the worry

I used to bring snack to school to eat on way home as they were so hungry - then dinner at 5 (for the DC, not parents) and nothing before bed as it was 7pm when really young then increased as they got older so they’d eat with us (7pm) I can’t remember when that changed but would’ve been by late primary school I think (always bought a snack). pudding is much better to eat straight after a meal, no-one should be eating just before bed, so bad for digestion.

When I was at school I had a big snack when I got home at 4pm ish and then we ate about 6pm.

Ps: I went back to work p/t when youngest was in reception so when they went to after school club they’d get a snack there and I’d make a quick dinner at home so they’d eat by 6.00pm.

Snack, dinner, pudding sounds fine and quite normal - pudding would normally be closer to dinner in our house.

We do snack which tends to be carb based (3.15pm pick up), Dinner 4.30-5.30pm (depending on activities that day), Pudding straight after dinner - sometimes fruit sometimes sweet based. Some days my kids will just constantly eat from being home though.

This is what I do as well. If we waited till 7 for dinner they would just want snacks. I do dinner early when they are hungry so they eat good food.

Not everyone works standard office hours, in fact I know very few people that do! I work 9-2 mostly from home, DH WFH but job is international and works on and off most of the day depending on meeting times. All DD's school friend parents have flexible jobs, able to do school runs most days with occasional wraparound until 4.30.

We don’t get home until 7 so dinner is never before 7.30 here. Do what works for you!

Some days my daughter will ask for food after school some not
yesterday she had 2 snacks at about 3.45
dinnner was at 5.30
straight after dinner she has fruit and yogurt

then at 8pm she had a tiny bit of milk and a soreen

ideally I’d prefer not to snack after school
and actually once we had switched from school dinners to a packed lunch she stopped needing to eat most days between school and dinner