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[quote=Anonymous]Until a couple months ago I did the cooking the night before. I planned all meals for the week and cooked something after the kids were in bed, to reheat upon coming home. It was exhausting but worth it as I didn't want to do takeout or frozen meals (just not my thing, DH would've been happy with Trader Joes frozen anything). We did do family meals starting when the baby was born, though. We had not regularly done them with the older one and I regret that, so when the second was born (oldest was 3), we started sitting down as a family around 6:30 pm.

A couple months ago I decided to get better about leaving work at 5 on the dot, which -- barring metro issues -- gets me home between 5:45 and 6. So most nights with something quick and I can have dinner on the table by 6:45. It's been really good. It also helps that my kids are now 5 and 2 which is a lot easier.

But the real key is that I am home by 6 and that DH gets home with the kids around 6:30. In my experience little kids can't go to bed past 8 or 8:15, and so working backwards the latest you can serve dinner is 6:30/6:45. If you aren't even getting home until then, it's not going to happen. If it's important to you, you need to shift your work schedule (or DH does). I am lucky that my job (federal attorney, supervisor) is reasonably flexible so long as I get the work done to deadline. So I respond to emails on my way in and out on the metro and I spend from 9:30-5 in the office, take only a very fast lunch, and often do another hour or two of work after the kids are in bed. It's exhausting but worth it to me. And DH does the same only his in-office hours are closer to 9-5, but his commute is longer.[/quote]

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