Hi mums!!! So my partner and the mother of his son have just agreed to 50/50 care!!! As excited as we are I'm also a little bit nervous! Having a 12 year old boy coming to us for 7 nights compared to 2 nights a month (we lived 6 hours apart but have just moved up to them.) how much food do you have in your cupboards? We don't have children of our own yet but I've been his step mum for 8 years now. I can manage to be organised during the school holidays every few months, but having to be on the ball all the time is gonna be a hurdle. I'm so used to just saying "oh i don't feel like grocery shopping today, let's just get Thai and I'll go tomorrow." I always remember my mum having 6 different kinds of cereal and constantly having food and seeming like she had her shit together. (Ask her now and she'll laugh in my face 😂) and she had her own business and 4 kids! So I shouldn't have a problem. It's just very daunting. I wanna get this right. Any advice?
9 Replies
Maybe have an easy meal the first night & then take him shopping so he can help you. As you only want to buy stuff he will eat.
Or ask him before he comes what he likes & go out and buy it.
Weetbix, milk, yougurt, fruit and an endless supply of bread will be handy staples.
Remember the truth is no parent knows what we are doing, we are all just winging it and hoping for the best.
The fact you care enough to worry means you are already doing an amazing job.
Take him shopping when he comes for his first week and get a feel for what he likes, also discuss with the mum his current diet and any foods he only has as a treat. Also take into consideration what the school allows them to take as some schools have a no nut or egg tolerance :)
I'd recommend always having bread or crumpets available, a few options for cereals (nutri grain, rice bubbles or weetbix for during the week, coco pops for a weekend treat) and then just get snacks. Like cheese/biscuit dip things, muesli bars, some chips, fruits, salad sticks/dips (if he is into that) and so on.
Try and do one big weekly shop when he comes down just so you aren't visiting the store all the time. This may mean meal planning so let him pick one or two nights of dinners. Stir fry, tacos, pastas are all super easy and take hardly any time :)
Don't do a big shop until he gets there. He'll have his preferences in regards to breakfast/lunches/dinners.
My biggest issue with kids that age is they eat a lot as loads of growth spurts are going on.
You will never have enough food, EVER haha. For real, the supermarket will be your second home with a teenaged boy around 😂😂
It's just going to be an adjustments for all of you, you're probably just going to need to be a bit more organized really.
Good luck !
I would ask his mum what his diet is usually like with her, even if you just say that you don't want too many changes for him so wanted to know what kind of things he does/nt like and what he isn't aloud to have too much of/treats, ect. And ask her if there are any school policies about food.
Depends what kind of child he is but I try not buy too much snack-ish food or too many treats at the same time other wise the kids just eat it because it's there and until it's gone.
For example, I buy a box of tiny teddies which is their "treat"/special snack for the week, once it's gone, its gone until I shop again. So if they are smart enough, they just have one a day. Lol
It's still fine to have your "bugger it, I'm not cooking" nights. You just get take-out for 3. For breakfast we have Weetbix, crumpets or toast and poached eggs. Lunches are cold meat and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, or left overs. Popular dinners are quiche, spag bog, tacos/burritos, curries with rice or sausages and gravy. For snacks we have rice cakes with vegemite, chobani or Jalna yoghurts, cheese and cherry tomatoes on Jatz or baked bean nachos (corn chips with baked beans and grated cheese on top then heated in the microwave).
Sit down with him and write a meal plan for the week.
Have one or two breakfast cereals at all times, plenty of topping/spreads for toast.
Have enough bread for 2 sandwiches minimum per day.
Dinners, write down everything you need to make those meals. Then cross off each item you already have in the pantry/freezer.
Then buy everything you don't have.
Have a bowl full of fruit.
A box of two for snacks.
If you make extra at dinner time, freeze it for the next week he's there. Then that's one less meal you need to worry about.
I wouldn't worry he will tell you what he wants and needs.
Also I have three kids 7 and under and we often do the don't feel like shopping lets get, Thai, sushi etc
Ummmm you let his father do it. Wouldn't he know his son and what he needs?