How do you get dinner ready? And when do your kids eat?

I used to be able to get dinner ready while my girls were playing because they would sit nicely and not go anywhere. Well, they're late bloomers, but they're finally moving quite a bit (rolling, army crawling, etc.). And now it's nearly impossible to entertain and/or watch them and get dinner ready. How do you keep your kids busy while you're cooking? Maybe I need a superyard?

I'm also wondering about what time your kids eat dinner. My dh doesn't usually get home until 5:30, quite often 5:45, and I have a hard time holding the girls off until then. They usually nap from 1:30 to 3:00, and they get a snack when they wake up. It's usually juice/water and crackers. By 4:30 or 5 they're getting really cranky and seem ready to eat. I would really like for us to eat as a family. Maybe they need more to eat at snack time? Something more substantial than just crackers and juice/water?

Thanks for any ideas you have

 

I just let my girls play while im getting dinner ready, we have just started eating dinner together, they are eating what DH and I eat now....I put a movie on, give them somthing to snack on, let them play.

we eat around 6-7pm then its bath, bottle, cuddle, bed.

 

My kids are older than yours so it's a different situation. Not to mention my boys can put some serious food away! They get a snack when they wake up from nap around 3:30 and it can be anything from a fruit smoothie to 1/2 a sandwich. We eat dinner around 6:30 and I cook meals that are QUICK! The kiddos are pretty good at playing together while I get dinner ready. I've subscribed to a service called the Six O'Clock Scramble and it promises healthy, delicious meals that can *really* be prepared in 1/2 hour or less (prep, cooking, the whole shebang). Whaddya know. They're right. I've recommended it to nearly everyone I know.

 

Mine just roam around and play while I cook dinner. I have my older DD to help too, when she is not playing herself. We have gates up so they can't leave the kitchen/eating/familyroom area, so they can't go far. They just walk around. We all eat around 5:30, DH gets home between 5:10-5:30.

Mine nap from 1:30-3:10 and get a snack at 3:45 when we get home from getting my oldest DD from school, they all have a snack together.

 

It will definitely get easier! At that age we didn't eat as a family and I generally fed them, and then DH and I ate after they went to bed. It was what worked for us. I didn't change that until right around their second birthday. Now, DH only is with us some nights, sometimes joining us midway, but we all eat the same thing, and I eat with the girls at around 6:15.

I've always done "prepwork" the night before to make things easier and I still do most nights. I just made a pot of lentil soup and tuna salad for tomorrow's dinner. But it's not really necessary as they are happy to either be watching something or just skittering about. Melissa likes to drag the play kitchen into the "big kitchen" while I cook lately. :wub: Jade is usually camped out on the couch with The Backyardigans or Muzzy while I cook. I don't get home from work until 5:45 so I gotta move fast to get dinner on the table by 6:15, hence the prepwork. I used to get home at 4:45 when they were eating before us, and I pretty much had it ready to go for them. They'd get cranky eating much past 5:00 back then.

 

That was such a rough stage for me. I would hold them off as long as possible by playing, but then I would just go ahead and give them dinner. My DH gets home between 5:30-5:45, and a year ago, there is no way that my kids could have waited that long to eat. So I would do really simple dinners for them. They ate a lot of green beans, brocolli, olives, kidney beans, cheese...things that I could make easily.

As for our dinner, DH and I would just eat after they would go to bed (around 7pm). He would give them a bath and/or play with them while I made our dinner. And I usually knew ahead of time what I would be making (by menu planning or preparing it mainly during their nap).

The past 4-5 months, we have finally been able to eat dinner all together. It is so much easier. My DH gets home closer to 5:30 now, and my kids can hold out longer. So around 5:00, I stick in a DVD and they watch TV while I get dinner on.

 

I may end up getting a superyard pretty soon for when I am trying to make dinner, but so far they play pretty well.

DH gets home at 6pm, and we eat around 6:15 (all of us together). I give the girls a snack around 4pm, and I always make sure it has some sort of protein in the snack (usually cheese or turkey bologna, crackers, fruit, and milk). They eat a lot at this particular snack time, and lately a full sippy of milk too. But they are always hungry again by dinnertime and they eat a lot at dinner too.

 

I remember it was tough around that age. We usualyl get home from work around 5:45 and they get a snack at daycare around 3:00. If I were you, I might try beefing up the afternoon snack to include maybe some fruit or something a little more to try to hold them off until DH gets home.

Sometimes, while I am making dinner I let them snack as well. It will get better. Now when we get home from work/daycare. THey go right into playing. Usually DH takes them outside to play in the yard so I can get dinner ready. Although since I work, we have a lot of quick meals, crockpot meals or I prepare stuff the night before.

 

I am still struggling with this issue. Some days we are able to all eat together, but some days I have to feed the girls as soon as we get home. The girls and I usually get home at 5pm, but DH doesn't usually get home until between 5:30 and 6pm. It is extremely difficult for me to cook when I am alone with the girls. They will sometimes play and let me cook, but most of the time they are cranky and hungry when we get home. I know that I am part of the problem because I don't plan things out ahead of time. I really need to get serious about planning our meals ahead of time and having things ready so all I have to do is pop something in the oven or the like. The girls are getting better about eating the same things as us, but they are still pretty picky and I have to sometime supplement with baby food to make sure they are eating somewhat healthy. There are many evenings that DH and I eat after putting the girls to bed at 7pm.

 

DH and I both work full-time and the girls are at daycare, so our situation is different, but FWIW....

We get home at 5:45 and the girls eat immediately. That means they always eat either leftovers or something quick like fish sticks or frozen burritos. If we're all having leftovers, DH and I try to eat with them (this is a new push of mine -- we didn't use to do it, but I think it helps a lot with their eating). But many nights I cook our dinner after the girls are in bed, so we eat completely different things at completely different times. If that's the case, then either DH or I will sit with them (and usually pick at cheese & crackers or something) just to keep them company and make it more of a family experience.

As far as timing, they would probably be happy to eat earlier if it were possible. They have lunch at 11 and snack at 3, so they are usually starving (although they often get a cracker or something at daycare around 5). Usually one parent entertains them intensively -- because they're fussy and impatient -- while the other one throws their dinner together. If they're really cranky, sometimes we put them in their high chairs and give them milk and bread or something before the rest of dinner is ready. I try to avoid that though, because I don't want them to fill up on it.

 

I usually put them in their chairs and give them a cracker or a biter biscuit to eat while I am cooking. They are getting something in their tummies so they aren't fussing, and I get the time to cook.

 

It was at about that age we started doing a lot of crock pot meals. We could start something in the morning and have it ready at dinner time. We don't usually eat until 6:00-6:30 depending on when I get home from work. The kids usually have a late lunch - but they're a little older.

 

I have always believed the family meal is so important to all the family members! So once the boys could eat table food, right around a year, that sat with us and we all ate together! It was not easy or a lot of fun at first. But it gets better as they grow up (too fast ). That being said, dh works late 3-4 nights a week so the few nights we have together I make a really nice healthy dinner and we hang out talking and eating for a long time. Usually the boys are done before us and we plug them into Blues Clues their fav of the month. Oh and when I am prep dinner when dh is not home, again, Blues is my 'babysitter' while dd helps me out

 

I put my boys in their highchairs and let them watch a Baby Einstein movie while I cook dinner (around 5pm) and then we will eat when H gets home around 6:30-6:45. They wake from their nap around 3:30ish and they get a snack, apples, juice and maybe crackers. The movie is very entertaining to them and it's very beneficial, teaches them lots of things.

 

I'm always the one who does things the hard way. I let them play around me while I fix dinner. This means they can get into all the toddler-friendly drawers and such. Not fun for picking up later, but I just work with them around me. My kitchen isn't that big, either. They learn more from being around me, watching me than sitting in a play yard or even in their playroom where often they will just cry to get out anyway.

I would put some mixing bowls, cups, etc. out for them to play with, maybe in a corner you are less likely to be in and let them have at it.

And, yeah, unless you start giving a bigger snack that will hold them off a little longer, keep dinner when you know they need it. They rule.

I cannot get my 2 to eat past 5 so I often have a snack with them. But, we make a point to eat as many meals on the weekends as a family. They won't remember meals at this age anyway.

As for meal prep, I always try and make one main course for the week that I can use for dinner. A pasta and a meat, usually meat balls of some sort. Then, I only have to prep their veg and fruit and grain. You just do it. They might have to cry, they might have to cling, but you just figure it out. As long as you know they had a snack, they aren't starving.