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Kids' sports and dinner?
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Anyone have good tips on feeding kids and getting them to practice after school/ camp?

Healthy food that's fast and can somehow be stored while you at work during the day?

PB&J is getting old but is very functional on the three days a week it's a mad run to get to sports.

Do you snack and eat a late dinner when you don't get home til 7?

Please more experienced parents help me out! My daughter is loving softball so I guess U8 is only the beginning.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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No kids in that age bracket right now, but when I was a kid / teenager I always had a snack after school, before swim practice. Swam for 2 hours then ate about 3 dinners (being an active teen....)

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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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I run into that quite a bit now where I have a 9-yr old that plays hockey and softball, with practice/games usually falling around the dinner hour. She'll have a healthy snack before heading to practice (i.e. fruit, almonds, bars) and then dinner as soon as we get home.



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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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I'm looking forward to but dreading those days for the same reason. No time to eat dinner or do basic stuff.


Do you have a fridge at work? For quick meals we make a rice/black bean burrito. Basically you make rice, add canned black beans and chopped cilantro, mix it all together with lime juice and wrap it in a a soft shell taco shell. Wrap it in aluminum foil and you have a low grade veggie chipolte burrito.
Last edited by: AndysStrongAle: Jun 7, 17 11:40
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Snack before practice, "dinner" after practice which might be something quick and basic.

One thing I did not do was hit the drive-through or any other establishment. Always made it a point to eat at home.

Even if dinner is a sandwich (besides PB&J). Get to love eggs. You can make very quickly an egg sandwich or an omlette.

Utilize leftovers. Whenever you do have a night to cook at home, make more than you need and put in the fridge for the next day or two's dinner that you can quickly warm up.

Rice. Quick to cook and store in fridge for quick stirfry or to mix with whatever else you want to toss in...warmed black beans from a can, vegetables, yogurt, eggs, etc.....

Pasta the same deal.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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We have 3 boys, 12, 12 & 14. Eating habits and the sanctity of the family being together at dinner and dinner being always at the same time, has always been under pressure. 2 or 3 of them are off doing something every afternoon and evening.

Thoughts on dinner.

1) I'm the one that makes dinner at home. This is because my alternative was to starve. The fact that I make dinner gives me lots of control, and I tend to be a lot less flexible about things than my wife. My point is that if an issue is going to be controlled/changed, you have to be the one doing the controlling. One can't declare that <this> is going to be the way things happen in the house from now on, then turn to your spouse and say "and it's your job to make it happen" or words to that affect.

2) The only way to prevent kids from eating junk is to not have it available. But if spouse isn't onboard, no sense getting divorced over it.

3) Kid's won't perish if they don't get regular meals. The body is a lot more resilient than breakfast cereal mfr's would have us believe. In the greater scheme of things, some late or missed meals each week is meaningless. Don't let the issue chafe at you.

4) Don't get trapped by a perceived need to give the kids what they want. The following phrase should be the mantra of every parent: "When you're hungry, everything is tasty". Put some chow out for the kids. If they are hungry, they'll eat it. If they don't eat it, for the love of god, don't start giving them alternatives, that's the road to hell. Your home is not a restaurant. If they were hungry, they'd have eaten what you put in front of them.

5) The late dinner thing is no big deal. Give the kid a piece of fruit before practice, then rustle up some dinner when they get home.

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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [RangerGress] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
Your home is not a restaurant

we stress this to our kids a lot. We made the mistakes of alternates when something wasn't liked and it took awhile to break the restaurant mentality.

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The late dinner thing is no big deal. Give the kid a piece of fruit before practice, then rustle up some dinner when they get home.
We are working toward this. Been hard for my wife to grasp. She has a designed dinner time and alternating sends her in a bit of a tail spin.

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sports and dinner?
From as young as I can remember until I guess college, a majority of my school night meals were found waiting for me in the microwave. Lovingly plated and wrapped in saran wrap by my mom. I think she would put it together before serving my brothers and sisters so I wasn't "penalized" for not being there and what ever the best part of the meal picked off my plate.

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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Father of 3 boys ages 9, 7 and 7who are active in multiple sports.

Always snack between breakfast and sport.

Most nights we are able to have dinner as a family but it requires making dinner beforehand. For winter sports it was primarily soup or something in the slow cooker( chili, stew, roast) that was ready to eat when we hot home.

Warmer weather is mostly salad of some type, pasta, green or fruit.

We also have a bread machine and time it so that the bread is ready when we get home

It's not easy but it can be done.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Dinner at 7 is late?

In HS ate breakfast then snack around 10 and lunch at 1 and snack before practice dinner after or breakfast lunch at 11 and either two snacks or a substantial snack.

Grade school snack at 3 practice was done by 5
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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We eat dinner at around 8:30 pm and a lot of things out of the crock pot that just cooks until we get home or chicken that my wife prepares ahead of time and the first one home puts it in the oven. Steaks on the grill also cook real fast. Also eat leftovers. Dinner together, no matter how late, at least that's what we do.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks everyone for some great ideas!

windywave wrote:
Dinner at 7 is late?

If we are home at 7 and start cooking we don't have much time for an 8:30 bedtime. She's only 7 and we try and read 30 minutes before bed. So that's the time constraint.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Depending how much time we have before or after we might do a 4:30 or 5:00 dinner and then healthy snack after sports. If we snack before it's usually:
A banana and a Lara bar
Scrambled eggs and toast
Cold whole wheat pasta dipped in ketchup (gross to me but my son loves it and it keeps him going for an hour of swimming. )
Sweet potato wedges (can cook the day before and eat cold or reheat. )
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Moonrocket wrote:
Thanks everyone for some great ideas!

windywave wrote:
Dinner at 7 is late?


If we are home at 7 and start cooking we don't have much time for an 8:30 bedtime. She's only 7 and we try and read 30 minutes before bed. So that's the time constraint.

7 is what second grade? Who has practice from 330 until 630 for kids that young?
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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windywave wrote:
Moonrocket wrote:
Thanks everyone for some great ideas!

windywave wrote:
Dinner at 7 is late?


If we are home at 7 and start cooking we don't have much time for an 8:30 bedtime. She's only 7 and we try and read 30 minutes before bed. So that's the time constraint.

7 is what second grade? Who has practice from 330 until 630 for kids that young?

They don't start til 5:30 to allow kids with working parents to get there. Thankfully.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Moonrocket wrote:
windywave wrote:
Moonrocket wrote:
Thanks everyone for some great ideas!

windywave wrote:
Dinner at 7 is late?


If we are home at 7 and start cooking we don't have much time for an 8:30 bedtime. She's only 7 and we try and read 30 minutes before bed. So that's the time constraint.


7 is what second grade? Who has practice from 330 until 630 for kids that young?


They don't start til 5:30 to allow kids with working parents to get there. Thankfully.

Oh dude. . . .dinner beforehand
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [windywave] [ In reply to ]
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That would totally make sense if my husband was a stay at home dad but since we both work the timing is hard.
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Re: Kids' sports and dinner? [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]
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Moonrocket wrote:
That would totally make sense if my husband was a stay at home dad but since we both work the timing is hard.

What's the kid doing between 3 and 530
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