How We Survive Supper Hour During Our Weekly Activities

With school in full swing, the kids have now started their fall programs. Last year, we were running around Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday evenings.

Here was what our schedule looked like:

Monday – once a month – Awana as a family at our home Church.
Tuesday – my 6 year old daughter had art class
Wednesday – my 4 year old son had gymnastics in the afternoon and both kids went to a weekly Awana program at another local church.
Thursday – both kids were in a CanSkate program.

While we found that these activities were all beneficial to the kids, we found that being busy SO many nights in a row was just too much for the kids and this Mama was ready to drop ALL activities by Christmas!

This year we revamped and are now much happier with our schedule. We allowed the kids to each pick 1 extra activity besides our monthly Church group get-together.

Our daughter, who is now 7, goes to our local Arts Council for a Theatre class once a week and our 5 year old son goes to his gymnastics program once a week.

Even though we have revamped our schedule, both of these weekly activities happen at supper time between 5 & 7pm. People often ask me how we survive supper hour with our family being in multiple places at once.

Here is how we handle it:

Meal Plan in advance! Figure out what meals you are having on those days. Will they be slow cooker, pizza pick up, or something that can be made early and then heated up for those family members who are eating later.

Be prepared for an evening snack! Since the kids and I are often eating at 4pm, we are sometimes quite hungry by the time bedtime rolls around. Be prepared for this time by having healthy snack options cut up and ready to go. I make sure our fridge is stocked with yogurt, fruit that is cut up and washed, and cheese that is already cut up and ready to pair with crackers.

Find a suitable lunch kit system for that child that needs to eat on the run! My son gets home from school at 4 and needs to leave at 4:45 for gymnastics. Since he has had an afternoon snack at school, he is not ready for supper, so often just has a small snack. However, by the half time part of his gymnastics program when they sit down for a break, he is hungry and ready to eat! The PlanetBox Shuttle is the perfect lunch box system to send along with him.

The PlanetBox Shuttle is perfect for packing small meals and snacks on the go. Because of the stainless steel construction, you can be rest assured that your child’s lunch or snack will not become one squished mess!

The Shuttle Complete set includes:

a Shuttle lunchbox
a Tall Dipper for dips and sauces
a super fun magnet set of your choice
and a Shuttle Carry Bag

I make sure to pack enough food so that when he is done his gymnastics (and ready to eat again – because apparently that is how boys roll) there is left overs for him to eat on the ride home or while I quickly run some errands.