perfect_parent, posts by tag: food - LiveJournal

My husband doesn't really like the idea of daycare. To him it's just a waste of money for something we could do ourselves (We both know this is not always the case). If we want to keep our house, I'm sure I'll have to go back to work, plus I'm pretty sure I'll want to since he works from home and we'll probably be all sick of each other being home all the time.

He's suggested that he take care of the kid at home. He's sure it will work since a lot of his work can be done in off-hours and for the stuff that requires travel or scheduled conference calls, I can either take some time off or his mom could babysit for an hour or two.

What worries me about this is that he might find it too stressful and just freak the fuck out. He disagrees. He's actually done way more kid taking care of in his life than I have so I'll have to trust him on this.

Just to have a back up plan I looked into local day cares to see what's what.

• The subsidized day cares have big waiting lists but the private ones do not.
  
• They run from $130-$200 per week.
  
• They take children starting from 6 months to a year up until school age (5).
  
• The cost seems to include lunch and snacks.
  
• All the ones I've seen seem to stipulate that the care giver gets x number of days off for which I would still be paying but would have to make alternate care arrangements.
  
• Many of them have immediate availability which means that I won't have to worry about waiting lists.
• Many of the care givers have training in early childhood education

My issues:

• I plan on raising a vegetarian until they can decide for themselves if they want to eat meat.
  In addition to this I plan on feeding them only home made foods and I worry that include meals would be hot dogs and Kraft Dinner
• I don't like the idea of paying for a week of vacation and possibly having to pay someone else for day care at the same time. I also don't like that the other alternative is that I take my vacation at the same time they do. I want to be free to choose my own vacation time I want to pay for the services I receive, no more, no less.
• I plan on using cloth diapers but I have heard of some day cares not using them and the parents being forced to switch

So anyways, I figure we'll try out my husband's plan. I know some people have successfully done it (Dooce for example) so we can probably make it work. I don't work long hours to begin with and they are reduced for half the year. I might even be able to work out some kind of half day schedule for a little while until preschool kicks in. If it really doesn't work, then we can sign up for a local day care. Even half days of day care might just be the bit of help we'll need.

With all that said, we'll just have to wait and see and try stuff and hope for the best.

My husband (well almost-husband...it's just easier) came home for lunch when he was in elementary school. It was near his house and he and his siblings would come home, sometimes with a friend each (as previously arranged with the parents) for lunch every day.

I went to school in a neighbouring town so coming home for lunch was unrealistic but some kids who lived nearby did it.  My lunches sucked.  Balogna sandwiches, an apple and if I was lucky, a granola bar.  I was always jealous of the other lunches.

We plan on having our (future) kid home for lunch. The school is in our backyard (literally on the other side of the fence) and we can be sure they (and possibly a friend) get a good meal every day.   This way, we can also avoid the crazy restrictions on what foods can be brought to school becuase of various allergies.  Since the husband works from home, he will be in charge of this and we both think it would be a good time for daily father-child bonding.

There are times when he's out of town for business, so at those times, I would pack a lunch.

There are 2 other recesses during the day when the kids can play and socialize not to mention from when school lets out to dinner time so I don't think they would really be missing out on 'that' much by coming home.  And from what I can tell from the neighbourhood, it's seems that many of the kids do come home for lunch.

For anyone who feeds a baby, and doesn't care for the attitude in many of the forums devoted to breastfeeding, or can't follow the recommendations in them, or simply chooses to combo-feed, check out breast_n_bottle.

I think I'll make my own baby food.  It can't be that hard just to mash up whatever I'm already going to be eating anyways and I'm sure it will be healthier (no preservatives etc) and less costly.

I knew someone who did this and when she had lots of leftovers she would freeze the purée in an ice cube tray and store them in ziplock bags and then would grab 4 different frozen flavours to heat up for her kid and have a balanced meal in minutes.

Have any of you moms/dads done this?

I'm not sure if it will take off (it was just created today - not by me), kids_cook is a community dedicated to cooking with kids (duh!) which I personally think is a very important thing.


It teaches kids to pitch in, gives them an appreciation for a variety of foods and hopefully instills healthy eating habits. It's also a great way to spend quality family time together. The kitchen is the heart of th home.

Link to source

Junk-Food-Free Kids Network Planned


"Ion Media Networks, which until last February had been known as Paxson Communications, is heading a consortium of media companies planning to launch a 24-hour children's channel that will be free of junk-food ads, the New York Post reported today (Monday). Among the partners in the new channel will be NBC Universal, which owns a 33-percent stake in Ion, but which has been feuding with Ion's principal owner, Bud Paxson, over his decision to turn his PAX-TV network into essentially an infomercial outlet. An unnamed person working on the deal told the Post that the new, as-yet-unnamed network will be "a lot more responsible and discriminating" in providing programs for kids. "It won't be accepting certain types of advertising," the source said. "It's positioning itself as a safe place for kids and parents."

So this is more a pregnancy/breastfeeding time thing. I know I won't drink when I'm pregnant and I definitely won't smoke as I already don't but how will I ever be able to give up caffeine? I'll be a raging bitch!

Also...once I give birth I'm sure I'm going to want a few cocktails....

oy....

So does caffeine make your fetus jittery? Does tequila make your brest feeding baby drunk? (I'm exxagerating here folks but seriously, what effect doe sthis stuff have?)

When choosing a school, food service is going to be a major factor. It's all well and good to teach them great stuff in class, but what do they get out of candy machines, soda and a cafeteria that offers mainly deep fried foods?

My grade school was one where we brought our own lunches but out of the two highschools I went to, one had fresh, home made looking meals that were quite affordable, while another had only thinks like fries and burgers. The healthiest thing on their menu was a chicken burger.I had one once, it was full or air bubbles. That's gross.

Having a healthy balanced diet will also help kids focus on what they are supposed to be doing at school. LEARNING. If they have heavy, greesy foods they will feel sluggish, if they have sugary foods, they will be hyperactive, have more difficulty concentrating and might also be a nuisance to other students.

Another option is to make lunches, which I am definitely not opposed to. Healthy foods are currently a priority in my life, they will be a priority at home with my children, and I will ensure they are a priority at the institution that will house my child for most of the day 9 months out of the year.

I'm not going to force my kid to 'clean it's plate'. If the kid's full, the kid's full, but they ain't gettin' no dessert! Actually, we already don't have dessert that often so maybe I'll just have desserts on 'special occasions'.

I'm also not making 35 different meals for dinner. As far as I can remember, that wasn't done for me as a kid. I'd pick things apart though. I think I WOULD go so far as to (for example) leave all the components of a meal seperate for the kid so that nothing is mixed together. I don't know why things that are mixed together freaks kids out, but it does. That much I remember from my childhood.

So if the grownups are having chili, they will have tomatos, beans, maybe some meat, pepper etc on the plate, none of them touching each other. They will not however have a peanut putter sandwich.