We were eating at a friend's house this weekend and dinnertime was the exact opposite of what it is at out house. I'm curious what dinnertime is like at your house!
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Chaotic. We both work FT so from the second we get in it's a zoo.
Take the dog out, nurse the 14m, get dinner started, get a snack for both kids, make a plate for all of us, get the girls started, the girls need drinks, 3.5 yr needs more napkins, baby is throwing food to the dog, she's feeding the dog out of her hand, the dog needs to get fed, the dog needs to go out, 3.5 yr needs more milk, baby needs more food, dog is begging for food, baby is done and wants out of her chair. Did I eat dinner yet? Quick clean up and bath time.Is it bedtime for ME yet?
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Pretty calm if I've prepped a meal beforehand. It's only chaotic on those last minute type nights when I haven't defrosted or prepped, but then we eat pasta.
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It's not usually too bad but there are definitely days my son kicks and screams about going into the high chair or throws food. Getting dinner on the table can be rough if we're both still finishing up work/emails but we feel pretty calm by the time we're all sitting together.
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It's usually pretty calm. My mom spends some time with Ev while I get dinner together, and he's usually pretty laid-back during meals. Occasionally have to wrangle him to stay in his seat, but it's almost never chaotic. We'll see what happens with #2 being added in, lol!
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Always calm!
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Well, my husband doesn't get home until 7:30 most nights, so LO has to eat before he is home. Generally she sits in her high chair in the kitchen to eat--sometimes I sit next to her and eat. Other times, I sit near her in a different chair and nurse the baby.
It's only chaotic if the toddler is in a tantrummy mood.
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It's funny, we had a similar experience a few weeks ago when we visited some friends.
At our house, there are no screens of any kind during dinnertime. We all sit at the table. We listen to a classical music station on Pandora in the background. LO is required to sit quietly throughout the meal, even after she's finished eating. I do not get her more drink or food unless she says please, and even then she has to wait until I'm already getting up. We eat what I cook, and no whining or complaining is allowed.
At my friend's house, the kids eat in front of the TV. There is much yelling, hooting, and now and then spilling of food. The mother pops up every time someone shouts, "MAMA, DRINK!" The four year old decided he didn't want what everyone else was having for dinner, so my friend rushed into the kitchen to cook him some pasta instead.
My friend's dinner seemed way too chaotic and overwhelming to me. Then again, if she came to my house (we live pretty far apart so that doesn't happen often), she'd probably think I was a mean and uptight mommy by comparison. Different strokes for different folks!
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It's usually okay. I put DS in his chair and hand him some milk and fruit while I heat up his dinner and add things to his tray as they are ready (chopped up meatballs, bites of rice wrapped in nori, peas and corn, etc). Then when all his food is on the tray we say "can you say Amen?" to which he signs by putting his hands together and then we say a quick prayer and yell AMENNNNN after which he thinks is hilarious and then he can begin eating in earnest while we finish fixing our plates. We sit down and he will sign Amen for each of us so we both say prayers out loud and yell Amen and then start eating.
On days he doesn't feel that hungry we have a little food throwing or sippy tossing and he's teething a bit so he's spitting some food out. He's recently been going through this "I want what's on your plate" phase so I have to stop and give him some of my dinner and that's sort of annoying. Overall he's doing really well for a 14 month old but it's taken a long time - he was a food hater and refused to feed himself until almost a year and every meal was a battle.
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Getting dinner ready and serving everyone is usually pretty choatic. But then once everyone has their food and is eating, it's calm. But the calm, eating happily, part is only ~5 minutes...
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We just have one, so it's not that chaotic yet! We have it kinda down pat - DH prepares dinner, I prepare DD. We sit d own and eat together; I usually kinda monitor DD mostly at first, then when DH is almost done we switch and I can focus on eating. Then DH cleans up, I clean DD up.
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90% calm-- occasionally my stubborn son is being a pickle but we don't force him to eat so if he doesn't want to we don't fight about it and he is excused to leave the table and we eat calmly anyway. He is usually a great eater and is happy to eat quietly while we all sit and talk.
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Mix of both. Because my lovely little son is a bit naughty. Loves to throw food, spit water out, throw utensils etc.
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@Oxana: your house reminds me of how dinnertime was growing up. We ate every meal in the enclosed formal dining room because the kitchen was too small for a table of four. We didn't have music, but there weren't distractions like the TV or kitchen filled with treats. All of the food was in serveware on the table and additional milk or juice was not fetched immediately. When my bro was in the high chair and began to play with his food rather than eat mealtime wasn't over. My parents just cleared his tray and we all sat there together. We ate at restaurants alot too, probably twice a week maybe more, so dinner time in or out was similar.
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It's a little of both. We all eat together really early for DS. If he likes the food it is calm, if he doesn't he is really loud about it. Actually either way he is a pretty loud eater.
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We're kind of a mix, I guess. It can be a little chaotic getting dinner on the table and getting the table set. Then I've usually forgotten something - the butter, a drink, or whatever. So I end up getting up to get what I've forgotten. DS sometimes is totally calm, sometimes he's just tired at the end of the day and is a crazy toddler. He'll demand something and either we say no and he melts down or we say yes and give it to him and then he still melts down and pushes away what he asked for.
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