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?...

One of the things I've really enjoyed about lockdown is being able to eat together as a family. Normally DH doesn't get in till after they've gone to bed.

I have my dinner between 12 and 1 pm.. but we have our tea sometimes with the DC and sometimes without, it depends on if DP has finished work or not.

I prefer to have it with them really but they're small (4 and 1) so they eat early, 5ish. I would be snacking all evening if we ate with them every night! We try and do it once or twice a week.

Even though I'm now a sahm, for years both I and her father wouldn't get home from work until approx 8pm so usually ate dinner some time after that. DD has dinner around 5pm and I eat mine after she's gone to bed, I don't like eating too early and she gets hungry so I don't like to make her wait. I would like us to start eating together more often so eventually I plan to try and make a 6 or 7pm dinner time for us both. But I think I'll have to wait for her to get a bit older. (She's 5).

When DS was younger it varied, I really don't like eating my evening meal too early but I do think its good to eat as a family DS always went to bed at 7pm so he would usually eat first

He's 19 now (and home from Uni) so obviously we all eat together.

To be honest I prefer to eat entirely alone but I know that's antisocial . I have opted out of dinner tonight, have done nothing but eat big meals since lockdown and my stomach needs a rest.

All together at 6. Toddler DD, me and dp. Unless we get a takeaway then that's after DD is in bed.

Together between 5-6 unless having something he won’t like or getting takeaway later. Toddler goes to bed 7/7.30

Varies as 2yr old eats at 5

Usually, we eat later as Dh can sometimes be up to 100m away at his finish time so doesn't get home til 7 or after which means we eat around 8 & they're ready for a proper meal by 5:30/6. If Dh is away overnight I'll eat with them. During lockdown we've been eating with them most nights at 6 & have only been eating later on a Friday & Saturday sometimes.

It all depends. During the week when DS1 is at preschool he eats all his meals there, has a snack at home and DH and I eat once both DS's are in bed.

When lockdown started, we were all eating together at about 6pm but DH and I found that we were getting hungry at about 9pm and practically eating second dinners.

Weekends we always all eat together.

I've always eaten with the kids and DH does when he can (work permitting).

If the kids don't eat with the parents where do they learn table manners from? Where can they see good role modelling of parents eating a healthy diet and not being fussy with food? Where do they learn to converse about their day and what's been happening in the world?

I am planning out our meals to match more closely with nursery when I return to work after mat leave as DS is almost 6 months and ready for weaning. Bedtime for him would ideally be 10ish as we would like to have dinner with him as a family around 8ish when I return from work.

We eat together.

Only on the weekends, i make sure we do a family meal early around five and that it's something he likes.

I hate eating with my 7yo, he is a fussy child and after years of miserable dinners together where he did nothing but complain about everything he didn't like, negotiating one bite of a potato, and pulling disgusting faces I now feed him at 5.30/6 and eat dinner after he's in bed.

We have breakfast and lunch together every day but DS eats dinner at 5pm-ish and that's way too early for me and DH is still at work. We both like to do exercise pre dinner or one of us needs to pop to the supermarket (especially at the moment when I'm not taking DS into shops) so we eat later.

@GrumpyHoonMain that’s only going to work if you don’t have an early start. I’d like my baby to go to bed at 10, but she’s shattered by 8 and when I’m back at work we’ll be up at 6.
They need 10-12 hours at night which makes it really hard to fit in around work.

We won’t be hime until about 6.15 4 nights a week but can see her needing to be in bed by 7.30.

@GrumpyHoonMain your plan will be hard to continue tbh. A 6 month old may go to sleep at 10 but a 1 year old, especially one that goes to
Nursery will go to bed much earlier. They will start dropping naps and formula and they will need more sleep overnight.

We enjoy eating together and always do and always have.

I do the 16:8 diet so prefer to eat earlier with the kids :)

We’ve always all eaten together. I don’t want to cook twice and more than that I don’t want to clear up twice.
The timing has varied depending on the stage the children are at. At the moment it’s early (5/6pm) as the one year old is desperate by then but in some ways I prefer it as it’s all clean before the younger ones go to bed and it feels like we get more of an evening.

@Mumdiva99 there are meals in the day apart from the evening meal where you can model table manners and conversation etc. Plus when my DS has his dinner at 5.30 I always sit with him and talk to him, I just don’t eat my meal at the same time.

I'd like to eat together but nobody else in this house shares my wish and I'm terminally disorganised, so it rarely happens. :(

DD eats at 5/6ish and we eat after she’s gone to bed. Will probably try and do family meals when she’s older but atm really appreciate quiet relaxing dinners with my partner!

Together as much as possible. Occasionally DH and I will have a special dinner and eat together later.
There was a time when DH was commuting and the older two had late clubs and I found myself cooking 2/3/4 times a night which was horrible.
In normal times now DH is away Mon-Fri and DC1 is away at university so it's just me and three DC we all eat together.

For me sitting round the table to eat together is a massive part of family life. It's a great chance to chat and how the children learn manners and good habits.
When I had fussy toddlers I found sitting round the table, them serving themselves then being distracted by chatter was beneficial in overcoming fussiness.

We do about half and half, we eat later at weekends and sometimes during the week. Kids often eat on a picnic blanket outside, or in front of the TV or whatever. We don't have lots of strict regimented rules around food.

For what it's worth, from a previous statement upthread, my family only ate together on Sundays when I was young. I have grown up to have table manners, am not a fussy eater and funnily enough, I'm able to have a conversation with other people over eating or otherwise. In short, it makes not even the slightest difference. Stop judging ffs!