Meal Time - Need Advice

How about making crock pot meals. Start them in the morning, and by then at 4pm hubby can eat, and heat up for the kids later. Or make meals ahead of time and freeze them.

This is something I am trying to do myself. I used to work until 6pm, then try to get home make dinner, help kids with homework, etc, etc. Very stressful. My suggestion is to get together some receipes, and make up a menu for the week, then you are not rushing to out something together.

If your husband is getting home at 4 hungery and you have to work form 4 to 7, maybe he should learn to make himself dinner. As far as the kids. You have to start with getting a sit down dinner to be the norm. I grew up where everyone ate when they wanted to, but my husband always sat down for dinner with his parents. Now sitting to eat is all our son knows. There are many time that he is finished and wants to run, but I always get him to sit a liittle longer while the rest of us finish. If my husband parents could do it with 4 kids, I am sure I can get just one to sit. Good Luck and stick to your guns.

I agree with the other mom's....your husband needs to make dinner at an appropriate time for the kids. My husband is home with our children 2-3 nights per week and makes them a decent dinner between 5-6:00 each night. It's so important to eat together, especially when school is in session. I do try to make casseroles that can just be thrown in the oven, or crock pot meals. There are many other easy & quick options too that would be easy for your hubby to make...ie spaghetti, tacos, or eggs & bacon??

Sitting down to dinner is an important part of family life. It's a time to connect with everyone and share news about your day. Now with kids that are 3 and 5 it probably doesn't seem important, but it will be when school starts, so you need to set a regular dinner time and stick to it. You also need to limit the snacking. I stopped buying so much snack food and it's amazing how my kids will hold out for dinner when there's nothing "good" to eat in the house.

I had a similar situation when I worked because hubby would get home first a few days a week. We sat down on Sunday and planned a menu and then knew what to do. It's ok if your hubby makes frozen pizza and has some fruit on his nights. The crockpot is good too or even some sandwiches. He doesn't have to be a gourmet chef, but you need some help.

I agree with the other mom on the eating on the go. You need to take a look at what's causing this and slow down. It's great to have lots of activities, but everyone can get stressed out by dashing to and from and it can get tricky to provide healthy meals.

I wouldn't want to eat at 4 either. Can't your husband feed them at a normal dinner time?

If you are working those hours your husband should definetly be in charge of dinner and clean up. Also sometimes you can do a crockpot I love the crock pot. But I would seriously let your husband know he needs to help out. That just doesnt sound right to me.

M.~

If you have to keep working those hours than your husband needs to come home from work and be Mr. Mom. He has to have a sit down dinner with his sons. When he gets home at 4 he should have a light snack and then have a normal sit down dinner with his children. If you have to put the meal together before you leave and he has to heat it up fine, I am sure it would be less stressful for him than having to feed kids on demand later in the evening.
I also am saddened to hear that your kids are always eating on the go...maybe it is time to sit back and think about what is really important in your life. There should always be time for breakfast, especially when they are going off to school. If that means you have to wake up a bit earlier and so do they than so be it. It is a proven fact that kids learn, play, and listen better when they have a full tummy in the morning.
Slow down the pace! Try to implement some structure in your daily routine.

Good Luck!
J.

Sounds like dad (whether he likes it or not) needs to step up and take charge of dinner. He needs to be able to cook the dinner, call the kids inside to eat, and have everyone sitting down at the table. If I were in your position, that's what I would do.

This is what I would do:

Have a dinner ready to go in the oven at 4:00. Tell your husband to hold off on eating til 5/5:30. Instruct your husband that when dinner is ready your kids need to stop playing and eat with him.

If your kids are picky eaters it might help that they will want to hurry up and finish eating so they can get back to playing.

My daughter is a picky eater and stalls dinner to the point of making the food cold and nasty. We started giving her a time frame for how long she will get to eat her dinner. Now if we sit down at 6:00 for dinner I will tell her she has until 6:20 to eat. I also give her a reminder halfway through that. At 6:20 I take the plate whether she is done eating or not. She has learned the hardway a few times that dinnertime is over. She doesn't get a snack later in the evening if she doesn't finish.

I also give her more than I know she can eat and if she is struggling I allow her to negotiate sometimes up to half of her food. I think kids just like to negotiate so I factor that in when I serve her.

Hi M.!

I use my Deep Covered Baker from the Pampered Chef. People call it the "Magic Pot". It makes delicious meals in 30 minutes or less and is budget friendly. You could always make dinner right before you leave, so your hubby and boys could sit down and eat together. Let me know if you would like more information.

Good Luck,
S. Centeno