starting full time school next week- after school routines and meals- advice required

[yehudiwho]

OK- DS 4.6 starts full time at school after holidays on Monday. He will have a packed lunch which they start on about 11.45ish. I pick up at 3.15. Normally we have tea at 5-5.30, but he will need a snack when he gets home as I expect him to be ravenous. But I also want him to have a hot meal at night- and to be in bed by 7-7.30 What do you do? I'd like to have an occasional family meal as well but Dad wont be home til 5.30.

When my ds started school he would have a snack when he came home - milk, biscuits, fruit, and then dinner at about 6 o'clock, and started getting ready for bed between 7 and 7.30. I think that if they eat their evening meal too early it is then a very long time until breakfast.

Our routine (DD now in Y1) is roughly:

pick up at 3:30pm
small snack of fruit, milkshake, biscuit, etc.
play time for a bit
reading and any homework to be done, such as spellings
DH home about 6:30pm
sit down for dinner straight away
in bed approx 7:30pm

This changes if she has a school friend to play and DD will eat earlier with the friend. Freind is then picked up around 6pm and we do reading after that.

Mine are a fair bit older, but ours runs(on a day with no after school activities).

Home by 4.

Snack and chill out for the to 4.30

Homework, after which they can play (their choice)
Dinner at 6

I collect at 3.10, home by say 3.30

they have a drink and crackers and cheese and maybe an apple

we then eat together at 5pm when dh gets back

on the 3 days I work, MIL gives them a snack (probably crap...), they come home at 5ish, eat at 5.30ish, then we eat separately at 7.15pm when they are in bed

if you make the snack small, they usually will still eat a full dinner later (unless it is something they don't like obviously)

Mine are also a wee bit older but we go:
Home approx 3.20
Fruity type snack and drink (the fruit bowl is always open
Mad run around then homework/reading at 4ish
Ater homework free time
Dinner 5.30-6

Oliveoil LOL at MIL but then again isn't that what grannies/nannies do. perks of being a grandparent, you are the nice guy. My mum never had 'naughty' snacks in the house when we were kids then grannydom hit and lo and behold she found the sweetie aisle in the supermarket, oh well I suppose my darling granny was the same with us

my MIL can do what she wants tbh, I have free childcare on tap and my children love her

the odd kitkat/hideous illuminous sweets/crips are not going to harm them imo

but they do go when I am off work and the snack is boring

yehudiwho - what sort of snack thing did you do before, mine always had a snack at around 3ish even before they started school

breakfast 7ish
snack 10ish
lunch midday
snack 3ish
dinner/tea 5ish

sometimes I give them something in the playground as that gives you an extra 20 mins or so, and can improve moods if they are tired and hungry

he would have apples/banana , toast, bread and butter as a snack- so I'll probably continue with that, I just thought he would be soooo hungry -particulary as he will be eating so early in the day-that he would want such a lot at 3.30 that he wouldnt eat later but from what you guys are saying I just need to limit the snack and ignore the pleas!

yes

sometimes I give them a biscuit straight after school (helps with grumpy people) then apple or toast when we get in

they still eat at 5ish

if he starts saying he is not hungry for tea, then adjust his snack accordingly

when dd1 started she wasn't eating at school so look out for that, she was really starving when she came out

as long as he gets what he wants in his packed lunch from the appettite he had coming home on half days I dont think that should be a problem- it was the only time I could get him to try new food he was so hungry!

Our DD is in reception and gets home just before 4pm. On the journey home in the car (15 minutes) she wolfs down a snack like cheese and biscuit and has a drink of apple juice in her beaker. We don't give her too much or it would put her off her main tea.

She then chills out in front of the TV until
about 5.15pm when she has a hot meal like pasta or fish fingers.

Daddy arrives home at 5.45 and we all troop of to do the horses. DD sometimes has a ride whilst we are mucking out now that we have light nights.

Back home for 6.45 and then TV until bath around 7.15 followed by bed/stories and lights out at 8.

We then have our dinner together. We don't have family meals in the week but we all sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner at weekends.

11:45 seems pretty early. DD1 has her lunch at 12 o'clock and still complains that she isn't hungry by then. And then wants loads of snacks when she gets in.

When she first started staying full time, I think we did do some kiddies teas at 5pm, rather than wait for DH. But we have worked our way back to having a snack (fruit or bread or similar) when she gets in (4pm) and family dinner at 6pm. BUT she goes to bed as soon as dinner is finished and is asleep by 7pm. Otherwise she's severely cranky.

Ds1 has a packed lunch about 12, a snack after school and tea 5.30 to 6pm. Occasionally he says he is still hungry just before bed so I let him have some bread.

The snack after school is another opportunity to get healthy food into them as in my experience they are ravenous by then. The school only gives them half an hour to eat lunch and ds1 is always keen to get out into the playground so it's not worth putting much in there.

dd was starving when she started school full-time so would have a pretty large snack as soon as we got it and then her mainl meal at 5.30.

She was also very tired and sometimes was in bed by 6.30.

My tip is - no playdates etc for the first term (although that probably applies more to children starting full time during teh autumn term)

take a biscuit and an apple or banana when you pick up as IME they are ravenous!

After school activities often dictate when mine eat.

But if there's nothing going on, they will usually eat about 5pm.

If hungry on getting home then they can have apple or banana or similar. But they have had fruit snack at afternoon break so are often OK.

DH rarely home before 6pm when I pick up (and vice versa) so we don't often eat together in week as 6.30pm meal time too late on school night for mine. We are heading for bath by then in bid to be in bed before 7.30 (my youngest is just 5).

Snack on return from school is a good idea - and be prepared for lo to crash out, full time school is exhausting

DS2 regularly fell asleep in his first term, whilst changing out of his uniform. Aw

I bring a snack at pick-up time which DD eats on the way home. Brown bread sandwiches with cheese (must have those first) and jam (only after cheese ones), yoghurt (the ones in little tubes by Yeo Valley) which she sometimes wants and sometimes doesn't, and a flask of tea. Sometimes a croissant. We pick her up at 3:30, she is still fine with supper which we eat at 6:15/6:30 pm.