Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am so over the meal trains in the age of available food at a moment's notice. It used to be that people would bring you a meal because it was hard to shop for and prepare dinners. Now it's like meal trains where people order you Uber Eats. I am with you--get on Uber Eats yourself. Why am I paying for this?
Because it's a nice thing to do? Why have baby showers? Or give gifts at a wedding reception? Or give a birthday present?
I am more than happy to get the baby a gift. Buying someone dinner because they apparently are too overwhelmed to use the Uber Eats app seems a little silly.
I think there are a lot of factors that determine how much a meal is appreciated. Some people have a stable marriage with a helpful partner, financial security, support from extended relatives, an uncomplicated birth, and a healthy, full term baby who eats and sleeps like a champ. They don’t
need a meal, but it’s a nice gesture that shows them that you care.
Then there are people whose marriages are strained or there’s no partner in the picture or who are struggling financially or who have no local family to help out or or they already have several other children or they have serious complications during the pregnancy or birth or they have multiple babies or the baby is very premature or is medically fragile or has colic or never sleeps or some combination of these stress factors.
Ordering from Uber Eats is expensive, especially for a large family, and it’s not easy to limit your salt and fat intake with restaurant food. When you experience a major life event and you’re sleep deprived and in survival mode, a homemade meal isn’t just fuel for your body; knowing that someone cared about you enough to put to time and effort into nourishing your body also nourishes your soul. Having a brief interaction with someone when they drop off the meal makes you feel a little bit less alone in those early chaotic days when you’re outside your normal routine and stuck at home.
Having said all that, no one should ever be compelled to participate in a meal train if they don’t want to. There’s nothing wrong with OP skipping it.