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Original poster

Do you eat the same food at the same time as your children - everyday?

396 replies

McDreamyGonagall · 17/07/2007 11:22

This has got me thinking after reading another thread.

I really want to increase the amount of times we do this. DH prefers to eat later as he has quite a late lunch but I feel we are missing out on enjoying time with the children, teaching them manners etc.

We do eat with them 2 or 3 times a week, just not every night. Also I tend to cook something different on the nights we don't eat with them. What do you do?

OP posts:
pointydog · 17/07/2007 14:10

one meal for the pointydogs too (occasionally with a little variation) but we all like it.

haychee · 17/07/2007 14:10

Of course though having posted last couple of messages (before somone goes mad at me) if i had someone coming over who was veggie or wheat or lactose intolerant, thats different, i would then of course make something they COULD have rather that what they LIKED to have

iota · 17/07/2007 14:11

I think I'm going to store my post on my desktop and trot it out very time there is one of these threads

without the by ellimay bit though

notasheep · 17/07/2007 14:12

All 4 of us eat dinner every evening together-no choices apart from one

hurricane · 17/07/2007 14:14

agree haychee and I've been in that situation. Other people's children have said 'yuk' about the food on the table (which might be as basic as pasta and tomato sauce) because some kids just have a fear of anything new and then my own kids end up saying 'yuk' about their favourite food. Hate it hate it hate it. It's just so rude apart from anything else.

haychee · 17/07/2007 14:14

im afraid so olive oil, i would probobly of asked the parents before a new small child visitor came to tea what they usually have to eat, but if its a regular visitor i would say tough! I dont have the time or the finances to be able to cook seperately for each visiting child, often we have quite a few over at one time.
And it is one of my golden rules, if you dont eat whats provided there will be no other snacks between the next meal. (also dont have swearing, backchat, or coming out of bedrooms after having been put to bed unless vomiting or some other extreme incident)

amidaiwish · 17/07/2007 14:15

hurricane, i do agree with you re eating together, just saying it is not practical, during the week for normal working families.

normal in that at least one of you is home at 7.30pm.

we are lucky if dh and I are sitting down to eat by 8pm
there is no way the children can eat with us then. they are fast asleep.

do you think my dcs should eat with us at 8pm?

mslucy · 17/07/2007 14:16

haychee

your house sounds like a barrel of laughs.

maisemor · 17/07/2007 14:17

Oliveoil, would you seriously, if you had been invited over for dinner, tell the hosts that you did not like what they were serving you?

Would you tell them what they should serve your children?

Must say that if you do, you are an extremely strong and independent woman who knows what she wants.

Pretty sure though that if I was your host then I would never ever want to invite you back over again .

oliveoil · 17/07/2007 14:17

I always do snacks between meals

they are called apples

anyway, I am clearly NOT HERE

slinkyjo · 17/07/2007 14:18

me n my dp dont eat breakfast, my dd has her lunch at school and my ds has his at about 12.30pm i dont do lunch either dinner time we all eat together and most evenings we have the same apart from minor changes to cater for my picky dc, once a week me and dp will have dinner when the kids go to bed to give us a break and to eat in peace,

Kif · 17/07/2007 14:19

Did me with my ill judged lentils and hazelnuts launch this thread ?

We make a big point of breakfast together 7a.m. every day - just to get into that discipline and habit of all sitting together.

For dinners, only w'ends including DH, but I'll sit down with them for either luch or dinner most days. It's sociable and makes us feel like a family.

haychee · 17/07/2007 14:19

We have a great time at my house that is why im always asked to look after others ids or why they are always asking to come over. But I DO NOT ALLOW RUDENESS! AT ALL!
If you went to someones house for dinner and you did not like the food youd been given, would you say YUK? or would you keep quiet and do your best? Maybe if youd been served very overcooked veg?

hurricane · 17/07/2007 14:19

When people come for a meal at my house I generally have a range of stuff so pasta and sauce and cheese separately and then different kinds of bread and salad for example or lunches where there's just loads of different cold stuff so I don't think I've been in a situation where a child has refused to eat anything that's on the table although I have had kids just eat bread or whatever. But no I would certainly never go away and prepare a separate meal for a fussy child (and leave the rest of the guests on their own!)

maisemor · 17/07/2007 14:20

Amidaiwish there must be at least one parent there with the children that can eat with them though.

oliveoil · 17/07/2007 14:20

maisemor - no, don't be insane. I would push it around my plate politely if I didn't like it

and if I went round to a friends house for lunch and dd1 or dd2 didn't like the food, I would get them a snack out of my highly orgaised Mum Bag

or they would fill up on ice cream or jelly as I have normal friends who live in Planet Reality

haychee · 17/07/2007 14:22

planet spoilt!

hurricane · 17/07/2007 14:23

But amaida I have said it may not be possible for everyone. That doesn't mean it's not desirable in an ideal world. And as others have said if one parent is at home with the kids when they eat their evening meal I don't see why that parent can't eat with their kids. THat's what we do when one of us isn't going to be around (as tonight my dp is eating out with his friends so I will eat with the kids at about 6 pm).

oliveoil · 17/07/2007 14:24

thanks haychee for your insult but my children are lovely actually

maisemor · 17/07/2007 14:24

I love you Oliveoil, I do believe you are the first one on here to have spelt my name correctly .

pointydog · 17/07/2007 14:25

Let go of some of the power.

hurricane · 17/07/2007 14:26

Agree with you Haychee. Apart from anything else it's just good manners and being respectful as a guest in someone else's house. I've been in a situation where I've had to sneak some (gone off) fish into a napkin when eating at dp's grandmother's house. She's over 90 and her cookings gone a bit weird (biscuits end up in the freezer and so on) but she'd be mortified if we didn't eat what she'd cooked for us. If the kids can't bring themselves to eat it then I discreetly remove the evidence.

pointydog · 17/07/2007 14:27

What an extremely unrelaxing meal, hurricane.

Food is enjoyment. It is not silences, sneaking and retching.

oliveoil · 17/07/2007 14:27

no problem maismo

x

haychee · 17/07/2007 14:29

so your at a friends and you do not like the food youve been given. You push it around your plate politely and are very hungry when its all cleared away, what do you do? Is there anyone with a "mumbag"? I dont think so, it would be very rude of you to nip out to the garage and get a quick snack wouldnt you say?

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