Dinner time for 3-5 year olds

[Sausagerollz]

Ok so my youngest are 3 and soon to be 5.
We usually eat at 5pm to fit in with milk at 6pm and bed by 7 (I can thankfully do this with my working hours) but what with the almost 5 year old starting reception I was thinking about pushing this back by half an hour and giving a small after-school snack.

What time do you feed your little ones please and anything important to consider that I may have forgotten?

Thanks!

I’d eat at 5.30 as mine always wanted a snack. You can always reduce the amount of milk.

Oh the milk is actually mostly water by now haha

We aim to dinner at 5. Kids are 4 and 7. The youngest doesn’t sleep well if she eats later.

3yr old dinner is at 5:30pm

Good luck with the "small" after school snack! Kids are always crazy hungry when they come out of school!

5pm

i think the choice is either dinner straight from school and a snack plate later or snacks after school and dinner at 5/5.30

Mine are a very similar age but my just turned 5 year old has done a year of school. We have tea at 6 at the earliest but usually they'll have a snack before then. Haven't ever factored milk into our dinner routine although they both only breastfed so it perhaps wasn't as structured as having a bottle at a certain time then moving onto a cup. We're not home from work early enough to eat earlier than 6.

Dinner is between 4:30-5:30pm here depending on when they're hungry and what we have on. Usually at 5pm.

I don't do an after-school snack because the eldest is really fussy and any snack means dinner either won't be eaten or will take an hour while he pushes it round the plate. If he's hungry after school then we do dinner at 4:30pm and a snack around 6pm.

5 and 2 and we generally aim for 5ish. 4:30 would be ideal for them, but it's too early and we aren't back from nursery by then.

They don't eat well when they are tired.

5 year old and 2 year old.

We've always done dinner at 5:30pm, after a snack at 3:30pm when we get in from school.

My children have always eaten at 6pm, they do have a small snack after school because they eat lunch between 11.45 and 12.45 and are starving when they arrive home! Just something to put them on like a handful of tortillas or a banana and a biscuit usually something carb heavy

We all eat together at 6ish but no milk (well 1yo has a quick breastfeed before bed) so it's just dinner, bath and into bed.

My 4yo doesn’t like sandwiches or school dinners so tends to snack at school. I serve dinner at 3.30 as I know she’s hungry.

Mine are the same age as yours and I aim for 6. But they don't go to sleep till about 8.30 so that gives us plenty of time.

Thanks everyone. Sounds about average then... Will get the snacks in!

3 year old. We eat around 6-6.30pm. No milk given before bed. Bed 8.30pm

2YO and 6YO and their dinner is at 5-5.30ish. They get a small snack after school at 3.30 (or they eat it at school if they have a club, the youngest is at the school nursery). They eat the school food and aren’t starving. They drink milk with dinner. 2YO goes to bed at 6.30-7 and the eldest is upstairs by 7 and puts herself to sleep when tired at about 8. We eat later rather than with them.