Dinnertime Dilemma

My latest dilemma has to do with scheduling. That seems to be the biggest issue with parenting by itself (other than guilt), and also with having diabetes, so the two combined is just a logistical logjam sometimes.

Right now it’s dinnertime that’s causing trouble. So far, my daughter (now two) has usually eaten dinner before my husband and I do, unless we go out to eat (pretty rare). We traditionally eat dinner pretty late, around 8 pm. (That might sound odd to some people with diabetes, and it used to be impossible before I went on the pump. Perhaps I’ve been flaunting the freedom the pump has given me - why not?). Really, to be able to make a decent fresh meal after work, it takes that long. And now, though I don’t cook the fancy stuff I used to, it takes that long just to cook anything at all. And it’s a lot easier to count carbs properly when I don’t have my toddler demanding my attention every moment.

But eventually we’re going to have to find a compromise. Oh, I supposed strictly speaking we don’t have to - we could go on this way indefinitely, it wouldn’t kill anyone. But it would be better for my daughter to learn to eat dinner with us, for all the various reasons the advice-givers cite, but also just because I’d like to have family dinners. And she’s apparently decided the same thing, because a couple of nights ago, my husband asked what we’d be having for dinner. I said “soup.” Daughter H was eating her beans and rice. A few minutes went by, then she said, “Where’s Daddy’s soup? Daddy eat.” Getting upset, despite our attempts at distraction, etcetera. So we went through a sort of half dinner routine, heating a little soup in the microwave, sitting down with her, slurping for her benefit.

Amusing as it was, I wonder whether we’re headed for more of these divided-dinner nights, and how it’s going to affect my blood sugar. Maybe positively, who knows; but it always takes a screw-up or two before I figure out a new routine, or so it seems.

I’d like to get to the point where we have a compromise dinner time - say, 7:00 (like my family had when I was a kid). But I’m not sure I can accomplish that without a major change, perhaps cooking casseroles over the weekend to last part of the week. Chances are, I’ll manage that one weekend out of every month. Ready-made soup was easy, but we’re not on a soup diet, and besides, ready-made is not that healthy. We’re already eating far more ready-made than we used to, and more than I’d like.

Is this how you get to everyone going in a different direction, catching meals on the fly (and gaining too much weight in the process) - everyone going to soccer practice or PTA or some other nonfamily event? I’d hoped that with a small kid, we could manage the family meal, for a couple of years at least.

But I try to envision it: Cook the meal, all the while helping my daughter find something to occupy her time (even watching a video is not a solo activity for her yet). Sit down and divide my mealtime helping her eat (even if hubby helps, she wants my involvement), counting my carbs, then cleaning her up and letting her down from the table (because she’s done eating already), then remembering whether I’ve already programmed my insulin, then maybe eating. Then her bedtime routine, prepping her lunch and snacks for the next day (and assuming hubby helps with dinner cleanup), and maybe a chance to complain about it on my blog. It’s bad enough as it is, right?

So I think that we will postpone the family-dinner effort until she’s a bit older, despite my dream of having that one vestige of Cleaver-like family bliss, and with the hope that we don’t have to do the staged dinner too often.