When I was young, my mother insisted that my brother, sister and I eat dinner together every weekday at 5:00. Actually, she never called it “dinner,” she called it “supper.” Supper at 5:00 was our routine throughout my childhood.

My father, on the other hand, had supper when he came home from work. My mother would sit with him while he ate. My brother, sister and I had to stay out of the kitchen while he ate so he “could relax.”

It was not until I went to college and lived with other people that I learned that weekday dinner did not have to be at 5:00. It was freeing for me to wait until 7:00 pm to eat dinner.  Of course, when I went home or, as an adult visiting my parents’ house, supper was still always served at 5:00. 

As an adult, with my own family, we generally had weekday dinner together at 7:00 after the kids finished their activities and homework.  That was as much of a routine for my household as 5:00 supper was for my parents' household.

Have you eaten supper? At what time? Or what time is dinner?