What time do you and your families eat dinner?
For me it's 6-6:30 and sometimes as late as 7pm. My DD goes to bed 9/9:30 She's 5.
People I'm my neighborhood eat at 4pm and kids in bed by 7pm. Am I not the norm?
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What time do you and your families eat dinner?
For me it's 6-6:30 and sometimes as late as 7pm. My DD goes to bed 9/9:30 She's 5.
People I'm my neighborhood eat at 4pm and kids in bed by 7pm. Am I not the norm?
Do you live in a retirement villa? Seriously my GRANDPARENTS ate at 4pm cause that is when they offer the 'seniors discount' in restaurants ;)
I cannot imagine having dinner at 4pm ... are your 'evening extra curricular' things for children being held at a 'normal dinner hour' in your community cause I know some sports or dance things I see in our flyers that come out can be at 5:30 pm on families and I always wondered 'when do you feed your kid than'?
I personally think 7pm is the ideal bedtime for children because depending on their age they should be getting at least 11-12 hours of sleep at 'night' right up into 10 years or so and than napping during the day if they need more like 12-14 for the under 6 year olds... so going to bed at 7pm means they would be waking up ideally between 6-7am and well with most working parents schedule that should ideally give them to to get up, have breakfast, get dressed and to work without 'stress' of rushing them.
We eat dinner at 5:15ish cause we often have extra curricular things we engage in to get to for 6:30.
My youngest is 7 and she goes to bed at 7:30 on school days and 8 - 8:30 on weekends. We have supper between 5:45 - 6:30. My 12 year old goes to bed at 9:30 on school nights and 11 on weekends. Is your 5 year old in kindergarten? I personaly think 9-9:30 is late for a 5 year old but that's just me.
LOL no I don't live in a retirement complex.
My DD is in school and on those nights she pretty much crashes at 7:30/8:00pm the other nights she sleeps in till 8am. Ever since she was a baby she would always sleep a full 11 hours no matter what time she would go to bed. The odd time on the weekend she has gotten up at 7am but usually she's up at 8am.
We eat anywhere between 5:30 pm and 7 pm. I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old and they go to bed anywhere between 8:15 pm and 9:15 pm.
Thanks mommyof2princesses you give me hope. Lol
This is 2013, the only true normal these days is whatever is right for you and your family. Eat dinner at whatever time you like, and if the kids are getting enough sleep then don't worry about it. Just enjoy the time you have together and don't worry about what others are doing. :)
We generally eat at 515-530 during the week. If my son has early hockey then we eat earlier. On weekends we eat later. During the week I like to have my kids in bed between 8 and 830..... My 8 yr old however for some reason does not need a lot of sleep and he is still awake reading at 10:30....he gets up on his own at 7:30. My in laws all eat at 4 o'clock and its seriously annoying. My sister in law puts her 11 yr old kid to bed at 7.... Needless to say its a big bone of contention for holiday dinners cause they all want to eat early and my youngest naps till 4.
As far as I'm concerned most working people don't get home from work till at least 4:30-5 so unless you had your crock pot on all day there is no way your eating till 530 and that's if it's leftovers or something quick. No I don't believe for working families that eating at 4 is normal
As a good friend of mine says "Normal is a setting on the dryer". In other words, do what works for you and yours as long as everyone is healthy and happy.
My girls eat by 5/5:30 and are in bed by 7/7:30pm. They get their sleep and I get my evening. Works for all of us. They are 1 and almost 3 yrs old.
Before my son started kindergarten, he and his sister used to go to bed around 8 or 8:30 (and sleep until 8am), so we ate at around 6:30 or so. NOw that he is in school and not really napping, he pretty much needs to be in bed by 7pm...some night as early as 6:45 because he is so tired...and it will show the next day in his behaviour if he doesn't get that sleep. That said, if your daughter is sleeping her full 11 hours and not showing signs of being tired...and you are enjoying this schedule...well, I wouldn't worry about it! Do what works for you!
When my children were small I always worked in an office job and the second I got home from work they bombarded me with 'we're starving!!!' so we always ate right away, around 5 - 5:30 and then it was off to all the different activities, sports, scouts/guides, etc. I always had them into bed by 9ish. Now that my children are grown I eat my dinner as soon as the dckids are all picked up at around 4:45.
It's really funny when I go spend a vacation with my oldest daughter and her family of 6 because they eat around 6:30-7pm and since they are in B.C. that's 10pm my time.
Now that it is just hubby and me and Brianne at home we eat during the evening news and curl up around the tv to do it - even though the table is in the end of the same room but I tend to have stuff on it like it was an extension of my desk/office. But I enjoy curling up and being comfortable for often the first time in the day and hubby buses to work and often stands for the 45 minutes home so he likes the cushy chair too. So here between 6-7pm to eat.
When the kids were home it varied from 5 - 7 depending on who had what activity with sometimes there being and early siting and a late sitting with a snack available at the you didnt' get a meal at either a tide me over till they got back to eat or a snack cause they ate early.
Our timetable isn' set in stone. We usually eat any where from 5:00-6:00. The girls have a bath at 7:30 and then we read and tuck in. Usually asleep by 8:30 on the weeknights. While I settle the girls, the boys do their night time clean up/ shower, etc. Then I read a chapter with them, and they are in bed by 9:00 at the latest. I actually wouldn't mind getting all the kiddos down about a half hour earlier, and probably will do when we start our "early open" daycare hours. It's tricky some nights with hockey, dance, etc.
I think if it works for you and your kids, then who cares?? As long as everyone is getting enough sleep, then do it the way you want. But for me, a 4 oclock supper is tooooo early!
It is a very British thing to have "teatime" as in a big snack right after work and then to have a later sit down dinner. Hubby comes home starving and has toast or a sandwich - doesn't take much to eat at work for lunch so yes he is hungry but not ready for a meal mentally just wants to sit and relax from the day a bit.
What I like is having the last child leave and then still having time to cook supper without them underfoot.
But like anyone with kids knows you fit food in where it can be. Hubby doesn't get home till 6 on Mondays and leaves for choir at 6 on Tuesday so those meals vary. A crockpot works so well in case he is later on Monday I can still eat.
Teatime is not in addition to Dinner time in England. Tea time IS Dinner time. It's just different terminology. In fact for me and everyone I know in England, being English myself, There are three meals a day. Breakfast, Dinner and Tea so I think it's just different terminology like I said. The wording "Tea time" originally comes from "afternoon tea" where way way way back in the day, like my grandparents generation, and probably on special occasions for my parents growing up with their traditions, they would have a cup of tea and a scone. But dinner time was typically at 6 and afternoon tea was anywhere from 2-4pm. Its also like something called "elevensies" a mid morning snack to put you on to lunch. In this day and age obviously this is different for everybody, but generally afternoon tea doesnt strictly exsist for english folk in recent generations. It's only for tourists or for those who watch WAY to much british tv and are miss informed lol. Its like English Muffins...I didn't see them for sale in the grocery store till I moved to north america and I would only see them in England at McDonalds with a sausage pattie and phoney egg on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by playfelt
Rather than eating dinner and putting kids to bed at certain times based on pressure from others opinions, it needs to be a decision each parent makes based on whats healthiest for their child and every child is different.
My daughter is 10 months and I try to get her to bed b/w 6:30 and 7:30 (sometimes 8), she eats around 5:30 -6 and depending on us, we'll eat with her or after,,, I think you're the normal one!
That sounds more like adopting the Canadian way. When we visited England/Scotland - guess it was 30 years ago now the norm for everyone was to have "tea" when they got home from work which was sandwiches, cheeses, deli meats, cookies and tea. Then the hostess went to prepare dinner which was served 1-2 hours later. Even restaurants served tea from 2-4 - ie afternoon snack. Dinner was from 6pm on.
Dinner at 5:30 ( I close at 5pm ) Then bedtime is 7:30, that way they are in bed by 7:45. My oldest (9) reads until 8 and my youngest right to sleep (5)
We do dinner around 5/530. Ds goes to bed around 7/715 ( he is 17 months) and dd (who is 4) goes to bed at 8. I like this routine because it gives me and my hubby the rest of the evening together
i find with the busyness of kids all day, my son (7) and i eat dinner anytime between 530 and 7. he is often not asleep before 10pm! but then i homeschool and let him sleep in as long as he needs to while i start with the dck at 8am. it works for us, and although sometimes i feel guilty that i let him stay up so late, it's often only in the evening that we finally get to relax and spend time playing games and hanging out together. i've decided it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, as long as it works for us and he's still getting the rest he needs. :)
we eat dinner any where from 5 to 6 pm, it all depends on what is going on at night (sometimes earlier) I have 4 kids (ages 8, 10, 12 and 15) well now that its nice outside, NO ONE wants to go in till 9pm, and they go to bed at 10pm, I try to get them to go to bed earlier but who wants to go in when it beautiful outside. Last night we ate dinner at almost 8pm, the kids thought it was funny.
We usually eat dinner around 5:30, but now that the days are longer and the weather is nicer, I find the time creeping back. We ate about 6:30 last night, outside. Then I took my son for a bike ride around the block while my hubby gave my daughter a bath. Then bath for my son, snuggles.... our usual 7:30/8:00 bedtime is now creeping back as well to about 8:30/9:00. But truth be told, I love it, because this time of year I get more daylight time to spend with my own kids :wub:
And how many have noticed crankier daycare kids potentially because families are doing the same thing with the kids at home. I know mine are. Good thing for me is I can move naptime up and they are all happy - grateful in some cases to go but the day sure starts out cranky.Quote:
Originally Posted by JennJubie
It's one of those wonderful when we do it with our own kids because it benefits us in the evening and well we are home anyways for the mornings but when our daycare families do it all it does is screw up our next day. One of my summer complaints for sure. Thank goodness for a laid back relaxed schedule in summer where we get to stuff only if we get to it and no one sweats it.
I hear ya Playfelt! We had a mighty cranky morning around here...thankfully we spent it outside where tempers usually stay in check ;) My own kids have been having a hard time falling asleep...I think it's time for some blackout blinds because they were mighty grumpy this morning!