How often does the child eat dinner?

My kids love snacks. Their after school snacking became such a problem that by the time I was preparing dinner, no one was hungry. My kids just had a healthy meal that I took the time and effort to prepare because they had finished their pretzels, chips, and cheese sticks.

I wasted energy making dinner, and I also felt seriously guilty of wasting food when I scraped their leftovers into the trash. So I decided dinner should be served earlier, which was a game changer.

Eating dinner before 5pm reduces snacking, guilt and food waste. Here’s more information on why you should implement this life-saving tip into your family’s daily life.

Why I changed my dinner habits

Our dinner routine didn’t work out for a lot of reasons, one of which was the fact that our evenings became more rushed as my older kids got more and more involved in activities. Ridesharing between 4:30 and 8pm has become our new reality.

I find myself running around trying to get my kids where they need to be while preheating the oven here, chopping some veggies there, and somehow completing a dinner – and then I end up being uninterested diners threw away half of it.

I started to realize that I had some downtime after work in the morning and before the kids came home from school. What if I filled that gap with dinner prep materials? Eventually, I started cooking the entire meal right then and there and refrigerated it for later. Then, one day around 3pm, when my kindergarten teacher said he was starving, instead of letting him get the cheese roll, I gave him dinner.

This is a game changer. Not only did he wolf down the entire meal, but he didn’t eat nearly as many snacks afterward. Therefore, our family has a very early dinner schedule. Now, I usually have dinner ready by 5pm, sometimes even earlier. One of my daughters likes to eat after practice, so I save a plate for her to eat later. Then, I’ll clean up the kitchen around 6 p.m., and then I’m free to shower, help with homework, or take a ride.

TikTok moms agree to eat early dinner

This year alone, two TikTok videos have taken the internet by storm, promoting the benefits of breakfast and dinner. In both articles, parents rave about how eating an early dinner prevents their kids from snacking too much.

Video that went viral earlier this year showed NSW mum Aimee Connor sharing her afternoon dinner plans on TikTok. Here, she admits that feeling guilty about her kids’ constant snacking also prompted her to start making dinner at 2:30 p.m. so they could eat when they were hungriest at 3 p.m.

In her viral post, Connor shared how she prepares veggies, fruit, homemade pizza and nutrient-packed smoothies that her little one inhales in the afternoon “before snacking.” Meanwhile, her My school-age daughter eats after school. “This is the perfect time to feed her,” says the busy mom.

The second viral video inspiring parents to get in on the early-dinner trend comes from TikTok user and mom Paige Boyuk, who insists making dinner by 4:25 p.m. is the way to go. In the post, which has more than 2 million views, the mother-of-two explained that she prepared dinner so early because her children were asking her for snacks after school. “If they snack, they won’t eat dinner,” she wrote over footage of her and her young children eating dinner in their sunlit kitchen.

The overall response to Connor and Boyuk’s film is that eating an early dinner is a good idea—if you can change it. Some families come home too late and need to supplement their meals with snacks when their schedules don’t allow for dinner preparation around mid-afternoon. Other families said they prepared meals ahead of time and froze them so their children could heat them up after school.

Although having the freedom to prepare a meal before the craziness of the night definitely reduces stress, snacking (for me too!) and waste in our family. The bottom line seems to be that any time that works for your family to eat dinner is the best time, not when society dictates you should eat.