Don't get me wrong, I am a devout soccer fan! I love watching people play...especially the pros and the Under 6 group. I used to be a die-hard soccer mom, soccer shirts, soccer hat, soccer cooler, soccer stickers...I even coached, and worked in the concession stand. I went to far as to be the assoc. office mgr. NOW, though, I have no kids playing...too old, or not interested (girls, you know). OOPS! I lied ; I have a BIG kid playing ...my dh. He is a ref. So between the HS son and work and his social life, and soccer reffing, we don't eat meals together. I am very tired of cooking for three and eating alone. I can't wait until after work or reffing, cause that's sometimes 10:00. So I fix for two, and I eat out. Now a good thing usually. BUT I have solved part of the problem...I eat my big meal in the AM, and head down to smaller meals. The two four-legged sons eat with me, usually a salad, soup, or a sandwich and fruit or vegies...and then we walk, I guess it can be done. Thankfully the season is only a month long in the spring, and life will be back to "normal"....AND this is his "last" season, or so he says...I think I heard that one when our kids quit playing..... The point, how do you other moms do the meal thing at night, when kids are running and you don't have to accompany them? What happened to dinner being the family meal? Am I a dinosaur?

I guess my bro might actually be right about *something.* One day he said to me, "eat like a Queen in the morning, like a Princess in the afternoon, and like a pauper at night."

Our house is kind of crazy too. For a while, it was my folks, my brother and myself. My folks work at home, so they are always around. My brother works for a tour company, so he's at work Thurs-Tues until well into the evening. I work a M-F, as well as class 2 nights a week and alternate weekends, all weekend.

My brother moved out, but my mom still copes with dinner the same way. If I'll be home late, she still cooks the full meal, but just she and my stepdad eat. She leaves the rest on the stove for me.

When I get home, and if I'm hungry, I'll fix a plate and nuke it. If I'm not, I'll put some in a container for lunch the next day, and put away the rest.

Even when we're all home, we usually eat in our own rooms anyway. We're very diverse personalities, and actually enjoy our "alone time." But about once every few weeks (more often in the summer) we'll sit out on the patio and have our *together dinner.* Inviting a family friend over for dinner is a good motivator to get us to do that too.

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Originally posted by cobismom:
I eat my big meal in the AM, and head down to smaller meals.

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Well, as you know, I am a single woman so I don't know from cooking an evening meal for a family. However, I personally think you're doing yourself a favor by having your big meal early in the day. Dr. Peeke's book is, in large part, about turning around that triangle that most people have where breakfast is non-existent or light, lunch is moderate and dinner is the big meal of the day. Dr. Peeke says you should eat most of your calories before 3 p.m. In other words, breakfast and lunch should be your substantial meals and dinner the light one. I'd been eating that way for years before I read Dr. Peeke's book and it does make sense that it's better to eat more calories while you are awake and have some chance of burning them off.

Maybe you can start a new tradition -- Sunday brunch? Everyone could probably manage to get together for pancakes!

I've pretty much had to give up on the idea of dinner with my husband. When he lost his job, he was working a second job 2 evenings a week at a restaurant. well they bumped him right up to six evenings a week. So now he eats dinner there (fresh seafood every night I am soo jealous). He leaves around 2:30 and i get home around 6:30 so I usually miss him entirely. Now one evening together seems like such a wonderful treat. We both have tonight off for our anniversary, even though we both will be gone most of today, we will have tonight together. When we do i make a really big deal of it, candles everything.

Laurie

My dad was a Cross Country Coach and starter, a basketball coach and official and a track official; and these were all of his jobs after school where he was a PE teacher...

We still managed to have most dinners together. We would often eat early, which was easier in my family since both of my parents were teachers. ON game nights, we would often go out to dinner together after the game was over.

Once my brother and I were old enough, that we had our own after school activities going, then dinners together were much less frequent. I remember a lot of "catch as catch can", sandwiches and the evil fast food (which didn't seem evil in H.S.)

Right now, our son is young enough, that he doesn't have all of those activities yet. My DH works late a lot though, sometimes my son and I go out, but mostly we come home and eat at home anyway; and my DH just eats when he finally gets home.

Last night we had big salads with grilled pork chops diced into the salad; and my DH just ate his when he got home.

I do find that I fix lighter meals when we're not together. Sandwiches, salads...but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

DAwn

I don't have children, so the family having dinner together obviously isn't a big issue in our house. The boyfriend, though, works in a field that was impacted severely by 9/11, so his hours range from tolerable to just plain ridiculous on any given day.

A nice large pot of soup on the stove and a loaf of bread nearby are my "signal" to him that I've already eaten, go ahead and fill up. Most of the stew/soup recipes I've found make lots of leftovers, and stay on the stove pretty well for several hours. The kitchen smells like I've been cooking, dishes to wash are at a minimum, and there's plenty for me to have for lunch the next day.

On nights you know will be hectic and scattered, is it feasible to do the pot of soup/stew and loaf of bread option?

D

Can you look for alternative times to be together? My daughter is still quite young so that we eat as a family most nights. I like this time together.
Growing up, my Dad was out of town a lot and we made time on the weekends. I think that the idea that families always have dinner together is not realistic for most, but maybe you can carve out time to go to lunch once a week or to eat Sunday breakfast at home.

It might be expectations. I didn't grow up with "Leave it to Beaver" dinners. My mom and dad often worked odd hours. My brother worked as a waiter for 20 years. It kind of trashed his feet and now he is a black jack and poker dealer in a casino. He's eaten dinner with his family once a week since forever.

In our family now, my husband often works late. I often have band practice two or more nights a week. My son has band practice once a week now. We eat dinner as a family about 3-4 nights a week.

We usually fit in several weekend meals together - breakfast, lunch or dinner. Weekdays are way more hit and miss. There is dinner for three - but often one of us is reheating it.

I usually eat breakfast and lunch at the computer. I have heard that you are not "supposed" to do that... It makes me feel like I'm eating with you all as I read the posts.

Good Luck!

Denise