Do you find any particular time of day most difficult? Help me out fill in the time between dinner and bathtime.

[sharond101]

DS is 18mo. Is great fun and we do lots together, dog wallks, softplay, swimming bookbug etc. I love spending time with him but the time between dinner (5pm) and bath (7pm) is such a struggle. He likes to play with me or DH rather than alone and brings you book after book if he doesn't have your attention. He is also climbing and touching all the things he shouldn't. I find it so tough entertaining him for this time. We are all getting tired and his attention span is particularly short then. DH does what he can but has limited mobility so really it's me all day and night. How do you entertain your lo indoors?

I'd be tempted to bring bath time forward by half an hour and aim for 7pm bedtime. At that age I think it's natural for them to want your attention and to want to show you everything. Not sure what the answer is really. I usually sit on the floor with ds and look at books, play together etc.

Scratchandsniff that is what i do but it's very tedious night after night. Have thought about 7pm bedtime too but he rises quite early (6.30-7am) and don't want it any earlier.

Hi, i would agree that bedtime is maybe a bit late. I take your point about him rising early but might be worth trying it out for a few days if the evenings are hard work for you. Dark mornings might even help him go back to sleep...
You don't mention TV. I used to be quite anti-, but it is a godsend in the evenings.
My youngest is 2.5, and we have tea 5-5.30, then gentle TV, bath at 6, milk & stories 6.30. Lights out at 7 for her.
We also do puzzles or drawing sometimes after tea while listening to music.
Oh and I also do 10 mins tidy-up time with kids before tea is put on the table - I'm a bit out of the habit now but it did work brilliantly as when you come down you don't have to start tidying up again before you can relax.

Also don't forget you can start bath early & do an extra-long one (or my genius/lazy move: skip bath altogether as it can be quite hard work with 2 DCs, and bath not needed every day!)
It does get easier. Does he do a lunchtime nap?

Simple! - reverse the order of business. I've always plonked the children in the bath around 4.15, then they have supper at 5 or so in their pyjamas. Then it's teeth, a story and some wind-down playtime before lights out at 6.30. Apart from anything else, baths stimulate them and then it takes extra time to wind down from that. There's no logical reason it has to be after supper rather than before.

Night Garden

What time is bedtime? We've made the bath earlier and longer which helps, then have a nice cuddle in front of the telly with milk before going upstairs. So Night Garden starts at 6.20, then at 6.50 I run the bath, good twenty minutes or so of bath time and playing while I get her dry, then milk, then upstairs to stories and lights out at about 7.45.

Plus Playdoh and crayons. We now have a little chair and a fold-up camping table in the living room so we can all chill but DD can draw etc if she wants to.

Zuleika - you must have very clean children! My 18 month old dd would need a second bath if we gave her one before dinner!

Tidy up! My 18 month old loves to help and then your can collapse on the sofa as soon as he's asleep!

Josie - you can always put a big top over the pyjamas to keep them in reasonable condition, and other than that surely it's just face and hands with a flannel? Even doing BLW with 8mo DC3 he doesn't need a bath before bed.

My bad time is 6-7pm.

In this time we have baths, pjs, reading books, babies bottle

50 percent of the time one of three has a meltdown but I put this down to tiredness

Bath time is 7? No wonder evenings feel an age. Either make tea later or bath earlier.

My 5 and 3 year old are in bed at 7pm, its possibly too late for your dc. We do dinner at 5.15, kids watch TV whilst i wash up, tidy up, upstairs at 6pm, bath, read stories and songs, am downstairs for 7pm. If they are not tired, they are allowed some books in bed, even 3 year old who can't read just looks at pictures til she nods off. I value my evening to wind down!

Ps my kids don't ever wake up any earlier than 6.30/7am

Mine are awake by 5.20 most mornings, so it's definitely lights out by 6.30 and sometimes earlier if they're tired. Moving bedtime doesn't make any difference to wakeup time.

We generally have tea at around 4 - 5 pm, then tv/books/quiet play for a bit, then wash/bath before supper and milk. After that they have stories, teeth clean and bed for 7 ish. As others have said, bath time winds my dc up and would never be able to sleep straight after.
I have found, oddly, that the later my dc go to bed the worse they sleep and earlier they get up, meaning they're extra tired and grumpy the following morning: would this be similar for you?

Why don't you have a snack (handful of nuts/grapes/some cheese) at 3:30/4pm and eat dinner at 5.30/5.45? Thats what we do.