what time do you eat your tea? and do you all eat together ?

[robinredbreast]

dd is 5 months and i'll be weaning her at 6 months.
i know its a long way off!! but just wondering when shes on three meals a day what time should i give dd her tea?
be nice for us 3 to all eat together [me dd and dh]
but he usually likes to be home a while before eatting, says he likes to relax a bit before tea
id prob prefer for us all to eat at say 5-530, all at the same time and obv when dd is more established with eatting meals sort of eatting the same meals.

or do you find it best to say feed your lo's early say 4 ish then you eat with your dh later?

We all eat together at 6pm. DCs are 2.9 and 16 months. I think it's great to eat together if possible.

Dcs eat at about 5.45. As I have literally just walked through the door on work days and am trying to sort 3 million other things out while they eat, we do not (and indeed this would be a bit early for me). Dh and I eat about 8.00.

We do always make sure we are in the kitchen with them and one of us tries to sit at the table with them. I think its really important that we are at least around.

We try and have lunch together when we are at home.

at 6 months, mine were ready for bed at 6.30pm or so

I used to give them tea at 5ish and we would eat in peace when they went to bed at 7pm

now when I am off work, or at weekends, we all eat together at 5ish

any later and it puts back bath and bedtime I find, they eat v-e-r-y slowly

We eat together at 5.30-6.30 ish unless they have friends round in which case I feed them at 5 and we eat at 7.30 ish. Same applied from when they were weaned with an afternoon bottle/snack to keep them going .

We all eat together anytime between 5pm and 6pm

Girls are now 3 and 2yo but we have done this since DD1 was about 12 mnths.

I would hate to have to do one meal for them and another for us later, so makes sense to all eat together as a family, then bath/bed routine from 6.30 - 7.30pm

BLISS

DD usually eats at 5.30. I will sit with her and have a cup of tea and a piece of fruit or something. DH gets back at 6ish and spends the last hour before bedtime with DD then he and I eat at 7.30-8.00ish depending on who is cooking.

Sometimes I have friends with older children visiting and then we all might eat together at 6ish.

Yes, we all eat together and always have. When my daughter was little we had dinner at around 7.30 pm, and since she was one we have all sat down for dinner at about 8 pm, sometimes later.

My daughter is just three.

We all eat together - I get in from work about 6ish and DH had usually started dinner so we (DS whose 5, DH and me)all usually eat about 6.30. At the weekend we eat later usually between 7 between and 8 once we get in from whereever we've been

we all eat together at 6ish

ds is 5 dd a teen

would eat a bit earlier for ds' sake but dd watches neighbours ,and he seems to last .

When he has swimming after school he eats earlier on his own,which he loves.

I can't bear the thought of cooking twice and we enjoy sitting down together.

Kids are starving when they get home at either 4pm or 5pm, so they eat immediately.

I eat with dh around 8pm when they've gone to bed.

I eat with the kids between 6-7pm. Dh comes home late 8.30-9ish and if I waited for him to eat with I'd have eaten everything in the cupboard & fridge!

dd (4) and ds (1) eat around 5/5.30pm and I eat with dh around 8pm. I sit at the table with the kids and chat while they eat. DH doesnt get in from work till 6.30/7pm and after the kids are in bed he cooks our dinner (I do the kids their dinner). At weekends we all eat together around 5.30pm.

DS (15 months) has his tea at about 5pm and goes to bed about 6.30pm. We tend to eat later once he's in bed but we always have breakfast all together and lunch (when we're not at work).

Not sure DS would cope with being left on his own while I cooked a meal for us all in the afternoon (our kitchen is tiny so he can't really sit and watch) so we cook once he's in bed and save him some in the fridge/freezer for his tea the next day.

I get round the hungry earlier problem by giving the kids a light 'tea' and then having supper all together bout 6.30.
So tonight they've had crumpets at about 3.30/4 and later we'll eat when my dp gets in about 6ish. They don't eat tons my two but they seem to prefer to eat a bit every couple of hours.

Saying that at least a couple of times a week I feed the dcs while dps working and then we cook when they're finally settled but that often means eating 9-930.

I eat with dd1(2.5) and dd2 (7m) around 4.30-5pm. Dh isn't home until 6.15 at the earliest so he eats after they've gone to bed. Would love us all to eat together but the dd's are just too tired and emotionally unstable by that time (neither great nappers).

DD has her tea about 5.30 and DH doesn't get in until at least 9.30 usually. 5.30 is far too early for me to eat so I usually wait and eat v. late with dh to save cooking 3 meals.

Weekends we often try and all go out for an earlyish meal on saturday night and have just started trying to eat together on sundays at about 6 which is nice (actually its more stressful than nice at the mo but sure its good for us all).

I completely agree with Jarm. I collect DS from nursery on my way back from work and we all eat together soon after getting back - either DP makes something and has it ready or I make something quick. It's so nice to eat en famille and it also means that bath and bed then happen at a reasonable hour, leaving a nice long evening for us grownups to enjoy together. It helps that both DP and I would much rather eat early than late.

We all eat together at about 5.45 or 6.00, unless dp is stuck at work (rare) when we might eat later. We started doing it when ds2 was sleeping v badly as a little baby and we didn't know whether we'd get dinner at all, or were eating really late and then falling into bed. But it was always something I wanted to do - I think it's a good thing to all sit down together at the end of the day and talk/eat together, especially these days when people often don't seem to get much time to sit down and reflect on the day. DS1 (2) seems to be much happier with this arrangement too, and it encourages him to try out little bits of things he might not try otherwise. Now that we're used to it, DP and I would hate to have to start cooking again after we've got them both to bed - we can just kick back and relax for a few hours. Bliss, like JARM says.

midnightexpress your second sentence sums up our family right now. It's so hard to try and settle a little one now 13 weeks old - knowing that you have got to go and start cooking - sometimes at 8 or 9pm.

I thought I would miss my nice peaceful dinner at 7pm or thereabouts. Now we have started eating at 5.30 I am always ready for my dinner at that time - you get used to it. Often we have a sneaky pudding late on in the evening - sort of for supper!

LOL at 'sort of for supper' lollipop.

So do we. And a glass of wine, sort of for sanity.

weekdays DS's eat around 6-6.30ish. I then eat later with DH (around 10ish - or sometimes on my own after the DS's are in bed if I'm too hungry to wait).

Weekends we all eat together around 6-6.30ish

Home from school at 5. Kids eat at 6pm ish. DH and I eat later when he gets in from work (which is usually after 7pm)
Weekends we all eat together between 6 and 7pm.

dd 3.10 has a snack at about 3.30 then we all eat at about 6. if dh is working late we have something reheatable like stew or curry