Insane morning rush - exhausted

[Anonymous]

OP ill be the voice of dissent here and tell you that you can provide hot lunch but it needs to be planned and prepped in advance.

My kid loves breakfast and it is, usually, his biggest meal of the day. I also think there are two types of kids: eat first thing and don't care for breakfast. If you have the latter then a granola bar will work. My son gets a full breakfast, a hot lunch, and then he ate a Jersey mikes kids meal at 3pm after school the other day The whole thing. But had yogurt for dinner. And that's essentially how his body works.

I think having nutritious food helps with behavior- both in-school and when they get home. Ill get flamed, but it helps me as an adult and there is no way that most kids don't benefit from non-packaged food for most of their day.

Pancakes and bacon ahead of time.
Jones chicken sausage takes 6 minutes.
French toast casserole made on Sunday can be two breakfasts.
yogurt granola fruit
milk plus hard-boiled egg plus toast or bagel
baked oatmeal- i have some fantastic recipes if you'd like them can be served with yogurt or milk
scrambled eggs take like 4 minutes, you can try frittata or egg casseroles if you want it ahead of time
crescent roll with jones sausage rolled up plus some fruit is a weekly occurrence at our house- they travel well and take 12-15 minutes.

Its unclear if you are making lunch that day or using leftovers but PBJ won't go soggy if you put PB on both sides. An Uncrustable once a week is fine. "Charcuterie" lunches are a huge hit and can be made/packed ahead of time. Yogurt and some type of muffin or banana bread is easy and packable the night priot. Make sure you are prepping all of your veggies and fruits during the weekend and then I go on Wednesday and get two more days worth to supplement through Friday/Saturday. Id honestly maybe aim for 2 hot lunches and 2 hot breakfasts and see how that manages versus trying to do it every day.

Backpacks and waters should be done ahead of time. Dishes are a personal thing. Maybe you can let it go, maybe not. But yes, doing all of those things before 730 is exhausting.

Are you solo? The puppy likely needs dog walker, you should just be doing feeds and pee in the AM. You can probably get a lower price since most people want their dogs walked in the middle of the day so 10am and 2/3pm are more off hours.

[Anonymous]

I am guessing that 99% of your stress is caused by the new puppy. I don’t say that to make you feel bad and I’m sure the puppy is very cute but I am quite sure that the extra work has put you over the edge. The good news is it should get better in about six months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids if you are saying you have done 8 years of this? They seem quite capable to help. They can pack their own backpacks (my k kid does it), they get fill up their own water bottles (my k kid does it), they can feed the dog (pretty simple) and you can fix their lunch the night before so that all you need to do is zap it in the microwave the morning of.

OP - kids are 8, 6 and 3. Dog is still a puppy. By doing this for 8 years I mean some variation. At one point I was breastfeeding before I would drop off to daycare and getting pumped bottles together. Now its lunches and breakfast. Dog is too young for kids to help (beyond putting food in a bowl). They can't walk dog at all.

An 8 year old can't walk a dog?? I wouldn't let them go far, but I don't see why not. That's a normal chore for 5+ year olds (5 year olds might only walk in front yard).

Op - puppy is only 5 months old and already 50+ pounds. 8 year old is not strong enough to walk the dog even out to the front yard. We are doing training starting next month but at this point puppy is strong enough to pull me a grown 140 pound woman down the street when she sees a squirrel (which is quite often). No way would I let my 60 pound 8 year old walk the puppy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My god, what is with some of these posters with zero empathy?? Sometimes we do create the problem and life happens. It's okay to be exhausted and stressed and rant on this forum, yes, even if you helped create the problem.

But yea, it may be hard but it will get easier to keep saying no to their requests and put your foot down. Is you DH available to help with any of this?

Op - no DH is already out the door 4 of the 5 days a week to head to the office. I am solo in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My god, what is with some of these posters with zero empathy?? Sometimes we do create the problem and life happens. It's okay to be exhausted and stressed and rant on this forum, yes, even if you helped create the problem.

But yea, it may be hard but it will get easier to keep saying no to their requests and put your foot down. Is you DH available to help with any of this?

Op - no DH is already out the door 4 of the 5 days a week to head to the office. I am solo in the morning.

then you leave the dishes. If he's out the door that early and you are on your own with 3 kids I assume he comes home early right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My god, what is with some of these posters with zero empathy?? Sometimes we do create the problem and life happens. It's okay to be exhausted and stressed and rant on this forum, yes, even if you helped create the problem.

But yea, it may be hard but it will get easier to keep saying no to their requests and put your foot down. Is you DH available to help with any of this?

Op - no DH is already out the door 4 of the 5 days a week to head to the office. I am solo in the morning.

then you leave the dishes. If he's out the door that early and you are on your own with 3 kids I assume he comes home early right?

or he needs to make breakfast or do the lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the days of waking up, having coffee, getting ready for work and walking out the door. For the past 8 years I have been running every morning from the minute I wake up until the minute I drop kids off and start work. Lunches, breakfast, backpacks, water, feed the dog, clean up all the dishes, get kids changed, etc. By 7:30am I am exhausted and the day hasn't even started! Just a vent post - I am so tired!

I love this. I gives us purpose.

I have purpose without being a maid and short order cook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My god, what is with some of these posters with zero empathy?? Sometimes we do create the problem and life happens. It's okay to be exhausted and stressed and rant on this forum, yes, even if you helped create the problem.

But yea, it may be hard but it will get easier to keep saying no to their requests and put your foot down. Is you DH available to help with any of this?

Op - no DH is already out the door 4 of the 5 days a week to head to the office. I am solo in the morning.

then you leave the dishes. If he's out the door that early and you are on your own with 3 kids I assume he comes home early right?

OP - no he usually gets home around dinner/bed time for the kids. He works an insanely busy job. I am pretty mommy tracked and don't have a very stressful job (thankfully). When he is home he helps with stuff like dishes and cleaning up but more times than not he is in the office. Less than before covid though thankfully.

[Anonymous]

OP, it gets easier as they get older. But I will confirm what other PPs have said about doing partial lunch prep at night. I also like to make healthy lunches for the kids and we mainly reheat leftovers in a thermos (lots of pasta, rice dishes, stews, etc. that are easy to eat next day). I fill the lunch boxes with apple, cucumber or seaweed, mandarins, or crackers (or combination of those) in the evening. Thermos and the fruit snacks get prepped in the morning.

Kids have cereal and fruit in the morning. Or yogurt and hard boiled eggs, or something that's easy. DH is the primary breakfast parent while I do the dinner/lunch.

My kids are walkers, though, so that saves a ton of time.

[Anonymous]

Your husband needs to do at least the dog before he leaves for work. And does he really have to go in that early?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I've just accepted the fact that the first 30 mins of my work day is actually "decompress from the morning" time. If you have any flexibility at work, I highly recommend it.

[Anonymous]

I go to bed at 9 and wake up at 4am. This makes the morning less rushed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My god, what is with some of these posters with zero empathy?? Sometimes we do create the problem and life happens. It's okay to be exhausted and stressed and rant on this forum, yes, even if you helped create the problem.

But yea, it may be hard but it will get easier to keep saying no to their requests and put your foot down. Is you DH available to help with any of this?

Op - no DH is already out the door 4 of the 5 days a week to head to the office. I am solo in the morning.

then you leave the dishes. If he's out the door that early and you are on your own with 3 kids I assume he comes home early right?

OP - no he usually gets home around dinner/bed time for the kids. He works an insanely busy job. I am pretty mommy tracked and don't have a very stressful job (thankfully). When he is home he helps with stuff like dishes and cleaning up but more times than not he is in the office. Less than before covid though thankfully.

He leaves before 6am and comes home after 6pm? How convenient

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I go to bed at 9 and wake up at 4am. This makes the morning less rushed.

Unless you have a newborn, 4 AM is waaay to early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP ill be the voice of dissent here and tell you that you can provide hot lunch but it needs to be planned and prepped in advance.

My kid loves breakfast and it is, usually, his biggest meal of the day. I also think there are two types of kids: eat first thing and don't care for breakfast. If you have the latter then a granola bar will work. My son gets a full breakfast, a hot lunch, and then he ate a Jersey mikes kids meal at 3pm after school the other day The whole thing. But had yogurt for dinner. And that's essentially how his body works.

I think having nutritious food helps with behavior- both in-school and when they get home. Ill get flamed, but it helps me as an adult and there is no way that most kids don't benefit from non-packaged food for most of their day.

Pancakes and bacon ahead of time.
Jones chicken sausage takes 6 minutes.
French toast casserole made on Sunday can be two breakfasts.
yogurt granola fruit
milk plus hard-boiled egg plus toast or bagel
baked oatmeal- i have some fantastic recipes if you'd like them can be served with yogurt or milk
scrambled eggs take like 4 minutes, you can try frittata or egg casseroles if you want it ahead of time
crescent roll with jones sausage rolled up plus some fruit is a weekly occurrence at our house- they travel well and take 12-15 minutes.

Its unclear if you are making lunch that day or using leftovers but PBJ won't go soggy if you put PB on both sides. An Uncrustable once a week is fine. "Charcuterie" lunches are a huge hit and can be made/packed ahead of time. Yogurt and some type of muffin or banana bread is easy and packable the night priot. Make sure you are prepping all of your veggies and fruits during the weekend and then I go on Wednesday and get two more days worth to supplement through Friday/Saturday. Id honestly maybe aim for 2 hot lunches and 2 hot breakfasts and see how that manages versus trying to do it every day.

Backpacks and waters should be done ahead of time. Dishes are a personal thing. Maybe you can let it go, maybe not. But yes, doing all of those things before 730 is exhausting.

Are you solo? The puppy likely needs dog walker, you should just be doing feeds and pee in the AM. You can probably get a lower price since most people want their dogs walked in the middle of the day so 10am and 2/3pm are more off hours.

Nobody is giving OP a hard time for wanting to provide more complicated meals, they are giving OP a hard time because she is complaining about it. You want to do this, great, do it. Just don't come on Dcurbanmom expecting to get a bunch of sympathy. A lot of us are genx latch key kids. I was expected to make my own breakfast, lunch and get myself to school on time starting in the 3rd grade.