Snack plates for dinner

[Goodnightelizabethgoodnight]

I'm sure it's just an older generation mindset of needing 3 hot square meals a day, but my gran was shocked ( 🙄 ) that my 3 year old had a snack plate for his dinner.

Plenty of nights we do have a hot meal together but I'd say at least once, sometimes twice a week, he happily sits and eats a little snack plate in front of the telly. He's been at nursery 9-3, outdoors for much of the time, he's tired, and he just wants to chill. I know the feeling myself! So after two helpings of curry with rice for his lunch at nursery I don't think it's a problem to have a snack plate for dinner.

He's having the same snack plate today as he did yesterday which has breadsticks, oatcakes, humous, salami, smoked cheese, raspberries, strawberries, chopped cucumber and peppers. He might have a small bowl of soup after too. Tbh I think he's living the best life with his little platter in front of the telly and I think it's great 😁

Breakfast was porridge, lunch was curry and rice, tomorrow for dinner we're having chicken risotto, and the next night we're having spaghetti bolognese.

Anyone else do the same with their kids?

I used to do similar but DDs called it an indoor picnic. Some days they wanted a “picnic” instead of “dinner” it was basically salad/veg/protein separated. Nothing wrong with it.

In summer we do the same but eat it in the garden. Same food, just on a blanket outside and he snacks away while he plays.

@Goodnightelizabethgoodnight sounds like ever normal kids preference (food they like & will definitely eat) and watching a movie/cartoon etc... of their choice.

I seriously don't understand the MN television haters; apparently delayed speech blah blah blah! It's bullshit I always had the tv on in the background while were growing up (now all in their 20s) usually Disney channels/Nickelodeon/boomerang and my kids couldn't give a shit about it 🤣 they maybe watched it for around 5/10 minutes and became uninterested and would rather go and play.
I think if you make things like tv or consoles limited it makes them more interesting to kids & their curiosity. Mine knew they were there if they wanted them but because they could have them they didn't really bother so much.

Do the DC of the TV avoiders play on tablets?

I call bullshit on a lot of the responses. But then again, maybe I'm wrong. After all @BitOutOfPractice thinks my gran and her opinions are a figment of my imagination.

Perhaps all the no tv and hot dinners every single evening parents are telling the truth.

@Goodnightelizabethgoodnight I'm a bit envious of your ds. A picnic type tea in front of the TV (the horrors!) is what dreams are made of in my house and I'm a long way off being a toddler.

I think it's fine if they have a hot meal at lunch time

Nobody would criticise if you fed him
Sandwiches and snack plate for lunch

This sums up how ridiculous some of the responses are

I know. I don't understand how rigid some people's thinking is.

If the OP had fed her DC hummus, oatcakes, fruit etc for lunch and curry and rice for dinner, that would have been fine, but not the other way around? (why?).

The number of hot meals each day has to be just so, at least one meal must be hot, but more than that is excessive (again, why?).

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

I've watched quite a few people doing WWII 'diets' and I have been surprised how much sugar was included. It was about 40g a day.

Most people were doing heavy industrial work and housework would build muscles.

I think there are a few myths about rationing.

1. You still had to pay for food so whatever your ration was you had to afford it too.

2. The royal family and lords and ladies stuck to their rations - well yes they did, but you were allowed to keep / eat any food you grew. Some people had gardens or allotments but others had entire estates. They had to register some animals but game and fish were never rationed.

3. If you could afford it you could eat n a restaurant every day. British Restaurants were like works canteens but places like Claridge's remained open.

Mine had steamed pollock, a banana, an orange, a yogurt and some sweetcorn. She was very happy and very little cooking involved for me!

My daughter just turned three and I couldn't tell you the amount of times she has at a hot home cooked meals she's says offered it but very rarely eats it. She much prefers sandwiches and picky lunches/dinners 😁

@Bjorkdidit

It's not the food it's plonking the kid in front of the tv rather than the family sitting at the table and sharing a meal together (even if people at the table have different foods)

@ValentineValentineV

Tablets hadn't been invented when my dc were tiny so they got minimal tv only and never at meal times. We don't have the tv on even now at meal times and dc are adults

I don't know if that's something to be proud of? It's not whether it's hot or cold. It's the eating in front of the TV that's the concern.

It's not hating TV. It's the eating in front of the TV

My dad always ate his tea in front of the telly. It was while he watched the news and found out what was happening in the world.
Nothing wrong with multi tasking 😂

It's good to install a sense that meal times are a sociable time. Children learn to hold a conversation and can be taught table manners etc. The saddest thing is seeing families in restaurants where children are brought along and sit glued to ipads and phones as they equate eating with a screen. And they eat with their hands not knives and forks. Pretty obvious where this has come from. Children can actually be great company at the table if they raise their eyes. I've never allowed a screen at any table where we eat and people have always appreciated that and compared my kids manners and chat with other children which actually I'm pretty pleased about. I can safely say I did at least one thing right.

Sounds absolutely fine to me. Our TV is always on too and somehow, my DS has managed to develop a wonderful vocabulary.

We also call it the dreaded ''picky tea'' which is hated on here. 😂

@Hoppingabout do meal times have to be sociable time?
To me food is fuel. I prefer to just eat and do any socialising at another time.

There’s literally nothing wrong with eating in front of the tv for 2/21 meals of the week.
What great harm do you think will come from that?

Well they dont have to of course! But it's a good place to learn how to talk to adults, how to discuss things, how to learn to debate and keep your temper. How to tell an audience about something even if its only your family. How to listen to others. How to learn how to behave if you were invited out to dinner. Its often the only time the whole family is together and facing each other and have each other's attention. Its only in the last decades or so that TV has replaced chat to others. My kids are older teenagers and you can totally tell the ones that were brought up having a good chat at the supper table. I don't know why anyone wouldn't do it if they were able (and had a table obvs!). We have always had such a laugh at the table together, whichever of us are there.

The restaurant thing was a hard slog when my kids were the only ones without a screen and they would watch their cousins for example glued to screens rather than the people they were with. But it's really paid off now.

I think we all know this really.

I think you're wrong and I have never done that to my children . But it's horses for courses of course. No one is marking our child rearing so none of us will ever know who is right!

@Hoppingabout hmmm.....I'd prefer to spend meal times concentrating on food and actually eating it. If I was too busy having in depth discussions and family debates my food would go cold 😂
Everyone is different I suppose.

Ok fair enough. I suppose if I concentrated on what I was eating and stopped yapping I might actually eat less and lose some weight!!.