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timing dinner
One of the great challenges of being a foodie and a parent of a small child is the evening ritual. We’ve settled into a pattern with Isabella of putting her to bed right about 7 pm. That’s late enough that if she has a good night she’ll sleep to about 6 or 7 am. Before bedtime, there’s her bath and before that her dinner at about 6:15. After her bath she says prayers and then Melanie gives her milk until she’s sleepy. The problem is scheduling our own dinner around her bedtime.
Most nights whatever we’re making—because we like to do things out of the ordinary—will take at least an hour of preparation and cooking, sometimes even more. But if we start around 5 then it’s getting done right in the middle of the bedtime ritual and we have to wait to eat it anyway. If we start it later, then we’re eating at 7 pm and finishing with cleanup about 8 pm and Melanie’s thinking of bed.
So what do we do? We’re going to experiment with eating while we’re giving Bella her dinner, about 6 pm, which means starting dinner about 4:30. This works for us now since I’m at home, but if I get a job where I’m at the office until 5 and don’t get home until 6, we’re back in the same boat, perhaps even worse off because Melanie will have to cook dinner and take care of Bella herself.
So what do other families do?
COMMENTS
It was when Hannah was this age that we had the same dilemma. We wound up having dinner at 6:30, which meant that Tom would be home by then and I would have had enough time to fit in making pieces of dinner in late afternoon.
Of course, the baby gets used to the routine too. Eventually Hannah knew that around 5:30 was her play time and I could cook (some days more, some days less depending on H’s mood and needs). And when she was eating solid food she was used to joining us at the table. 
Posted by Julie on 01/25/07 at 01:52 PMUnfortunately, Bella usually has a whiny time in the late afternoon. Often starting around 4. She gets very clingy and needs to be held and will sometimes cry inconsolably. I’m not sure how well she’ll adapt to play time then. She’s not so good at being put down and having me walk away to do something else.
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