Depends on the child really. Some of them were fed earlier but had a second dinner later with the family. Even if it is a just a few bits on a plate they get to eat with us. Otherwise a late snack for them at four to carry them over. Now the youngest are 6 we all eat together unless dad is home late and he gets to eat by himself.

in our house (2 toddlers) the kids eat earlier. They go to bed at 7, and with both my husband and i working they don’t get home from daycare til after 6. So it’s a real rush to get them fed and into bed. But one of us always sits with them. After they go to bed then we think about what the adults can eat. As they get older I do plan on having meals together, but it’s just not overly doable at the moment.

Depends on their age if it’s a baby/toddler with a 6pm bedtime 5 is practical.

We eat between 5-6pm together. I hate going to bed on a full stomach.

I know of people who eat at 5pm, but not without their kids. It’s the whole family together, whatever the time.

We do not do this in my family; we all eat together!

No separate meals – all family meals – time to eat and socialise.

Mine eat when I eat, I have never done the early thing

We all eat the same time, usually 6pm unless after school activities are late

We didn’t eat with our kids when they ate this early, but we did sit down to talk to them.

I also found that 5pm was too early as they’d want more food by 7pm.

We always eat dinner together (me, dad & kids). In the mornings and lunches it’s just me and the kids but regardless we eat together.

I never had separate meal times for my kids. They ate when we did, with us! Why would you want separate meal times? What a lot of unnecessary trouble

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  • • mom93821 replied
    • 06 May 2019 , 6:00 am

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  I agree – seems like a lot of extra work and not the best use of time.

I’m starving by 5pm. We usually eat between 5 and 6. But its every thats home.

Our daughter always ate with us, since she was a baby. Personally none of us has ever eaten at 5 pm. We always waited for my husband to come back from work and ate dinner around 7-7:30

We eat at 5 sometimes lol but everyone eats then, even us parents! Especially as the sun goes down so early these days

We all eat as a family. I never had earlier dinner times for my kids unless they were babies/toddlers. I see no reason to make dinner twice and I decide on what time we all eat based on how young my kids were art the time or around other commitments or homework, bath time tec.