Why don't you eat with your kids?

[Heaven]

It's hard to time it right! Lunch we usually eat together. But dinner often we don't. We try to have something that we can all eat together but often she wants dinner earlier anyway and we can't get ours ready in time. But when she's eating we sit down with her and 'talk', whether we're eating or not.

[JCE0810]

Sophie eats between 5-6pm and i cant usually eat that early because otherwise i eat dessert & snack before bed but i/we are trying to eat with her but its not always easy or possible especially when my plate always looks better than her plate D'OH

[Emma1979]

i think you'll find it mainly comes down to timing.... not many adults would choose to eat at 5.30pm, i know if i ate at that time i'd then probably need to have another meal/snack before going to bed...

i've been quite slack with cooking lately, maybe due to being pregnant and over it... DD will always get her meal done around 6pm, then later on probably closer to 7pm we start thinking about what we want to eat... and maybe end up eating around 8pm... DD always gets vegies, where as sometimes i might just have something quick and easy for tea...

the exception is when we go out for tea maybe once a week, and also i take her to my mums once a week where we all sit as a family...

she's not even 3 year so i figure we have MANY years ahead of family meals at the table once she is a bit older, perhaps school age....

[Bathsheba]

I find that eating at least a small amount at 5 - 6pm and then another 7 - 8pm means that you go to bed with less in your actual tummy... means you are less likely to store it as fat. Maybe this is why I eat foods that most dieters would avoid... because I eat it early not as much of it gets stored? Just a suggestion if you are trying to keep your weight down.

[Doing my best]

Sometimes if DH isn't home, I have to tend to DS, so DD eats on her own, but she doesn't have to sit at the table if we aren't eating with her. And she still eats the same amount.

[Jennifer13]

When DD was younger we never ate dinner with her - she needed it about 5pm and was in bath by 6pm, bed soon after. Now she's a bit older she lasts a bit later, so is able to eat with us.

I always ate lunch with her and we all eat breakfast together.

[~Raven~]

We have to eat together otherwise the kids play up Sometimes I'll feed them earlier but I still have to supervise them lol.

[MrsB26]

I dont eat dinner with DS because he eats at 5:30 - 6pm and tbh i am not hungry then, especially now its daylight savings it doesnt seem right eating dinner when the sun is shining lol, we tend to eat later. Probably will start eating dinner together when daylight savings is over.

[Pretty Butterfly]

My older kids are driving me batty tonight... i think ill eat in my room, alone!!!!

[Kazmar]

Annabelle eats at 5pm bath at about 5:30pm-6pm with Lucy and I. Then bed at 6:30pm-7pm. Dp isn't home till about her bed time so I choose to eat with him
Plus sometimes Annabelle will eat something different eg: If I feel like junk food that night kfc etc we'll eat once she's in bed

[Cherie]

I'm genuinely interested in why people don't eat dinner with their kids? The thought honestly never occured to me not to eat dinner when Jazz eats...?

So why do you do it? When did you start? Is it only dinner?

Ideally I'd like to eat dinner with my kids. But DH doesn't get home from work til 7pm, and DS goes to bed around 7.30-8.00pm, so the timeframes are too tight with our bedtime routine. We tried eating dinner together after DH arrived home from work, but that led to meltdowns and tantrums. It was just too late for DS to be eating, and mostly he'd refuse his meal because he was too tired to eat. Plus it pushed his bedtime out to 8.30/9ish, which is just late for a little boy.

So that leaves me with 2 options:
Option 1: I eat dinner with the kids, DH eats alone when he gets home (reheated food). This is not such a good option for me ... I give my everything to my children, all my attention and energy all day long. I feel that DH deserves a little bit of me left over at the end of the day. Plus, DH does the cooking at least 50% of the time

Option 2: I feed DS a simple dinner (spag bog, homemade nuggets, toasted sandwiches etc), DD gets baby food (we don't do BLS), and DH and I eat together after he gets home from work and after the kids have both gone to bed, usually around 9pm. This is what works for us the majority of the time.

[Oorki Galoorki]

can i add another question.. why is eating with an adult (your DP's) more important then eating with your kids??

(again not trying to offend just curious)

My Dh is a chef so i understand late finishes, to me it is more important then that i model "family" eating the 5/6 days DH isnt home..

[Junglemum]

It's not more important, it's just how it is..

Eating dinner at 5.30 is too early for me!

We will have many years eating together at the family table, but just when the kids are a little older. We always have breakfast together, and DD and i have lunch together.

ETA- When i say i don't eat with her, i don't sling her food and leave her to it. I sit down generally and help her. Or i have a little of what she is having to encourage her to eat. Sometimes when she was in a highchair i'd plonk the highchair in the middle of the kitchen while i cleaned up chatting to her, but i generally sit with her.

[Erin_25]

I guess it depends what situation you are in & what works for you. I don't see the point in cooking extra early so I can sit at 5.30 to eat when I don't feel like it....because my 2.5yr old does. Whom will usually not eat what it is I've cooked anyway. There are plenty of years to do so. He will eventually get to a stage where he will eat with us. So I'm not making to much fuss on it now.
Also when you don't see your DH for lets say 6months of the yr it's nice to enjoy a nice meal together & to be very frank often it's not "enjoyable" when a 2.5yr old is thrown into the mix.

I also think it's important for DH to do other things with DS, therefore he eats earlier (not always) but when he does, DH can come home & hang outside with him having a swing etc & then shower with him & read stories. He wouldn't do this if we made him hold off eating til we were ready as I would prob rush it soon as DH got in the door so DS isn't too ratty & still gets to bed a decent time. I guess his bedtimes etc are important to us also at this age. But again, it all changes with age etc....that's just us for now.

[murraysmum]

i eat with him then eat when hes gone to bed as he likes to eat with ppl but he eats at 5pm and im not hungry till about 6-7 so i have what i call a pre dinner snack with muz then my dinner later has worked for us espcially when we want to have takeout and muz isnt allowed as a he hardly eats any of it and it sends him hypo easier to feed him before hand

[Erin_25]

It's not more important, it's just how it is..

We will have many years eating together at the family table, but just when the kids are a little older. We always have breakfast together, and DD and i have lunch together.

ETA- When i say i don't eat with her, i don't sling her food and leave her to it. I sit down generally and help her. Or i have a little of what she is having to encourage her to eat. Sometimes when she was in a highchair i'd plonk the highchair in the middle of the kitchen while i cleaned up chatting to her, but i generally sit with her.

:yeahthat: all of that also, DH is away again & i've just finished up with DS dinner. He sat in his chair with his place mat & cup like mummy & daddy & I ate some of his to encourage him. Then he ate a banana we chat, sing & talk about what's on his place mat. Also we all sit together for breakfast.

[Sterla]

We try to eat as a family, and do most nights. DH doesn't get home till 6pm, so we usually eat as soon as he gets in the door - then DS has his bath, boob and bed.
However, on some days - like today, DS had been awake since 1.30pm and really needed an early night - so I gave DS dinner at 5.30 and DH and I ate later.
I always eat breakfast with DS though, and lunch most days (though some days his lunch is at 2.30pm, so on those days I'll have already eaten).

I think it's important to eat at the table together, but it's not always practical.

[*EJ*]

Up until this years beginning of daylight saving i used to always feed DS before DH & I had dinner. 1) Because he was ready for dinner much earlier, about 5-5:30 and therefore in bed by about 6:30ish and 2) DH was never home this early. This year with the change of time and his age he's been able to wait and eat with us, so more often than not now we all eat together and he's finally eating the majority of what we eat which is great.

Breakfast & lunch are different. I don't eat breakfast when he does but i'm there, he eats much better that way. Lunch i usually have fruit and sandwhich on the table for him at about 11:30ish and he just picks at it as he pleases.

It works well for us, i know i was always told to eat with him and he should eat what we eat but it was never practical for us up until just recently.