Children and dinner
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34845
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Topic: Children and dinner
Posted By: Aprilfools
Subject: Children and dinner
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:08pm
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I am wondering what the norm is when you are invited to someone elses house for dinner or you invite people with children to yours. Does the host provide dinner for your child?
I ask because whenever we have friends and their children over we always cater for the children. We have several friends who when they invite us, Harper included, over for dinner they don't provide dinner for Harper and we take some along for him. They are parents themselves and most of our babies are similar ages to help get an idea of the scenario. I'm not expecting that there is a right or wrong but I'm curious what the general expectation is? What do you do when you invite families with children over? And also, do you eat dinner together at home? We do so that is perhaps the difference in our thinking. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:12pm
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It wouldn't even cross my mind that someone would have dinner for my child (although we are doing BLW so he just eats what we eat anyway). Every parent has different ideas on what their child can and can't eat, so personally, unless I asked them outright first I wouldn't bother doing dinner specially for someones child. -------------  
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:17pm
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I usually just find out whats going to be for dinner and decide whether or not my fuss pot would eat it, if it sounds like he may not eat it then we take along a couple of pieces of fruit to supplement whats on offer.
We eat together, well me and Daniel do and then DH eats when he gets home. But Daniel has turned from eating almost anything to eating virtually nothing for dinner |
Posted By: Aprilfools
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:18pm
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Yeah, I always ask if there's anything in particular that guests, don't eat although most people we have over I know them well enough to try and make something to suit everyone's tastes. And I have a cousin who's child has allergies so if he were to come for dinner I would make something that he can eat.
Harper eats what we eat these days too although we didn't do BLW so I often share my meal with him. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:38pm
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Hmm imo, I would always ask what the lil one likes if they are coming to ours. Umm when Lily is old enough we will all be eating at the table. When we go out I suppose I wouldn't expect them to make Lily something but then again would wonder... ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 4:42pm
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if my family was invited for dinner and we got there and they gave all 3 of my kids nothing then i would be horrified. if you only wanted to feed me and my husband you should have said so. if it was just a 6 mth old baby then i wouldnt expect them to though. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:03pm
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When we invite our friends with kids over, I give them a general idea of what we're having for dinner, and ask if the kid will eat it, or if they want me to whip something else up? Often they'll bring a wee box with snacks etc in it to hold the kid off until dinner time.
We have one friend with a child with severe allergies and she always apologises and brings their own food for their kid, which I understand, cos I'm not used to having to read labels the way she does. At the moment I don't expect anyone to feed my kid  But when he's a bit older I think I'd be a bit disappointed that they wouldn't when they were feeding us!
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Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:07pm
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I always ask what their kids will eat (so yes I cater for their children). I would actually expect them to feed my kids if I was invited to anyone elses home for dinner .. although ours could just eat off our plate if they werent catered for. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:11pm
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Yup I've had friends and their kids for tea heaps.
I ask the parents what the kids like and give them that, one of the kids only wanted baked beans and coke. I usually make it kid friendly though, I've made pizzas before ham and pineapple for the kids, chicken and camembert for us adults. Oh and I've found oven chips a good stand by, as all kids will eat them. Most of my friends have kids though and if they're coming I feed everyone. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:20pm
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If we have friends for dinner it's usually after the kids are in bed ;) so in that case I wouldn't offer. However if it was an early tea - around when Callum eats - or any other meal I would cook for the kids as well! I wouldn't invite a family over then only provide food for half of them :S
same goes for most of our friends, if we're over at the kids' tea time then they offer C tea as well. Most of our friends' kids range from 12m - 6yo ... If I knew the kids were eating more than single food purees I would let them know beforehand what I planned on cooking and did they want anything different for the children. ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: arohanui
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:27pm
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At Hunter's age, yes I would expect them to provide dinner as they usually just eat 'normal' food anyway iykwim. When we have friends with kids over, we do something family friendly for everyone - spag bol, rice and stew, pizza.
It's different when they're babies, but not when they're toddlers! perhaps their kids don't eat the same meals as the adults? odd that they just wouldn't give your kid the same dinner that they'd give theirs though.... ------------- Mama to DS1 (5 years), DS2 (3 years) and... http://alterna-tickers.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:29pm
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I would never expect people to bring their own food to a dinner party unless it was pot luck. Last time I checked kids were people.
When we have people over we would do a kid friendly dish. If it isn't a kid friendly thing then we would organise some pizza etc to keep them occupied if we want to eat undisturbed. I would never let them go hungry. On the other hand my kids are over 2 and most of our guests are over 2. If they are on baby food or special diet then I would leave it to the parents. |
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:30pm
The only person whose kid won't eat what we eat was my cousins kid when she was little she wouldn't eat anything but take aways or fried food.  ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: first
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 5:50pm
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I cater for kids plus adults when I invite friends round.
When I go to friends places I always took food with me just in case DS couldn't eat the food on offer or if dinner was just getting too late for him. Now that he is older I still take a little for him to eat but as he eats most things I just let him eat off my plate if they don't give him one of his own. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/"> 
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 7:46pm
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I figure children are much the same as vegetarians I'd cater for them if they came for dinner. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: hannibal
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 9:03pm
| We went out the other night and we packed up a meal for bubs (21 months) it just seemed easier and we knew she would eat it. We don't have people around a lot but our friends kids are of the age that they will just eat what the adults are having. Eeeee I don't really want to admit that we do 3 meals in our house at dinner - bubs 1st as we are racing in the door (afterwork and DC), my meal (as I eat mostly veg) and DHs. |
Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 21 July 2010 at 9:04pm
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I would expect to feed the children earlier and something a little more child appropriate. When I go out I tend to feed Caleb before we go then give him nibbles of whatever is going plus have a snack in my handbag for him, just because he gets fussy by the end of the day when he is tired. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: HuntersMama
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 8:50am
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I havent ever really thought about this much, but I guess the food we serve is suitable for toddlers. If not I would try and find and alternative. But then again, as a parent you should be prepared as kebakat said with fruit etc just incase they didnt like what was on offer.
As my lil man is still a baby this doesnt apply to us at the moment. When he does start solids, I would take what he is eating with us. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: myfullhouse
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 10:21am
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We generally only go to family's house for tea so the kids are generally catered for, although I always ask what time we will be eating and if it is too late for the kids I will take something for them or raid Mum's pantry!
It is onlymy Bro and SIL that we have over that has a child and I make sure there is enough food for her although she still eats some mush (Ben is on BLW) so often SIL will bring mush for my niece and then she will have a munch on some of what we eat We always have dinner together, although DH is sometimes a bit late so we will start without him ------------- Lindsey 
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Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 10:33am
It probably wouldn't cross my mind to provide different dinner for the children. Jude eats the same things we do and has done so since he started on solids, so does my sisters baby who we have over often so I don't know that I'd remember to provide something different. Although I haven't had experience with that yet, we are the first of our friends to have babies so don't often see other babies beside my sisters boy  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 10:57am
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Ive never really thought about that...the only place we got for dinenr is at mum and dads and they are in the same house(we live in our own self contained part down the other end), but mum and dad always dish up a little plate for Caden and now Bella.
If we were going to a friends, I would probably take some stuff for the kids, but Caden eats eveything we do now, and Bella mostly eats what we do..so Id probably ends up dishing them up some of what we were haivng anyways. ------------- |
Posted By: Mum_mum
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 11:53am
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I would always feed the guests children but to be honest I wouldn't really go out of my way cooking a seperate meal or anything. We always have a roast when guests come and depending on the age I would expect the children to eat that. Maddi has mashed veges and things from it so why can't other kids.
When we go to others I do tend to take something for Maddi just in case or if she gets too hungry and can't wait. But when she is older I would expect her to eat with us. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
 Angel baby - May 2008
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Posted By: crafty1
Date Posted: 22 July 2010 at 1:16pm
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I can't believe people wouldn't feed the children tbh. If i invite friends with kids i plan it as a family friendly dinner and we would eat early and cook stuff most kids will eat.
Same with people with allergies, vegetarians etc, if i invite them i research what they can eat and plan the menu accordingly. If i was having a fancy dinner party thing i'd prob do the same but make sure the kids have enough nibbly food earlier to last the distance and not expect them to eat too much of the fancy food if it's not to their taste. We did this recently with friends and had 3 toddlers there and it was fun. Had candles on the table and the kids had plastic wine glasses with lemonade in etc, so we made it a fun dinner for them too. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: xLUCKYx
Date Posted: 23 July 2010 at 10:10am
We always feed the kids. We often end up with unexpected dinner guests too so I always whip them up something kid friendly, and provide snacks if they are just visiting. I always try and keep the kids well fed and entertained as it = more relaxing for me! 
I eat dinner with the kids - 99% of the time DF isn't home on time. |
Posted By: AzzaNZ
Date Posted: 23 July 2010 at 1:11pm
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I dont cook a separate meal for them unless what I am planning isnt very child friendly (like a curry) but I cook enough that they are catered for with what we're eating.
If we go to someone's house then I do expect there'll be enough food for DD too - and we've never gone anywhere where she hasnt been catered for. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
http://intermittentblogger.wordpress.com |