We get home from work at 6:00 and immediately put DD in her highchair for dinner...she is usually eatting leftovers from the night before. While she is eatting we are cooking our dinner and then we eat....by then DD is sick of being in her highchair and wants down. So a lot of nights I take her out while DH eats and then we switch. I always wanted to have family dinners but we just can't seem to make it work.
How do you make it work? Any tips or advice?
She goes to bed at 8:00, bath at 7:00 ish right after we finish eatting.
Re: how do you handle dinnertime?
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
I try to make our dinners super fast so that we can all eat together. We eat leftovers every other night, and I try to plan ahead or use the crockpot so that it doesn't take long to get dinner on the table. Sometimes if he's really hungry, I give ds a little snack, or sit him in the highchair with some puffs/cheerios to play with while I finish getting ready. Maybe you could give her a little snack in the car on the way home so that she can hold out a little longer for dinner?
I can't remember how old your dd is but sometimes giving ds a spoon and a bowl to play with helps keep him interested in being the highchair a little longer.
We eat dinner as a family - everyone sits down at the same time and eats the same thing.
If there's not enough time to make it right then, I suggest making it the night before to heat up or cook when you get home.
Honestly, we eat a lot of convenience foods. I get home with DS around 6, and sometimes I'll call DH on the way (since he gets home a few minutes earlier than us) to tell him to get water boiling for pasta or to get the oven preheated.
But a lot of what we eat during the week is stuff that can be microwaved. Frozen pre-cooked chicken, frozen vegetables, we swear by the Green Giant frozen rice/veggie entrees, hot dogs........that sort of stuff. I have a quesadilla maker, so it's easy to throw together a quick bean and cheese quesadilla.
I'd be over the moon if we could have healthier, homecooked food more often. But it's just not feasible right now - DS runs right to his chair when we get home and usually snacks on goldfish crackers while we're throwing together dinner as it is, we don't have time to make anything more. And we prioritize sitting down as a family to eat more than making something seperate for me and DH.
DH usually gets home around 330 and I can be home anywhere from 530-almost 7 depending on my schedule that day. We do sit down at the table and eat though. It is easier though I am sure since ds doesn't rely on food for nutrition. We do give him some solids when we eat because otherwise he stares at us in a creepy give me that food sort of way. DH cooks probably 75% of the time. Otherwise it is the crockpot or something quick like a Bertolli frozen type thing or something.
I would try the crock pot like someone mentioned. Maybe you could make a pot of soup or stew over the weekend of in the evening for later in the week? Those would be easy to heat up and quick to serve. I also have a quesadilla maker (although you don't need one, just use a fry pan) and put anything in a quesadilla and add cheese.
Otherwise, is it possible to LO in a swing or let her crawl around nearby while you put something together? Then she won't have to be in a high chair for as long. Or maybe you can give her a toy of some sort to play with while you're cooking and she is in her chair (don't remember how old she is, but we use to do playdough at table while our mom cooked).