does your WOH SO expect dinner right when they get home?

[CherryBombMama]

cuz mine does. he doesnt demand it, he just grew up with dinner being ready when his dad got home. later when his dad retired and he was working and living at home, dinner was made when he came home.

i grew up with dinner being made a couple hours after my dad got home, generally around 5:30pm.

my dh gets home at 3:30pm sharp and with two LOs (including a newborn) im having a hard time getting to the market, much less making dinner on time, yk?

he would settle for having dinner a little later, but wouldnt be thrilled, and he is not the type to "snack" so he would just starve until dinner is made.

so, does your working SO expect dinner when they come home or do they wait? cuz .... im thinking i need to push dinner time at least until 4:30pm

[Sfcmama]

Nope. My WOH dh makes dinner for us when he gets home. He sometimes takes DD with him to the kitchen (and puts her in a bouncy/play chair) so I can get a little break after caring for her all day.

[Viola]

No, I don't cook for my husband. He shops and prepares his own food and eats when he's ready. I cook for me and the kids, and the time moves around. Sometimes we are pretty hungry by 3:30 or 4, so I might make an early dinner. Or we eat a snack and have dinner at 7:30 or 8. Dinner time is kind of all over the place here.

[widemouthedfrog]

Certainly not. Dh comes home around 6 pm and sometimes I do too. We eat late. 3:30 seems really early to be organized. That said, when I first got diabetes and was struggling with how to eat, I prepared dinner in the morning when dd was at her happiest, so I would have been able to eat at 3:30. Just a thought!

[MaddieMay]

Oh heavens no!

DH usually gets home between 6 and 7:30pm (sometimes later). He appreciates when dinner is ready, but doesn't expect it. That said, there is always snacky stuff he can eat to tide him over and on the day that has totally went to heck for me and he's starving, he will grab leftovers or prepare himself a salad.

[Learning_Mum]

Dinner is usually done around when DH gets home, but then he gets home about 5.30pm. 3.30pm is afternoon tea time! There is no way I'd be having dinner then! Could you have a snack made for when he walks in? Something that will tide him over for a couple of hours but doesn't involve him actually having to do anything?

[Jaxinator]

My husband doesn't *expect* it, but I usually have dinner in the works when he gets home. He gets about 30 minutes to change, relax a minute, whatever he needs to do, depending on what we're having. It's something I like to do for him (I only have one little one, so it's probably much easier for me than you), but he has never asked for me to always have dinner waiting or anything.

3:30 would be a no-go though. That's not a dinner time for me. I'd be way too hungry before bed.

If I were in your situation I would have maybe a sandwich ready, or something equally easy and small for him to have when he got home, and have dinner closer to 6:00.

[OkiMom]

330 isn't dinner time to me so I wouldn't have it ready. DH doesn't expect dinner to be ready when he gets home either. Hes return times vary daily so sometimes it just ends up being done when he gets home, other times he eats after us other times before. Dinner time here is 530, I push it back to 545 if DH e-mails me and tells me he is going to be home later. Anything past 545 and it throws off bedtime and we have unhappy kids so we eat without him and he eats when he gets home. Anything before say 5 none of us are really hungry since we have lunch at noon and a snack (good size) at 3ish.
Honestly I think 330 is WAY to early to be having dinner, maybe make a snack for him or he can make his own food. Of course, Im pregnant and grouchy right now so might not be the best time to take my advice.

[Mama2mc]

No, not really. Usually he'll have some sort of snack, mostly fruit... sometimes he'll have a sandwich.

[Mackenzie]

Mine does not expect it at all but since I am not working at the moment, and he doesnt eat all day, I want to have something ready for him when he gets home. If there are leftovers from the previous night, that works, and if not then I will make something before he gets home. Dinner would never be at 3:30 though! Heck, my oldest child wont be home from school then.

[GoBecGo]

He doesn't expect it but he gets it.

I like to cook for the family, it's one of the few SAH tasks i genuinely enjoy, and i really like us all to sit down together to eat as often as possible as a family.

We tend to eat between 6pm and 6.30pm. If he's really late i eat with the kids and set his aside but he tries hard to be here for dinner.

ETA - i do think that it is unreasonable for your OH to expect dinner at 3.30pm - that's not dinner time for anyone in the world! If he's "not one for snacking" i would suggest he "become one for snacking" or let him starve. If you have to do ALL the work then you get to arrange that work how it suits you best, right? I mean if i'm making a super-amazing meal with a lot of prep, then DH has to wait until it's cooked. i don't begin 3 hours earlier so it's ready for him when HE expects it. A bit of flexibility benefits the smooth and harmonious running of the WHOLE household imo.

[mamazee]

I have dinner ready every night at 6. Whether it's when he gets back is up to him. He works a lot of hours each week, but some of his work can be done from home, so he does usually try to get back by 6 even if he has more to do.

[earthmama369]

Ha ha ha ha ha.

No.

I know how much custom can weigh on a person. I grew up with dinner being on the table at 6 sharp every night, and everyone was expected to be there, barring a school activity or, rarely, work. I haven't lived at home for 15 years, but my internal clock still *dings* at 6 p.m. However, our family schedule just doesn't work like that and I see the reason for adjusting. So I still get that *ding* but I don't expect my entire family to cater to that.

DH and I take turns making dinner. It's flexible, but it evens out to about half and half. When he does dinner, it's usually a bit later than when I cook, because he often doesn't get home from work until 5:30-5:45. So dinner might be at 7. The kids are fine with that, as long as they snack around 4. I'll snack, too, even though normally I don't snack in the afternoon. It's worth it for me to only being cooking half the time, and overall we're happier with us each getting to make our favorites rather than one person's taste forming the base of our family menu. We'd eat a lot more pasta if I were the only one making dinner, and if it were dh, we'd eat a lot more chili!

[SubliminalDarkness]

No. He gets home around 5:30 and doesn't usually want to eat that early. I do actually try to make dinner in the afternoon because it's easier than trying to fit it into the evening with everything else.

[JessieBird]

Uh, no way. I usually have dinner ready fairly soon after he gets home but I expect him to take care of himself (ie. snack) if there's a wait. About once a week or so I don't even manage to decide what we're going to eat, let alone prepare it. On those days, DH is thrilled to have a "toast and cereal" night, his favourite.

In your case, I'd suggest that you have a snack (really simple like just a plate of sliced cucumbers and crackers) ready on the counter for him to buy you time. I know you say he's not the type to snack but maybe if it's out for him with no decisions to make, it'll be easier. Call it an hors d'oeuvre to make it special.

[cappuccinosmom]

Wow. 3.30 is awfully early for dinner. He doesn't eat for the rest of the night then? Does he have to go to bed very early in order to get up for work?

I do try to have food ready for dh when he gets home, because he works long days, does a lot of heavy labor, and tends to not eat when he's working. If he can, he works through lunch breaks rather than stopping to eat. So when he gets home, he's really hungry. But his arrival is usually either 2 pm, or 9-10 pm depending on the job, neither of which is condusive to a family supper.

[Youngfrankenstein]

No, we eat anywhere from 5:30 (when he gets home) to 6:30 depending on how things are going with the baby, what I'm making, etc.

If he got home at 3:30, it would be teatime. I'd not serve dinner then.

[jeminijad]

Um, no. Not at 3:30. What time does he eat lunch at work? How is he even hungry by then?

[Youngfrankenstein]

Originally Posted by CherryBombMama

and he is not the type to "snack" so he would just starve until dinner is made.

I am not trying to insult your dh, but he is a grown man. He could find a snack if he's going to "starve". Sometimes dh will come home and say he's really hungry, so I try to get things going as fast as I can. But that's at 5:30...

[mamazee]

I wouldn't cook dinner at 3:30 to accommodate my dh. We have dinner at at time when people eat dinner. If we had dinner at 3:30, we'd need a second dinner at some point. That's a ridiculous time to expect dinner.