If you have small children what time do you sit down for the evening

[capgemleopis]

2 children aged 7 months and 2 years, we usually manage to sit down around 8.30-9pm for the evening until then there is always something that needs to be done. Could definitely do more after that but I need a bit of an evening. What time do you all get everything done by to sit down?

do they sleep through? I didn’t have an evening to myself at those ages because they were always waking

DS will be 1 next month and we sit down for the evening after he goes to bed at 7pm.

They do sleep thank goodness although 2 year old has started playing up at bedtime out of nowhere so it does take a while to get her down.

Used to be 7.30 ish at that age, as soon as they were asleep. One of us would load the dishwasher and put some toys away while the second was being put to bed.

Depends, they're usually asleep by 730 - mine are a bit older and in recent years I have taken to having the evening to myself from them. The house is a tip, though - but evening tidying and sorting started to feel so tedious

I don't. Mine are 1 year and 3 years and they don't sleep. I go to bed shortly after them!

When little ones were under 1 it was anyone’s guess. I have a hideous memory last January when we’d been gifted a steak box for Xmas and waited until we’d had 2 weeks of uninterrupted bedtimes for the 8 month old… of course he cried and was inconsolable as soon as we sat down. Fancy steak dinner ruined 😭

Now though - 18mo and 3yo. Pretty much can get them down by 7.30 clockwork. Always eat at 8. One day we’ll pull it forward and eat together at 6.45 (when whichever of us is in the office that day gets home) but quite like our downtime!

Chores are weekends and lunch breaks when WFH, the most I tend to do once they’re down is a quick load of laundry swapped from the machine to the dryer or from the dryer to a folded box.

7.30/8pm but I don't tidy once they've gone to bed. The house is a tip.

Toddler and baby aren't guaranteed to both be asleep until 9.30/10 often so it can be 10ish before one of us sits down. We don't have an evening yet as they both wake throughout the night so we go to bed asap!

9m old and 3 year old - they go to bed 6:30 and 7:30 ish. One of us puts the baby to bed and does dinner, the other puts the toddler to bed.
After dinner put stuff away in kitchen and I am done. So about 8 normally.

But im usually in bed by 9 so 😂

We go to bed at 10 and I need an hour, 30minuted minimum. Its between 7.30 and 8.30 but can be 9.30 usually if it's 9.30 she has come down with us buy sat on the other sofa just to have some time not holding her before trying again. She is 3 and wakes 1-3+ times a night

We have a 1yo and 5yo. 1yo is asleep by 7.30pm, 5yo is asleep by 9pm. Then I go downstairs and do food prep for next day, cleaning, sorting laundry ready to put on a load in the morning, preparing nappy bag and school bag and appropriate shoes and coat and extracurricular stuff is ready to go like gym kit. I sit down by 11pm and then start replying to emails, checking calendar, booking tickets, online shopping (for non-food stuff), all the other computer based admin. And sometimes get around to studying for my OU course. Usually get to bed around 2am.

8-8.30, once DD (5) is down and I’ve got some stuff prepped for the morning. DS is 3 months so hangs out with us downstairs but he’s a pretty solid sleeper so will just wake up for a bottle and go back down

Sometimes my kids stay asleep for long enough for husband and I to have a couple hours together about 8-10/11pm. They wake continuously through the night every couple hours. It doesn't even make me mad, just seems like the way my life is at the mo :)

1 and 4 year old both in bed at 7pm ish. I head straight for the sofa once they’re asleep so not long after 7! Tidy up downstairs before they go up to bed and I eat with them so no dinner/washing/tidying to do once they’re in bed. Too knackered to do much else anyway!

5yo and probably 830/9. Finish work.. make dinner, go to gym whilst other one puts him to bed, one not putting him to bed tidied up so downstairs fully clean and tidy before the next day.. both have baths then sit down to watch tv.
As I type this son is still awake as has a cough!

We have a toddler. They are asleep around 1930-2000. We eat around 2100. But we have always had dinner at that time.

At the moment about 10:30pm, both then wake once during the night and the youngest is up by 6.

They are 4&6. It's not usually this bad - for the last few years it's usually been 8.30-9, but they are going through some difficulties at the moment.

We have no time for ourselves.

I have a 10 year old and a 10 month old. Baby is asleep by about 7:15 and eldest doesn’t go to bed until 8:30. For that hour and 15 mins ish I set a timer for 30 mins and blitz downstairs then for the next 45 mins I just chill out, might have a bath or do my nails, read my book. Once eldest is settled I am usually on the couch with a brew for 9pm.

This thread is making me feel better that my 18mo is still waking at the moment! Both kids go to bed by 7.30 and unless things have gone off kilter, the house is sorted before we go up for bath so we sit down after that. I often fold a mountain of laundry a couple of times a week but other than that we do get a decent evening.

one DC 3yo, almost 4. Bed time 20.30 so sit down around 21.00, usually just for an hour or so, then our own bedtime routine (prep clothes for the next day, skincare…) asleep by 22.30-23.00

At that age not much as the 2yo would've had nightmare bedtimes and the 7mo may well have woken before my bedtime.

Now they're 5 and 3 and the day is typically done at about 8:15pm. This is a big improvement, six months ago it was probably an hour later (youngest's bedtime a peace of cake since she dropped her nap). Usually one or both of us will do an hour or two of work at that stage though. It never bloody ends!

3 and almost 5 now. About 7.30 usually. At the ages you have when DD was 7 months I didn’t have an evening, I was settling her every 45 mins. It passed by the time she was about 1 I think?
I usually crawl off to bed by 9-930 though because I’m so knackered!

I have 1 2yo. She's in bed at 6:30pm so we're free after that

Same ages as you and same sitting down time as you, sit down at half 8 for dinner then go up at 9