Dinner time - with or without kids?

[Peachy92]

Do you prefer to have dinner with your kids or have yours after they've gone to bed?...

With kids ... feels a bit quiet without them and I’m usually starving when DD sits down for dinner.

In general we prefer to eat together with our toddler at about 6pm. Then she gets to eat the same food as us and it is more sociable and enjoyable for her, otherwise she would be eating on her own. She eats loads more with us than on her own, and I can't be bothered with cooking twice!

Occasionally we give her something easy and then eat later but only if we aren't hungry or fancy something we know she won't like!

We have dinner after DD (12 months) has gone to bed. She has her dinner at 4.30pm and in bed at 6pm.... i dont even get home from work until 5.15pm so dont have time to cook dinner etc before her bath & bedtime!

I feel quite guilty about it sometimes (along with 1000 other things) but theres just no way we can do it. Even being home with lockdown, Im not hungry for dinner at 4.30pm!

Varies here as DH often doesn't get home from work until late. Sometimes I eat with the kids, sometimes I eat with DH.

We all eat together when we are together at home. My kids are late primary and secondary school age now though, not toddlers or babies. Other than regular mid/late afternoon Sunday roasts I don't think my husband or I adjusted our eating schedules to regularly eat a particularly early evening meal with our kids when they were very young.

The idea of the whole family sat round the table every breakfast and evening meal is lovely, but probably not compatible with most children's bedtimes and parental working hours these days 🤷‍♀️

All together.

Can’t get over a 1 year old going to bed at 6pm!

Or anyone going to bed at that time

Our kids eat at 5ish and are in bed for 7, that's way too early for us so we eat separately.

Together any time between 5pm and 6pm but always ending in total hysteria making me wish we ate separately! I couldn't wait until after they'd gone to bed though - it would be too late for me

With... Unless its something very naughty and unhealthy then without 🤣

DS is 19 months and starts bedtime at 6 (bath, story, bed) and is down/asleep by 7 and we eat then (whoever isn’t doing bedtime cooks). He’s hungry by about 5.15 ish and I couldn’t eat that early.

We usually eat between 4-5 as toddler goes to bed at 6

Always had dinner with the kids. Only time we didn't was if we had a takeaway once they were in bed, but that was only a few times a year. I love us all eating together!

We usually all eat together unless we are getting a takeaway. Dc are 2 & 4 so are in bed for 7ish.

We eat together, dd has what we eat and ds sort of does (10 months) only time they don't is when they're at nursery then they have dinner there, dh and I do bedtime routines and then have dinner after.

Most meals we eat with our children and I love that, but every now and then I do appreciate the peace & quiet and the opportunity to have something they wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.

Under normal circumstances only one of us is at home for DS’s tea (6pm) and bedtime (bath 7, bed 7.30) so we always eat together once he’s asleep. He’s 2.

We always have breakfast together though and in lockdown we’ve had lunch together too which is lovely.

Together at about 5pm, we foster and family meals are hugely important to us.

We eat together at 6pm. We always ate as a family growing up so I intend to do the same with my little family.
The only exception at the moment is if we have a date night or have takeaway after the toddler is in bed.

We juggle!! Sometimes all together, sometimes older dc eat with us, now and again meal for 2!!
Dc who live away from home eat with us weekly (pre CV).

Together between 6-7pm usually (baby is 8 months). DH works 1-10pm at home but has a 1hr break usually 6-7 so we eat then.

It will be different once I’m at work though and she is at nursery until 6pm. She’ll have a snack and we will probably have to eat later but we’ll see.

We all (me, DH and DS who will be 2 in July) eat together at 6 every day except Saturday, when DS has something easy and then DH and I eat either something he wouldn't like or that we wouldn't want him to have! When we're both going out to work (both WFH at the moment) no one is home until 5/5.30 so we do quite a lot of batch cooking to make it possible that dinner can be on the table at 6.

We never really ate with our kids as usually either me or DH would be late one from work. It’s been really nice for the last 8 weeks to be able to all sit down and eat together - one of the positives about this lockdown!

With but I’m a sahm and DH can get home for 5.15 most days. For the seeable future his commute is one set of stairs so we are eating about 5.

We eat together about 6-7pm. I couldn’t be bothered to cook two separate meals. DC eat what we eat.

With. Eating with parents is about exploring different foods and so much about social skills and eating at the table etc. Mine are at school now but have eaten with them since they were really small as much as possible