Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you have simple dinners ready to put in the oven or to eat when you come home? That way you can spend time with them instead of rushing to make dinner and they can eat earlier and you have more energy.

What are some examples if simple but healthy oven dinners?

DP I'd love to hear other people's. Here are some I do:

1) Can be prepped the night before --
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chicken-marbella.html

Serve w/ rice & broccoli (the broccoli I just cut & wash, then microwave in a bowl for a few minutes with water, drizzle some olive oil + salt)

2) Fry sausages in a pan, corn (can also microwave or steam or boil for a few minutes), green beans or peas

3) Roast chicken -- I either marinate the night before, or stick it in the oven after rubbing some butter, salt, pepper, thyme.
Serve w/ blanched greens, whatever your kids will eat.
Sometimes I recook the carcass to make broth and the next day will be that with noodles and toppings -- you can do whatever you like, ham, cucumber, tomato, corn... or boiled egg, greens, etc.

4) This and a salad:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019681-cheesy-white-bean-tomato-bake

5) Frozen fish sticks, frozen peas, rice

6) pre cut beef, make stir fry with broccoli, onions, tomatoes...

7) Steam frozen shrimp, toss with stir-fried peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro for pasta dish.

My kids also like to cook w/ me. They are 10 & 6. Maybe not for the younger one, but maybe that could be your quality 1-1 time with the older one. I let them cut something easy and stir the pots.

More quality time ideas:

-- sometimes we do a conversation card like this at dinner: https://www.amazon.com/After-Dinner-Amusements-Family-Time/dp/1452164886/
-- cuddle and read before bed, we each have our own books
-- with my older kid we watch a cooking show and have snacks after HW time

This takes me exactly three minutes to prepare, and bakes in the over for 12 minutes, and it's really tasty:

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a53449/cheesy-spinach-pesto-flatbread-recipe/

I leave the red pepper flakes off half of them. I serve with jarred marinara sauce for dipping, and while they are baking I cut up some fruit for my kids to also have.

The Chili recipe on the back of the McCormick chili spice packet is also super quick and easy and actually quite good...serve with a bunch of toppings...

https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/main-dishes/easy-chili-recipe

I agree this is a tough schedule.

Almost every evening, we go outside. It could be that we walk to the grocery store or we go to the nearby park. But one way or another, we spend at least an hour outside I'm the neighborhood.

Can you set slowcooker dinner in the morning?

My go-to quick, easy and healthy dinners that are ready within 20 minutes or so is that I keep pre-made ingredients in the fridge, and then just "dress them up" for dinner.

So, I'll strew a whole chicken or two with a lot of water so in at same time we get much cooked meat and broth. I keep these separately in the fridge. At dinner time, can quickly fry up some of the meat and vegetables for a dish or same but with the broth on top for soup. We grow culinary herbs in back yard so there are always fresh greens and seasonings to vary the flavor. And these are medicinal so win/with let food be your medicine.

Why on earth are you doing so much screen time, after not seeing them all day AND getting home so late?

That’s too late to go to bed as it is - you don’t need to add things to your evening. Take away screens and get them to bed earlier!

Hyper behavior can be a sign they are over tired.

Reminder...you are sitting during game playing and can have a glass of wine or eat dessert while playing. It is a nice way to wind down together.

We play a family game after dinner about 4 nights a week. When the kids were elementary age, we played their younger kid games (a lot of junior versions of adult board games (Labyrinth Jr, Settler of Catan Jr., i.e.), parchessi, sorry, and simple card games like uno and sleeping queens. We moved on to hearts and spades in middle school and more advanced board games. We tend to enjoy the ones where the family has to work together (Castle Panic, Escape Room in a box) as well as ones where we compete. My kids are both in high school now and we still play games after dinner 3-4 nights a week. They have a lot more homework, and want to spend time online with their friends, but the 20-30 minutes we spend sitting down together and playing games has been fantastic for reconnecting and catching up on everyone's day. Obviously, if they have a bunch of tests, we skip game night. If everyone is exhausted, we skip game night. But we do it a number of times a week. We take turns choosing the games to keep everyone happy! These are moments that I truly cherish. It might be hard the first few times, but once you establish a routine and have kids who are then looking forward to picking out games, it can be a lot of fun. The secret is so not play games like monopoly, setter of catan, or life when everyone is tired. Save the long games for the weekends! We generally play four hands of spades or hearts to keep the game playing to around 30 minutes. The kids also get new games from "Santa" every year! It is always fun to try a new one!

One of you needs to be home earlier. Assuming one is in daycare, that is too late to be going ot bed unless you have very late mornings.

Can they spend time with you prepping dinner - make kid friendly meals or play a game on the island while you prep dinner?

They don't need anything extra educational - they just need time with you and sleep!

Doesn't seem like a good life for any of you. I would talk to your DH about making some changes to improve the quality of your lives. You only get to live each age and stage once.

That's way too late to be getting home. Someone needs a different job.

My kids get home around 6. They have to empty their lunch bags and put them away, wash hands, help with making dinner/setting table, do their reading/piano/stretching for the day, then we eat, then they help clean up, then we all either go for a walk or hang out in the front room and chat for a while, maybe they play together or finish reading, then it's time for baths/ picking out outfits for tomorrow, relax in bed.

We are a VERY low screen household.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you have simple dinners ready to put in the oven or to eat when you come home? That way you can spend time with them instead of rushing to make dinner and they can eat earlier and you have more energy.

What are some examples if simple but healthy oven dinners?

DP I'd love to hear other people's. Here are some I do:

1) Can be prepped the night before --
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chicken-marbella.html

Serve w/ rice & broccoli (the broccoli I just cut & wash, then microwave in a bowl for a few minutes with water, drizzle some olive oil + salt)

2) Fry sausages in a pan, corn (can also microwave or steam or boil for a few minutes), green beans or peas

3) Roast chicken -- I either marinate the night before, or stick it in the oven after rubbing some butter, salt, pepper, thyme.
Serve w/ blanched greens, whatever your kids will eat.
Sometimes I recook the carcass to make broth and the next day will be that with noodles and toppings -- you can do whatever you like, ham, cucumber, tomato, corn... or boiled egg, greens, etc.

4) This and a salad:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019681-cheesy-white-bean-tomato-bake

5) Frozen fish sticks, frozen peas, rice

6) pre cut beef, make stir fry with broccoli, onions, tomatoes...

7) Steam frozen shrimp, toss with stir-fried peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro for pasta dish.

My kids also like to cook w/ me. They are 10 & 6. Maybe not for the younger one, but maybe that could be your quality 1-1 time with the older one. I let them cut something easy and stir the pots.

More quality time ideas:

-- sometimes we do a conversation card like this at dinner: https://www.amazon.com/After-Dinner-Amusements-Family-Time/dp/1452164886/
-- cuddle and read before bed, we each have our own books
-- with my older kid we watch a cooking show and have snacks after HW time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you have simple dinners ready to put in the oven or to eat when you come home? That way you can spend time with them instead of rushing to make dinner and they can eat earlier and you have more energy.

What are some examples if simple but healthy oven dinners?

That sounds like an exhausting schedule. No wonder you're tired and they're on screens! Sheet pan dinners are the easiest for us on weeknights. You don't have to follow specific recipes, just be mindful of different cook times so you don't throw everything in together and end up with half burnt, half undercooked food. Here are some ideas if you're not familiar with them: https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/super-easy-sheet-pan-suppers/

Can you move shower time to earlier, so that they're showering while dinner cooks? Not sure of their ages, but if you meal prep on weekends (cutting veggies, marinating meat, etc.), you can toss things together in 5-10 minutes, then do showers while it's cooking. Then after dinner you have time to read together, play a board game, get out the magnatiles or legos, or play in the yard. It's okay if they get a little dirty again after showers. Just wipe off the dirty bits and put them to bed.

Anonymous wrote:Could you have simple dinners ready to put in the oven or to eat when you come home? That way you can spend time with them instead of rushing to make dinner and they can eat earlier and you have more energy.

What are some examples if simple but healthy oven dinners?

How old are they? Do they play with toys- magnatiles, dolls, etc?

Could you have simple dinners ready to put in the oven or to eat when you come home? That way you can spend time with them instead of rushing to make dinner and they can eat earlier and you have more energy.

No one is home till 6:30pm at the earliest on weekday. Both children are at daycare or ES aftercare. One take computer and one take tablet when I prepare dinner. After dinner, it is either 7:30pm or 8pm. They go back to use computer or tablet while I take a break on sofa. If I have a little bit energy, I read a book to them or we watch interesting news together. I bring all kids upstair at 8:45pm to do shower and kids are at bed between 9pm to 9:30pm.

I think we should do something together. I hope for at least 15-20 min educational for each kid, but I don't have energy and exhausted. Anything that takes minimal effort or energy or not make kids super hyper that we could do. DH is out of questions because he sometimes work or have a small drink to relax. His workload is more stressful.