At what age can your child eat their dinner/tea at 6.30pm?

[Tapster]

I would really like us to all eat together but my DH can't get home before 6.30pm and I don't think its possible for years. DD is 18 months and has her tea at 5pm at the latest and is in bed at 7.30pm. At what age did your child eat their tea at 6.30pm?

Obviously MIL says she can by now, asher daughter did at 18months, this is the same woman who said that neither of her children suffered from teething, ate everything etc...

Even my niece who is 8 doesn't eat so late.

My ds is 22 mths and we have eaten dinner together at 6 pm since he was about a year old. If you can eat together, it is well worth it.

My dd is 11mo and doesn't get her tea until about 6.15pm on the nights I am working. Mind you she is so tired and hungry that she woudln't be able to sit long enough for us to have our food too!

It's one of those things that is really up to you - whatever you find best for your family. If you would rather give her a bit of a snack mid-afternoon so she can stay up and eat with you and dh, then maybe put her to bed a little bit later, then that would be okay.

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule.

Mine always ate at that time. They were in workplace nursery until 5.15pm from 6 months old. by the time I'd picked them up drove home through rush hour traffic and cooked something it was more like 7pm.

We tend to eat together around then at weekends/holidays and have done for ages (DS is 3.4). On nursery days DS eats at nursery around 4.30 so it doesn't arise.

we only all have dinner together at weekends as dh gets home too late. I feed the kids around 5/5.30pm and then eat with dh at 8/8.30pm.

Depends on the child I think. DS1 is 3 and anytime after 5.30pm and he's too tired and awkward to eat. He does much better with his meals if he eats around 4.30/5pm

We have always eaten together at around 6.30pm. I used to feed DD a bit earlier (6-ish) when she was first weaning, but as soon as she was eating proper meals she ate with us. DD is now 3. We have a snack at about 4-ish to keep us going until dinnertime (I am pg so I need that snack too!)

When I was young we always ate together as a family when my Dad got home from work at around 6.30, so I'm just doing the same. It's nice for us all to eat together - plus I would hate to have to cook two evening meals, it's much easier to get it all out of the way in one go!

We finish eating at around 7, then relax a bit, and DD's bedtime is at 8-ish.

my dd is 8 and she has her tea at 8.15 when she gets in from gym training every night!!!

So i dont think 6.30 is late at all.

My DS has been eating tea at 6.30 since he was about 18 months. Any earlier and he isn't hungry enough to eat much. And eating with us seems to encourage him to eat. But he's not keen on eating generally, so different from a hungry child.