DH has complained that he doesn't want his dinner on the table when he gets in from work!

[Dragonbutter]

He says he i'm a bit too prompt.
He gets in at 6.30pm and the kids have usually already eaten. I'm usually starving, but want to eat with him so try to have dinner timed for 6.30pm.
But he wants me to time it for a bit later.
IHBU?

We eat together between 5 & 5.30pm 95% of the time. We used to eat later after the dc had gone to be but I got completely fed up of twice the cooking and twice the clearing up.

If I were you I'd eat with the dc, reheat his dinner and sit down and enjoy desert together after they've g one to bed.

yy! except no paper

watch tv from 9-10 when I am dozing off

bed, read for approx 2.2 minutes

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

dh arrives and tries to fiddle with me when I kick him off bodily and resume

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

lol at fiddle

All six of us eat together at around 6 or 6.30pm. Often DP has just walked in through the door. I think it's important to eat as a whole family.

Afterwards DP takes the two little ones up for a bath and I tidy the kitchen and stack the dishwasher - the big ones sometimes help me if they don't have homework. We then have a lovely tidy house and two little ones asleep by 8pm so we are all free to do as we please for the whole evening. It gives me time to spend some toddler/baby-free time with my two big sons and I've recently started swimming Mon - Thurs (I leave the house at around 9pm) and DP plays tennis a couple of evenings and tries to fit in a couple of runs.

When you have young children you can feel very time poor so it's important to claim a bit of your day for yourselves. I like lingering over a meal and a glass or three of wine sometimes but I wouldn't want to do it every night.

Swedes, that has been exactly what we've been doing. I love that in the evening we can do stuff. On monday i went for a swim. Tuesdays evenings i will be working as of next week. And thursdays DH doesnt get home til 8pm because he's racing.Maybe i'll do a later tea on wednesdays and fridays and DH can tidy up afterwards?

We do the same Swedes (except just three of us ). Dh (great cook) usually cooks if he is in early enough as it helps him unwind from 'work'.

All families are different, aren't they?

lol, we have swede when we do a dinner with veg, which is usually a weds/thurs and a sun when we eat together. We don't have a whole one each day, lol. I don't like it that much. 2yo Tom loves it and carrot. I just can't cut into it if it's whole. Toad and roots (swede and carrot) in the hole is nice.

we do what Swedes does too. It's nice to have the house clean and tidy and DD in bed by 8pm. I'd hate to have to think about cooking/cleaning up after yet another meal after that. We have a poky kitchen at the back of house and no dishwasher...

if my DH suddenly decided he would prefer to eat later, I would suggest to him that he cooks for himself and cleans up afterwards. Then everyone's happy.

oooh no I like the old-fashioned dinner-on-the-table at 6pm and eating together as a family. It's a bit tedious but I think it's important, and it's no more tedious than clearing up plates at 9pm, which would kill me. I love having everything done and dusted by 7pm, kids in bed, everything tidy, then we have the evening for grown-up time for work / exercise / telly / beer etc

if you eat at 6pm, how are your children in bed for 7pm? mine would still be pushing carrots about at 6.45, they take eons to eat

do you bath etc before? info please, ta

hehe well on hot days they are in the paddling pool all afternoon so that makes it easier

otherwise it's
6pm DH gets in, goes upstairs, gets changed, puts bath on while I dish up food
6.05 eat en famille
6.10 DH runs upstairs to turn bath off
6.30 children into bath
6.45 children have stories in bed
7-7.15 lights out, one of us sits with them reading (or if it's me then I'm watching telly on my iphone ) - they are normally asleep by 7.30 at latest, often asleep within 2 or 3 mins)

If DH is away I put everything back and hour, due to lack of patience, and they are asleep by 6.30

what time do you do snacks then as mine would be hungry and irritable by 6pm

sorry for hijack DB, but I am umming and ahhing about changing our routine as [shocker] they are not as fussy lately and will actually eat more food without driving me to drink

i like to sit down and have a brew - but DH is very diligent about having it ready the exact moment i get in - when he is first home which isn't that often.

DH wants to eat immediatley he gets in. - which is a shitter for someone who can't cook or time things properly

we usually ea all together as a family at 6.30 around the table. as it should be i reckon

well at 5pm they are allowed telly, as long as they've cleared up

then they are allowed any non-crumby snacks on the sofa

this is usually the veg that they won't eat at dinner time, but are starving at 5pm and their faculties are numbed by the television, so they eat raw veg or an apple on the sofa while being hynotised by CBeebies

Here kids eat at 5pm ish. Into bath by 6/6.30 and bed by 7pm.
DH get home at 7.30/8pm. I start dinner then (or he does, we are quite equal with cooking) and eat about 9pm.

The way I avoid cooking twice is to always make the fresh meal for me and DH and make extra. This goes in fridge to be re-heated for the kids meal the next night!

hmmmm, I will look into this more I think as when we do eat together it is nicer to have the evening free

I think I will start a new thread later when my intray has reduced

thanks

yes its nice doing teh 6 pm thing sometimes

I do it if I want to do a roast chicken or a big minestrone or something I know we will all eat

I give snacks straightway (3.30 and a pretty decent snack) if we are going to do that

So is this thread now leaning more towards the kitchen-free evenings now?

I give a post-school snack

this is usually a cracker and cheese and some sort of fruit smoothie or ice-cream if it's hot or I might make Spontaneous Flapjack if I feel a terrible urge to consume Golden Syrup containing food

it's that holy grail though - Things We Will All Eat

that'll be toast then

yes DB, we have decided your dh in In The Wrong now and needs to eat when you say

I flick flack around changing my opinion all over the show, I should be an MP

Well it's non-negotiable for me DB

We eat on a Friday and Saturday night as a couple i.e. when the kids are in bed and the children eat a little earlier but the rest of the time it's Family Dinner and free evenings

Personally I like to make something for just dh and me, I like cooking so its not a bummer to cook twice.

Also we have a nice time in the kitchen, he comes and chats to me while I cook and sometimes we Drink Wine. Also we like very spicy food that only dd1 would countenance.

my dh gets in by 5pm though, DB's is 6.30pm, no way would my two wait until then for food, they would be a PITA

anyhoo, work beckons...

yes we like v spicy stuff and dd1 has a fecking peanut allergy so thai/chinesey things are out [pah]