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Original poster

do you eat with your kids?

31 replies

Rosbo · 04/03/2008 20:16

do you cook a meal for your kids and then have a seperate meal for yourself or yourself & your DH/P later on? Or do you eat with your kids?

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 04/03/2008 20:17

breakfast (when I am home) - always
lunch (when home) - always
evening meal - probably 70% of the time with them.

rantinghousewife · 04/03/2008 20:18

Yes, most of the time.

pedilia · 04/03/2008 20:19

Yes we all eat together, unless DH is working late then he eats on his own when he gets in.

Upsidedowncake · 04/03/2008 20:22

Breakfast - together
Lunch - usually together
supper - no chance! DS eats a 5pm and we eat at 9pm! We love our cozy grown-up suppers.

cazboldy · 04/03/2008 20:25

we try to.

dh isn't here at breakfast

dd2 has her breakfast with him when we get back from the school run and he has his 2nd breakfast!

lunch we do if no school

dinner - usually, unless there is a problem, or he is held up.

Louandben · 04/03/2008 20:25

DH and DS (2.5) and me, try to sit and eat breakfast together every day. Lunchtime DS has a nap and I eat and read and DS has his dinner at 5-6pm. I usually sit with him and may snack on fruit/nuts/some of his oven chips but DH and I have dinner together after DS is in bed.

Hulababy · 04/03/2008 20:26

If she is in yes. If she has a friend round or she visits a friend after school no, she eats with them.

But on a normal night me, Dh and DD eat together at 6:30pm, when Dh gets in from work.

At weekends we all eat together for our meals.

cazboldy · 04/03/2008 20:27

bit of a hijack (sorry) but do those of you who eat seperately to the dc have the same, or something different?

A friend of mine finds it really odd that we all eat the same meal.

I find it odd that she feeds her kids crap, then sits down to meat and 2 veg with her dh later on!

yomellamoHelly · 04/03/2008 20:28

Do both. We all eat breakfast together. Ds2 and I have a mid-morning snack. Then ds1, ds2 and I have a cooked meal for lunch. Ds1, ds2 and I then have a mid-afternoon snack and then tea a bit later (pizza, pesto pasta, veggie pasta, something on toast etc.....). I then have a cooked meal with dh around 3-3.5 hours later.
I am forever washing up.

Original poster
Rosbo · 04/03/2008 20:29

Thanks for all your replies. I was just worried our lives were becoming too seperate, as we now hav about 3 different meal times in our house. DS2 who is 3 eats at about 5 because thats when he's hungry.
DS1 and DD's who are quite a lot older at at about half 6ish or 7. DH comes home at 8 so we usually eat around then Could we make this work any other way do you think?

OP posts:
oooggs · 04/03/2008 20:30

very odd caz

mealtimes are 8am, 12 noon & 4.45pm - the children and I eat then and dh joins us with either lunch or tea depending what shift he is on.

We all eat the same (ish) ds1 (4) dts (11mths)

Greensleeves · 04/03/2008 20:31

we eat breakfast and dinner as a family, and ds2 and I have lunch together (ds2 calls it "grown-up lunch", it's terribly important to him, we have to share a big plate and a jug of water etc ). We usually have a big family brunch on a Saturday or Sunday as well, and lots of picnics out.

occasionally if we're out late/kids are being particularly odious we'll feed them early and have a curry or something.

WinkyWinkola · 04/03/2008 20:32

We all have breakfast together. Weekends, we have all our meals together.

In the week, lunch - I have with the kids. They have supper together and then I have mine with DH, depending on what time he gets home though.

I cook the same as the meal DH and I are having. Saves a lot of work. Stuff like fish pie, lasagne, cod nicoise, meatballs, risotto all work well for everyone.

We make a big deal out of meal times. I think my DCs enjoy having regular get togethers where we all sit down and enjoy the meal.

I can swear by this book. The recipes are consistently delicious, relatively simple even for a crap cook like me:

Great recipes

Upsidedowncake · 04/03/2008 20:33

We usually cook too much of our evening meal and then DS (2.3) has it the next day for his supper. He seems to prefer it cold to reheated!

JingleyJen · 04/03/2008 20:36

7.30-8am we have breakfast together,
12 noon children and I have lunch together (same food)
5pm children have dinner at the weekend we eat together 2-3 weekdays I eat with the boys
7.30pm Dh has dinner - sometimes I join him.

We all eat the same food except for the odd occasion where I grab fish fingers from the freezer.

ninja · 04/03/2008 20:38

DH plays footy 3 times a week and is often late on other nights so I generally eat with dd - it suits me to eat early anyway. I really like it when we all eat together and will eat 30 - 45 mins later if we can do this.

Usually eat the same, but sometimes it's nice to have one of our favourites and dd has her favourite of Jacket spuds, beans and cheese!!

Sidge · 04/03/2008 20:41

We eat dinner with the children (aged 9, 4 and 18 mths) 6 nights out of 7, and we eat the same as them.

The only night we regularly eat later is Thursdays, as DD1 goes to Brownies so they need dinner even earlier than usual. I don't want my dinner at 1645 so we eat later that night.

Mind you eating at 1700-1730 with the children means that by 2030-2100 I'm ravenous and start picking at junk food!

Original poster
Rosbo · 04/03/2008 20:41

oooggs i must say isnt 4:45pm rather early for dinner - don't you end up snacking before bed? Well my 3 year old eats different food from us usually....but not crappy food. Just more kid friendly, like spag bol or pizza or toad in the hole and vegetables. saturday night is takeout night for my 3 older DCs but they do eat healthily otherwise.

OP posts:
newgirl · 04/03/2008 20:47

breakfast sometimes but i tend to shuffle down a bit later

lunch with my toddler sometimes but i usually eat when she is sleeping

dinner rarely as they eat at 5

weekend lunches mostly

cakes/afternoon tea yes

oh dear i think i am a terrible mother

cat64 · 04/03/2008 21:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
Rosbo · 04/03/2008 21:09

but when you have the 10 year gap between dc like i do, its pretty hard! can't really make a 3 year old eat at the same time as an 18 year old, not that the 18 year old eats at home much anyway...

OP posts:
mollymawk · 04/03/2008 21:13

On days I am not at work we all eat together. We have the same stuff for dinner. Lunch we do not always have the same as I don't like jam sandwiches...
When I am at work our nanny cooks food for the DSs to eat at 5pm then DH and I have the other half of what she has made when I get home [lucky me emoticon]

Original poster
Rosbo · 04/03/2008 22:05

If you do feed your kids different food to you and your DH/P then what do you feed them?

OP posts:
suedonim · 04/03/2008 23:10

Eat with the children. If dh wasn't home I'd eat with the dc. I never made two different meals - that way lies hell, for me!

ecoworrier · 05/03/2008 10:00

suedonim, my thoughts exactly!

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