Why My Family Eats Dinner Early Every Day
Fact checked by Nicole HarrisFact checked by Nicole HarrisMy kids love to snack. Their after-school snacking became such a problem, that by the time I served dinner, no one was hungry. My children just picked at the healthy meal I’d spent time and effort preparing, since they’d already filled up on pretzels, chips, and cheese sticks.I was wasting energy making dinner, and as I scraped their leftovers into the trash, I also experienced serious guilt about wasting food. So I decided that I should serve dinner much earlier, and it was a game-changer.Serving dinner before 5 p.m. reduces snacking, guilt, and food waste. Here's more on why you should implement this lifesaving hack into your family's daily routine.
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Why I Changed Our Dinner RoutineOur dinner routine wasn’t working for many reasons, including the fact that our evenings were only becoming more rushed as my older kids got increasingly involved in activities. Carpooling between the hours of 4:30-8 p.m. morphed into our new reality.I found myself running around trying to get my kids where they needed to be, while preheating the oven here, chopping a few veggies there, and somehow pulling off a dinner—half of which I later tossed due to disinterested eaters.I began to realize I had some downtime after I finished working in the morning, before the kids came home from school. What if I filled that gap with prepping elements of our dinner? Eventually, I began making the entire meal at that time, and refrigerating it for later. Then, when my kindergartner said he was starving around 3 p.m. one day, instead of letting him reach for cheese curls, I offered him dinner. This was a game changer. Not only did he scarf down his entire meal, but he didn’t eat nearly as many snacks later. And thus, a very early dinner schedule in our house was born. Now, I’ll typically have dinner ready by 5 p.m., and sometimes earlier. My one daughter prefers to eat after her practice, so I’ll set aside a plate for her for later. Then, I’ll have the kitchen cleaned up by 6 p.m. or so—and I’m free to move on to bathtime, helping with homework, or carpool pickup. TikTok Moms Agree On Early DinnersJust this year alone, two videos on TikTok promoting the power of an early dinner have swept the internet. Both feature parents raving about how feeding their children an early dinner has prevented excessive snacking.The video that went viral earlier this year shows mom Aimee Connor in New South Wales as she shares her afternoon dinner routine on TikTok. Here, she confesses that guilt over her kids’ incessant snacking also prompted her to start making dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon, so they can eat when they're hungriest at 3 p.m. In her viral post, Connor shares how she prepared veggies, fruits, a homemade pizza, and a smoothie packed with more nutrients, which her younger children inhaled in the afternoon, “then snack later.” Meanwhile, her school-age daughter eats right after school. “It’s the best time to feed her,” the busy mom says.The second viral video that inspired parents to partake in the early dinner trend came from TikTok user and mom Paige Boyuk, who insists that making dinner before 4:25 p.m. is the way to go. In the post, which has over 2 million views, the mom of two explains that she serves dinner so early since her kids ask her for snacks after school. "If they had a snack, they wouldn't eat dinner," she writes over footage of her and her young children eating dinner in a sun-bleached kitchen. @paigeboyuk Anyone else having early dinners? #mom #motherhood #snack #meal #dinnertime #momsoftiktok #kidsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Paige The overall response to both Conner and Boyuk's videos is that early dinners are a great idea—if you can swing it. Some families get home too late and need to use snacks to supplement meals when their schedules don't allow for dinner prep mid-afternoon. Other families said they make and freeze meals ahead of time for their kids to heat up after school.While the freedom to fix a meal before the evening madness definitely reduces stress, snacking (for me too!), and waste in our household. The ultimate takeaway seems to be that whenever it works for your family to do dinner is the best time—not when society dictates you should eat. For more Parents news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Parents.
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