we eat together almost every night, but we all eat at 5:45 and eat the same things. Child is now 3.5. It is supposed to help with kids not being picky eaters long term because they will eat what they see you eating. It is also a chance to reinforce good table manners.

We eat together. Luckily, 3 year old DS will eat most things. We've been eating together since he was an infant, doing baby-led weaning, and never making special meals for DS. We also prioritized that you stay at the table until everyone is finished eating, that this is a time to be together and talk to each other, we thank whoever made the meal, and everyone pitches in to prepare and clear the table.

Sometimes we eat pizza on the couch, but, again, it's together as a family.

We eat dinner together (DH, 3 and 1yo, me) five nights a week at 5:30pm. Usually Friday and Saturday we feed the kids and then cook something later and eat once they are asleep. It’s marvelous!

We try to eat all together, which ends up being early - usually around 5:30. It's helpful for my waistline too, since I don't really eat anything else until breakfast the next morning (so I basically do intermittent fasting without much effort!).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

No I do force vegetables. But I don’t force any smelly, saucy, or exotic foods.

That's weird, sorry. I don't force my kids to eat anything either but I definitely serve and expose them to "smelly, exotic" food. There's no bigger turnoff than an adult who only eats chicken fingers.

Not PP, but to be fair, she did say "smelly" OR "exotic." So, "smelly" might just mean salmon, for example. My DH is an immigrant, so what is exotic to some families (and, frankly, me) is normal for them. But, no matter where you are from and whatever is "not exotic" for you, there will be something is exotic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

No I do force vegetables. But I don’t force any smelly, saucy, or exotic foods.

That's weird, sorry. I don't force my kids to eat anything either but I definitely serve and expose them to "smelly, exotic" food. There's no bigger turnoff than an adult who only eats chicken fingers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

No I do force vegetables. But I don’t force any smelly, saucy, or exotic foods.

Whoa whoa. Whats exotic to you is home cooking to some. My preschooler's favorite food has been home made sour cabbage since she was 2. It may be stinky to some but delicious to us and her and she'll drink the juice from it straight out of the jar if i let her. A ton of immigrant friends cook their non american cuisines every day spice and sauce and all kids of all ages devour them.

DD (2.5) eats a light dinner at 4:30, since she goes to bed at 6:00. I always make a large coffee and sit with her, no screens. We eat at 7:30 during the week. As she ages, we might compromise on an earlier dinner, because she will have a later bedtime. Currently, when we try and stretch her bedtime, she gets very cranky, and literally begs to go to sleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

No I do force vegetables. But I don’t force any smelly, saucy, or exotic foods.

I have a child with a food texture processing disorder. Totally normal kid in every way until it comes to putting things in his mouth. He can eat about 5 different foods and is 10 years old. I want to get him into therapy (most eating therapy places don't take kids under 10), but multiple psychologists advised me over the past 8 years or so (he was diagnosed at 2) that you should DEFINITELY NOT FORCE kids to eat foods because it will make the problem worse. Maybe for normal picky eaters or normal eaters who just don't like vegetables, it works. But for some kids it's a very very bad idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

NP. We don’t force our 14 month old to eat. If she doesn’t eat the vegetables offered that day, so be it. She can eat carbs and fruit and cheese.

Lol good luck with that. Check back in with us when she's 4.

My parents had no rules for me whatsoever as a child basically (and that was problematic!) but I do eat plenty of vegetables

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

No I do force vegetables. But I don’t force any smelly, saucy, or exotic foods.

No we always ate separately. DH is a journalist and didn't get hone from work until just before bedtime.

Now with COVID we all eat together. But DS is a complaining teen now, so I am wishing we ate separately again.

We always eat dinner together as a family.

Yes. 6:30 every day since she was 8 months old. Saturdays we feed her at 6:30 and then often do “date night takeout” at 8:00 after she is asleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

NP. So if your kids don’t like vegetables, they never have to eat them?

I'm the one who asked the question, and we didn't force our kids, and none of them ended up not eating vegetables. It might have taken them a while to eat them, and they may not eat them at every meal, but across a week they eat a good variety. It took time to get there, but it was time well spent.