dinner, our schedules, and DS- Long

NewlyWeds13

Our DS is 2 years, 2 months old.   Up until this point, our nanny generally feeds DS dinner at around 5:00 PM which is about 30 to 45 minutes before one of us gets home.   She feeds him the dinners we prepare the day or days before (which are generally quite healthy-- examples would be baked chicken, brocoli, and brown rice or a veggie bake that I made the night before)

Generally-- whoever gets home first then plays with DS (it varies by day on who gets home then), sometimes takes him swimming, sometimes to a playground, sometimes to a class, sometimes just plays at home.  

Then the other parent usually gets home around 7:30-- and starts bedtime.     The first parent home then goes downstairs and works out in home gym for about an hour.    DS is down by 8:15.   that parent then generally comes down and then we eat togehter around 8:30 when the other one is done working out.   We usually then spend 1 hour talking and connecting and then both of us generally have at least another 1-2 hours of laptop work for our jobs before bed.

Anyways-- this has worked really well for us up until this point given how busy both of us are and we juggle each day on who is the early vs. late parent, but it works.  

the question has come up as he is getting older-- do we need to change this and how would we have to rearrange our schedules to accomodate.  

Our nanny eats with him the same food, so he is getting the eating together experience and eats what she provides.   We intend to have a nanny until he is 8 or 9-- so there is no reason we have to stop this, but I am just worried we will miss the benefit of eating togehter M-Th as a family.

On weekends we eat all meals togehter (Friday nights we go out to dinner), Sat and Sunday everythhing is at home togehter.   DH and I on Sunday nights after DS is asleep do 4 nights of cooking all at once (he usually grills on the foreman, while I am on the stove top with veggies, and we jointly prep the veggie bakes/caseroles.   We usually cook  8:30- 11:30 and then keep 1 thing out for Monday night and freeze the others.... this is how we get the food for the week to be homemade and it is a fun thing for DH and I as well.  

Thoughts? 

 

TiffanyBerry

While a schedule like that would not work for me (eating too late, not eating together, staying up too late), I'm not you. No one else is.  If it is really working for you, great.

But I'm not seeing, outside of the weekend, where you guys are spending family time together those four nights of the week.  And, I think, as you LO starts school and doing other things, you're going to really want to have that time all as a family.  (Maybe not!  As I said, we're all different.)

But most of what you talk about isn't an issue of your LO's schedule - it's your work schedules.  If one parent can't get home until bedtime, well, unless you can change work schedules so both of you can be home some amount of time before bedtime, there's nothing you could change that would affect LO.  With one exception - you can do bedtime together, if that works for LO, and then workout/eat afterwards.

saturdaynightdoubletree

Everyone is different, and every schedule is different. You do what you have to do and shouldn't feel guilty about it. I think it's great that you reflect on this type of thing because clearly you want to do what is best for your child and family. Honestly in today's world eating 2-3 meals a week as a family is more than most - and that includes breakfast and lunch. Eating together is important, but it's not like your nanny is feeding your child and putting him to bed every night before you get home. As long as you are making connections and taking time for your kids, your family will be strong and healthy. You can always reflect on priorities, but your schedule seems pretty well balanced with work, family, exercise, and eating.

jf198400

I know its hard, b/c I get home around 6:30 but my DH often isn't home until 8pm.  We only eat dinner all together on the weekends.  It sounds like you guys have a really good schedule down, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.  I wish we had more of a schedule ourselves- I'm struggling trying to figure out when to workout, cook, etc.  I wouldn't worry about the future now either b/c so much can change.  You never know if your job situations will change by then, which could make a big impact.  And you don't know what your child's activity schedule will be like in the future either.  I say for now be happy with the good balance you've got, and let tomorrow take care of itself.