Meal time at your house

Just wondering how meal time works at your house ...

Do you eat meals as an entire family, or do your LOs eat separately? Do you all eat the same thing, or do your LOs eat their own food?

I am finding it really difficult to prepare a decent meal while my LOs are awake. They are usually really clingy in the late afternoon/early evening. DH and I usually end up eating something easy or eating after the babies go to bed. The babies eat at 5 p.m. and I'd love for us to eat as a family, but it's so hard to cook something with them awake. I even put on Yo Gabba Gabba and they are still hanging all over me! How do you do it??

TIA

 

When the boys were that age, I used to put them in their high chairs with a snack or a toy so they could watch me while I cooked. I also tried to start dinner a little bit before DH got home. That way, if things started to get a little hairy, he could intervene and take them to play while I finished up. They were usually really good about it, though not always.

We started eating dinner together when they were still really little. They were usually asleep and then we gradually adjusted everyone's schedule to the point where they could eat with us. For a while (when they started on solids), I would feed them first and then start cooking while they played or had a cookie. That way, their bellies were full and they were occupied. Admittedly, it's a lot easier now than it was back then and it took a lot of time and preparation just to boil a pot of water! :lol:

 

Mine play while I'm making dinner. Then we all eat together at the kitchen table. This is when we are home. We do A LOT of dinners at soccer practice. I think family dinners are important. The TV gets turned off, everyone sits at the table, and we try not to kill each other. :laughing:

 

we just started family dinners a couple of weeks ago when i was finally able to move their bedtime later and not have meltdowns. i am doing a lot of crockpot things that i can put on during the day when they aren't so needy and then just put on the finishing touches right before mealtime. they are eating the same things that we are unless everything we are eating is new to them. then i will throw out some chicken nuggets or something that i know they will eat just in case they don't like the new stuff.

i really enjoy eating as a family, except when they decide to throw all of their food on the floor and fling their plates like frisbees , and the best part is only having to clean up after one dinner, not two!

 

At that age I had a really hard time getting dinner together for all of us because they wouldn't play by themselves for long at all. It's still hard but at least now they will sometimes play or I can put them in their cribs (which they like--I put them in the other twin's crib with books, toys) and I can get some meal prep done. Sometimes I'll do the prep during their nap and then throw it all together later. My twins eat around 5:15 and we usually eat a little something with them at the table. Then we sometimes eat again after they go to bed at 6:30. Crock pot meals and lasagna are a great way to go for the whole family but mine are picky so I usually end up making something separate for them like steamed vegetables. I think as they stay up later we will eat more real meals together but in the meantime we all sit together and nibble on something!

 

I have been wondering the same! We do exactly as you do feed them and eat something quick and easy after bedtime. I wil;l have to experiment with some of the suggestions as it would be nice to have a family dinner... now that they are big girls :wub:

 

I know that it should be a goal for us to all eat as a family at this point (since that is big for me when they are older), but I just can't do it yet. I work full-time and get home with them at 5:30. I prepare something for them (more times than it should be it is something like fish sticks, chicken nuggets, or those microwave toddler meals) and give it to them at 6:00. We put them to bed at 7:15ish and then have dinner ourselves at 8:00. I just put food on their trays and they are happy and eat well so usually I prepare dh and I something (often using the ground beef, chicken, etc. that we gave to them) while they are eating and can sometimes have our meal ready by 7:30. We use those Fisher Price booster chairs and have a picnic style table in the dining room that won't go on the benches so we probably won't change that routine until they are able to sit in booster seats.

 

about 99% of the time we eat separately, my boys are on a meal schedule, so around 5pm they are amping up their crankiness for dinner...LOL...and DH works till 5pm or later sometimes, so i feed the boys their dinner, and when DH gets home he plays with them while i cook dinner or vice versa if I do not feel like cooking that night....There may be a stray night when DH gets home early enough and we can all eat together even if it is 2 different meals (our meals and the boys) as the boys will not eat meat or other foods still...

same goes with breakfast and lunch, i feed them first then myself....Am looking forward to the day when we can all eat as a family, same food, same time.... :good:

 

We've had the same meal routine for almost a year now. They eat every meal in their high chair but they don't eat with the rest of the family. It's just me with them for all 3 meals and even if my dh is home to help with their dinner they don't eat with us. They still go to bed at 7 so their dinner time is around 5:30-6 depending on if we're doing baths and we just don't eat that early.
I've just started making full meals with them underfoot but it took some time. I still do crockpot meals a LOT, that way they are done when we're ready to eat.
Good luck!

 

Family meals are really important for me, and we have arranged our schedules so we can eat breakfast and dinner together (DH and I both work outside the home). It's tough, especially in the evenings, but we're making it work. We do a lot of simple meals, and DH usually will start something since he gets home first. We need to get better about planning meals, but usually we make a big meal with leftovers on the weekend, and rotate between easy meals (like hamburgers/sweet potato fries, home made pizza, spaghetti, etc.) and fill in with rotisserie chicken and take out at least once a week.

I want to get the boys eating everything that we do, but we eat a lot of challenging foods (like spicy chili; double trouble because they don't use spoons yet!). We compromise by eating family-style most nights, but giving them an alternative (like chicken tenders, fish sticks, etc.) when we're pretty sure they won't eat what we want.

It's a work in progress, for sure!

 

We haven't been able to manage family meals yet. DH gets home between 5:30 and 6 and that's usually when I finally have a chance to prepare our dinner while he watches the boys! If they don't eat till 6 or 6:30, it's too late for them; by then they're ready for bedtime bottles and that whole routine. With lunch I do try to eat while they're eating though. I'm hoping we can move to family dinners before too long.
Oh and so far they don't eat what we're eating to a great extent but we're moving in that direction.

 

I live in Spain where the timetables are a lot later than other European countries.

We eat seperately which is something I dont really like. DH has a job that doesnt allow us to eat at the same times. We feed them breakfast then eat (I work at 8am so Ive already eaten), then they have their nap and eat at 2pm. DH is home at 3pm and we eat then its a mad rush to get them out the door for nursery. They come home and eat dinner at 8.15pm and DH & I eat seperately around 10pm and 11pm respectively (DH finishes work at 9pm is home at 9.30pm and then goes to the gym). We coincide more at weekends but even then its easier to feed them first though they do ask to sit on our laps when we eat. It´s not easy or ideal but we´ll get there one day.

 

Our two still have a really early bedtime (6 pm), so they eat dinner around 4:45/5. Due to DH's work schedule, he usually doesn't even eat lunch until 2, so there's no way he's ready for dinner that early!

We try to all eat lunch together on the weekends, but that's as close as we get to a family meal.

As for our dinners, I've been trying to make things during their nap time, so I can throw it in the oven after they go to sleep at 6, and it's ready for us at 7 or so.

I am very much looking forward to a later bedtime so we can all eat together!

 

Unfortunately dh gets home at 6pm and the kids usually eat at 5.30pm, so we can't have meals together and I have to make their own food... same deal here, I just can't cook (forget doing dishes) while they're up as they just get in trouble as soon as I'm out of sight, so we just have dinner at 7pm when they are in bed.

We try on week ends sometimes but they're so picky they usually don't eat when we give them what we're having.

We'll definitely try for family meals when they're older and are not super craby at 5pm though.

 

When ours were that age, we waited till they went to bed & ate after. About 2-3 months ago, we started eating with them, although we'd fix them one thing & then something else for us. That didn't last long & now we all eat together at the table with them sitting in boosters. They seem to eat better when they are eating the same thing we do. So that's nice. However, DH and I no longer have these relaxing leisurely meals with them at the table, like we did pre-kids. But I figure that won't last forever!