Even meal timings for school aged children?

[jamrolypolyandcustard]

I have one DS5 and we would usually eat tea/evening meal (whatever you like to call it) at 6pm.

DS has just gone into year 1 so getting home from school around 4ish, he'll have a snack straight out of school but then ravenous and raising the cupboards because it's a long time to wait till 6pm.

What time for those with school children, do you eat your evening meal? Or do your kids have their evening meal?

It depends what I'd be making as to what it is really but he has school dinners so a hot meal/jacket potato and a pudding for lunch.

Also, what kind of things are quicker and easy for children? Usually our tea would be spag bol, a gousto curry or chicken dish, fish and chips, homemade pizza.

On weekends is slightly different as we have varied eating or maybe out for lunch and then a small supper.

Thank you!

we eat early, between 4.30pm to 5pm latest as they are hungry and tired and we are home. I have two so need to get on with bath and bed routine and they are in bed by 7pm as so tired. They wake by 6.30am no matter the bedtime .

In infants I would give DC their tea around 4:30 when they got home and then DH and I would eat together at 8:00pm when they were in bed.

They had a hot meal at school at lunchtime so tea tended to be quick and easy - sandwich with yogurt and fruit, beans on toast, eggs, pasta with sauce/cheese, jacket potato etc.

They'd then have a glass of milk and a snack before bed.

We all ate together at weekends and then as they got older I could push mealtimes back and we'd eat together as I think it's important. However when they were little, tired and hungry it wasn't worth making them wait.

Even though my children had a school dinner, it did not really fill them up and I did not consider it their main meal for the day. So I used to prepare a cooked meal in the evening and I ate with them at around 6 pm. They usually had a snack after school ( toast, biscuits, cheese and crackers etc) then got on with homework so had free time after tea. My husband was rarely home at that time so his was left to be warmed up if possible or else he cooked something for himself when he got home. He often ate a large lunch with clients anyway so was happy with a snack.

Even when I was working full time and not getting home myself until 5.30 ish we kept to this timetable although tea time sometimes slipped to 6.30 if I needed to prep something - my children were older then and happy to wait.

I planned a weeks worth of meals and would prep as much as possible on a Sunday, either leaving the cooked dishes in the fridge or freezing bags of ingredients ready to defrost later in the week. It meant if I was going to be late home, my children could have tea on their own or at least begin cooking it before I got in. From the age of about 14, all my children were capable of cooking the evening meal as I was divorced by then and they had to be independent. Did them good for when they went to University and got their own homes!

I do 5 pm tea for mine one is. Y1 and a 3 year old. Three days a week they get a more sandwich/ snack type tea because of work and swimming lessons and the other two a proper meal. Often pasta based or left overs from what we have had the night before. I try to make sure they have veg on those meals as not sure how much is eaten with the school meals. Works for us and is a bit of variety. No way mine would last till 6 plus we tend to start wind down to bed time around then but I know others who do 6 so think it depends on children.

I find this a really interesting question as I am British but had my DD abroad where the situation seems really different around meal times.

DD is 3 and has just started full time school. I pick her up from after school club at 6pm and she has dinner around 7 and we aim to get her into bed between 8 and 8.30. She has to get up for school at 7am but would naturally sleep till around 7.30 if we let her for example at weekends.

Those of you who eat so much earlier, do you have to negotiate shorter working hours to be able to pick them up and get them fed, bathed and into bed by 7? What time are they getting up? Do any of them still nap? My DD still naps anywhere between 1 and 2 hours a day still.