A mum says she feeds her kids dinner at 3pm so they are less "over stimulated" and to "eliminate the chaos".<br /><br />Aimee Connor, 38, found her four children were always hungry by 3pm when her eldest daughter, Mahli, seven, got home from school.<br /><br />The family were already having an early dinner around 4.30pm so parents Aimee and Shay, 42, a building designer, could put the kids to sleep by 6pm or 7pm.<br /><br />But Aimee found her kids – Indi, five, Bili, three, Bodhi, one – were getting irritable and she would give them unhealthy snacks while she was cooking.<br /><br />Aimee found they then weren’t eating their tea and decided to move dinner forward so her kids eat a full meal - such as pizza or spaghetti bolognaise at 3pm – and healthy snacks just before bed.<br /><br />Aimee, a part-time nurse, from Wollongong, Australia, said: “I was flustered at pick up.<br /><br />“When they got home they wanted to snack. I reached for easy and not nutritious snacks, but when I served dinner they weren’t hungry.<br /><br />“I started to prepare dinner before I picked up the kids. When they all balled through the door it was all there.<br /><br />“It’s not ideal for most people but it works for us.”<br /><br />Aimee says the family have always been early eaters because of their young family.<br /><br />She said: “Because they are little we are quite strict with bed time.”<br /><br />Aimee is also conscious of her daughter, Mahli, who is autistic, and finds meal time anxious.<br /><br />She said: “She has a lot of anxiety when it comes to meal time.<br /><br />“I’ve been through periods when she doesn’t eat at all.”<br /><br />Because of this Aimee makes four separate meals for her kids – cooking easy food such as chicken schnitzel and chopped potatoes for her youngest and steak and rice for Mahli.<br /><br />Aimee finds time earlier in her day to prepare the meals before reheating it at 3pm.<br /><br />Aimee said: “Sometimes I’m cooking as early as 10.30am.<br /><br />“It’s when I get a minute.”
