I feed my kids dinner at 3.30pm – haters say I’m lazy but I think it’s the best mom hack out there

A mother of four says she feeds her children at 3:30 p.m.

Content creator Aims LC shared with her 688,900+ TikTok followers that she starts preparing dinner at home at 3pm.

She explains in the video that her three youngest children “always wake up starving after their nap. Why not give them as many nutrients as possible now and let them snack later in the day?”

Of her fourth child, who had just finished school, Aims said, “She also comes home starving, so this is the best time to give her as many nutrients as possible.”

After she finished feeding her children in the video, she went to dinner with her husband at 4 p.m. and said, “And then you have the rest of the evening free. [They can] play games. I can work out. There’s no pressure. And later we’ll have a bedtime toast.’

Other parents decided to try the suggested routine and also saw successful results.

A mother, who calls herself ‘The Runaway Bride Experiment’ on TikTok, candidly shared her experience from the previous dinner.

She said: ‘When I first saw that video I thought, ‘That’s so early, why would you do that? ‘

“So I tried it, and oh my god, let me tell you – it’s amazing!”

“My husband gets home from work about the same time my kids get home from school, so we have dinner together as a family. If they’re hungry, everyone just eats dinner. And if they need a pick-me-up later in the day, they can have leftovers or fruit or whatever.”

She concluded her experiment by saying, “But oh my gosh, this is life-changing advice. I would highly recommend it.”

Paige Boyuk, mother of two, also enjoyed the positive results of the routine, but she found a happy personal middle ground: dinnertime at 4:30 p.m.

Paige shared with TODAY: ‘I was tired of giving my kids snacks and then them not eating anything.

“One day I said, ‘That’s it.’ We had spaghetti at 4:30 and we had a great evening: no meltdowns and they had full stomachs.”

The mother said that she usually chooses chicken with rice, pork tenderloin or pasta.

As for snacks, Paige opts for apple slices and cheese.

Mercedes Barnes, a mother of four, serves dinner at 3:45 p.m. and tells TODAY, “The (older) girls got off the school bus starving and grabbed some snacks from the pantry, but later in the day they didn’t eat their dinner.

“I started serving dinner at 3pm and they ate it.”

She added that her children no longer run around “like crazy” and that they no longer have the blood sugar drops after school that they used to.

Mercedes added: ‘I see a substantial difference in their behaviour. They argue less and fall asleep more easily. It changes their lives.’

Her favorite snacks are fruits, vegetables or a granola bar after dinner.

She also explained that she reheats leftovers from dinner if her kids are still hungry later.

Sarah Williams, a registered dietitian from Texas, talks about the health benefits of eating an early meal, saying that a small change can make a big difference.

Sarah explains: ‘I love the idea of ​​parents feeding their children when they are hungry, rather than having them eat at a specific time.

‘In general, mealtimes should be in line with our daily lives, (especially) if children are exercising during mealtimes.’

She added that children can sleep better if they eat on time.

The dietitian recommended eating healthy fats like peanut butter and fruit as a snack before bed.

While most parents liked the idea, some were not so keen on it.

Someone wrote: ‘I can’t imagine washing myself before feeding them. Mine are so dirty.’

A second person noted, “This works great until sports, dance, and school events start happening.”

A third person added: ‘Hard when you work full time and finish at 5pm, but great idea.

Another wrote: ‘I think this is a great idea except I work and don’t get home until 5pm and [am] ‘I usually run to a sports club.’