A mother says that she feeds her children dinner at 3 p.m. so they don’t get “overly hungry” or create chaos.
38-year-old Aimee Connor found that her three young children, 5-year-old Indi, 3-year-old Bili, and 1-year-old Bodhi, always felt very hungry before her 7-year-old daughter Mahli returned home from school at 3 p.m.
Previously, the family used to have dinner around 4:30 p.m., allowing Connor and her 42-year-old husband, Shay Connor, an architect, to put the children to bed by 6 or 7 p.m.
The part-time nurse from Wongawallan, Australia, decided to move dinner earlier, so now her kids have a hearty meal at 3 p.m., such as pizza or spaghetti bolognese, and healthy snacks before bed.
“I was always anxious while picking up the kids,” Connor said. “They would come home wanting snacks. I would give them simple but not nutritious snacks, so they weren’t hungry when we had dinner.”
“Now, I start preparing dinner before picking them up. By the time they all come in, dinner is ready on the table. It may not be ideal for most people, but it works for us.”
With their children being so young, Connor said dinner has always been early for them.
“Because they are young, our bedtime routine is very strict,” she said. She also acknowledged that their daughter has autism, and mealtime is an anxiety-inducing period for her.
“When it comes to mealtime, she has a lot of anxiety. There was a time when she wouldn’t eat at all,” said the mother of four.
Due to this, Connor prepares four different meals for her children, with simple foods like chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes for her youngest, and steak and rice for Mahli. She cooks earlier in the day and reheats the meals at 3 p.m.
“Sometimes I start cooking as early as 10:30 a.m. That’s when I have some free time,” she said.
When Connor shared their mealtime routine on social media, other parents were perplexed, with many questioning if the children would be hungry before bed.
“They have breakfast at 6:30 a.m., lunch around 11 a.m. They have a bedtime snack of toast before sleeping around 6 p.m.,” Connor said.
Connor also gives yogurt and fruits to her children in the evening, having dinner with her husband at 4 p.m., following the change in dinner time, she noticed significant improvements in her children.
“They used to come home very hungry. Eating earlier has prevented extra chaos. I felt a mother’s guilt about them just eating junk food,” she said.
“After school, the kids didn’t want to do anything. They just wanted to relax. Now they eat while relaxing, and their mental state is better.”
“Do what works for you. Add fun to it. You don’t have to follow how others do things.”