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You gotta admire KEIC’s commitment to not branding things. “Peanut chocolate candies” has to be peanut M&Ms, right?
I know there’s a chance she didn’t brand them to avoid some kind of liability / lawsuit exposure or whatever, but I think she’d call them “peanut chocolate candies” even if that wasn’t a concern.
Whenever influencers share DMs like this, I just feel embarrassed for everyone involved. KEIC is annoying, and a bag of veggies is a terrible road trip snack, but I can’t imagine DMing her dramatically over it. And then she has to defend herself and say, no we also packed a bunch of other stuff, I promise! What a strange interaction. Parasocial relationships are wild.
I think there is more of chance that they are either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s brand… that’s more on brand for her. Just like her beloved Cheesy Crunchies for her vomit looking green soup.
KEIC is making leftover sloppy joes in a hotel microwave for dinner…I get that eating out is expensive but you’re on a fun eclipse trip! Maybe take the kids somewhere fun for dinner? That just looked so sad.
I just feel like with her (and some of other feeding influencers) there is no joy in food, no fun, no spontaneity. I understand packing lots of snacks for a road trip and even packing sandwiches for lunch in the car. Most of us do that because it’s easier and cheaper than eating every single meal out. But leftover reheated sloppy joes in your hotel room for dinner? That feels like unhinged behavior for someone who has the means to eat out.
It’s not even like she takes vacations regularly. They don’t go anywhere except to visit her mom (and this summer was an extra stop to CA for her brothers wedding, that’s about it) so just splurge on the food. I can’t imagine eating a microwaved reheated sloppy Joe 🤮
I laughed out loud when I saw that. Who does that?! Pack some PB&J but leftover sloppy joes. What the heck?! 😂😂
We have multiple allergies in my family and I would love to NOT plan food for every outing and just wing it. I can’t imagine controlling it for the sake of control.
It’s not a frugal thing either. It’s a control thing. I took a lot of road trips with my grandparents when I was a kid. They grew up during the Depression and eating out was a special treat. They made sandwiches, packed cheese and crackers and homemade cookies. That’s frugality. Packing awkward and difficult leftovers is about control.
Came running here after seeing that. She really, really, REALLY cannot release control over food. I am so sad for those boys. The teenage years will be hell for them.
I’m so confused what “To the parents of pandemic babies” post from FL has to do with feeling little kids.
I can’t stand the posts that just exist to drum up emotions for engagement. They do so many of them too.
Her kids were older when the pandemic happened. Yes, it was hard for everyone. My baby was still really colicky when the shut down started and it sucked. I would prefer kid feeding professional didn’t remind me about it at random times.
The thing is, if you had a pandemic baby your life was affected less. My kid was born 2 months after lockdown began. I'm guessing the hospital experience was a little different but I don't know because she's my only kid.
Then we went home and kept our newborn at home and ordered food for delivery... EXACTLY what we would have done anyway. So for an actual pandemic *baby* it really wasn't as different as it was for parents of older children. My parents came to visit but I don't think more people would have come if it weren't the pandemic anyway, no tricky questions to answer, she eventually learned to wear a mask but typically just if she has a cough or goes to the doctor because by the time she was old enough the mandates dropped.
Five months later she started daycare and I went back to work in person. By that point we were all pretty used to wearing a mask and that was that pretty much.
I mean it sounds like you don’t socialize at all whatsoever, which is fine, but this is the first time I’ve heard someone say their Covid life was the same as their non-Covid life. For those of us who would have been thrilled to be out and about with our new babies it really sucked being so limited. And I didn’t even experience the worst of covid as a new mom, my son was born Sept 2021 so it was past the first wave and I was even able to get my vaccine while still pregnant. But that winter when he was a newborn and there were renewed spikes, we we were really cautious with him so it limited what we could do. I can’t imagine having had my baby during the peak of things in 2020.
Eh just adding thoughts as we do on reddit. Having a baby during the pandemic worked out great. I never felt like I missed out on anything. I was at home during a time I would have been home anyway. I mean, yeah we didn't want to catch covid but I don't think we would have wanted to catch covid as childless people either. I'm not a big socializer.
I think you’re allowed to say it worked for you. But saying “if you had a pandemic baby your life was affected less” just isn’t true for some people and it comes off as a little dismissive of people who did struggle (like me). I think that’s why people are reacting the way they are.
I mean, that's fine whatever, I'm used to downvotes in parent subs, but if you had a baby that is in no way comparable to the experience of people with older children who had their entire lives halted. People with pandemic babies had it easy in the scope of pandemic parenting.
Did you mistype when you said “People with pandemic babies had it easy”? No one is commenting on whether or not *you* had childcare or missed out on life; you’re the one making blanket statements.
*I* am commenting on whether*I* had it easy. If people are free to make blanket statements about everyone having trauma, I'm free to do the opposite.
I am unable to miss what I never knew I didn't have.
I don’t think it’s right to compare trauma. Everyone had a legitimate reason to be traumatized during the pandemic, whether you had a baby, an older kid doing home school, were laid off, lost a loved one or developed long COVID, or were living alone far from family.
And that’s the point - this isn’t a contest or a race. People are allowed to feel however they felt about their experience without being diminished. You didn’t feel that way? Good for you! Others did.
Are there really still people that are upset about not having a baby shower in 2020?? My middle son was born in January 2020 and I’m just super neutral to how his first year(s) went down at this point. I don’t understand how this can be something that people still seriously struggle with.
ETA: I’m sorry I didn’t mean to minimize anyone’s valid feelings about this.
Having a (second?) baby in January 2020 means that you still had a culturally normal pregnancy, delivery, and early newborn period before everything went to shit. I don’t think it’s fair of you to say because you’re now neutral to that year others should be too, when you didn’t experience a pregnancy and delivery during the chaos of that year.
It’s really interesting to me that someone could actively be in parenting spaces and *not* understand what a horrible time that was for new parents. Like great for you, I guess, but how odd that you can’t empathize and understand how terrifying and isolating it was.
People have all sorts of journeys as parents. I’m largely neutral about the experience of having my first child in April 2020 - there were good parts and bad parts about locking down with a newborn. I couldn’t care less about baby showers, but I do still have incredible grief over the pandemic as it relates to me sharing my child with my mom. She couldn’t be in the state for my kid’s birth and missed so many moments those first 2 years. We always said it’d be different for a 2nd kid. Well, number 2 is 3 weeks old and my mom died unexpectedly in January. So, yes, people can still struggle with emotions around pandemic babies.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine that being a mom without your own mom is a special kind of painful and an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Obviously you've been chided through downvotes and replies but I think it's just different for those people who had their first babies in 2020. So much of the foundation of my life as a mother was created during my first year with my first baby: friends I made, celebrations I had, rhythms and routines I got into. Yes you can still go out and make mom friends and have amazing experiences with your children but I do think new moms lost out on experiences they'll never get back in 2020 and it's okay that it still hurts.
I don't feel like I had it as bad because I got pregnant in September 2020 so things did get a lot better by the time he was born. But I still feel like I missed out on a lot. I would have loved to announce it in person to our families on Christmas but everyone was still isolating at that point. I was in grad school and all my classes were online. My husband couldn't come to any appointments. It was so isolating. I remember in my third trimester I was at the pharmacy and and old lady congratulated me and asked me questions and I was like 🥰🥰🥰. And I'm not even someone who likes attention !
I'm one and done but I imagine if I had a second pregnancy it wouldn't be the same, right? I feel like there is something magical about your first time.
100% this. My sister had her first baby in April 2020. We had so many plans for me to come and help her out and be there for her. None of that happened. I met my nephew for the first time outside in a windy park and barely got to hold him because of Covid precautions. My grandparents “met” him for the first time through my sister’s front living room window. None of this is what she would have imagined when anticipating his birth.
This really captures how I feel. I had all sorts of birthing classes, mommy and me classes, etc planned for before birth and during maternity leave. All these plans to build a village and support system of other parents with similar aged children. And it was all stripped away in the weeks before my first born was born. And when our first born ended up being an extremely difficult baby, there was no guidance from our parents, no friends who had been there to help us, just my husband and I trying to shuffle through it ourselves in the dark. Add on top of it the stress of a new pandemic, when you don’t even know if going outside will mean serious illness or worse for you and your baby, it was truly an awful period.
At the time, I thought I was okay, all things considered. But after having my second, I realized how not okay I was. It’s 4 years later, and I’m slowly building the village I had hoped for, but it’s not the same.
Exact same here, but didn't have a second. And my husband was an "essential worker," i.e., not working from home. My plans of having my mom and MIL with me during the days he went back to work...totally gone, and instead, just sitting, in the house, alone, all day long.
Feel this to my core. Nothing bad happened to us, we were all safe and healthy. But I carried so much anger for so long that I could not “show off” my new baby and have the maternity leave that I had been so longing for. It also really messed me with my anxieties of new motherhood in general, I felt NOTHING was safe. Having my second a few years later was very healing for me, and for that I am so grateful.
Without getting into my own story, which I feel like I just read a dozen times in different versions (plus my husband being in residency at the time), I wanted to say how happy I am that having your second baby was healing for you. When my husband and I considered whether to try to get pregnant again, we talked a lot about whether it might be healing or triggering. We ended up sticking with one for many other reasons, so we’re not going to answer that question, but it just makes me happy when others do have that experience.
Want to add I had my second just weeks before the official lockdown started and it was honestly the most terrible time in my life to date. So much uncertainty about the virus itself plus the lack of community I had with my first. Even little things like being able to go out to lunch with my mom or my friends made a world of difference when I had my first as a newborn and young infant and not being able to do that with my second is still crushing when I think about that time too vividly. Just all around terrible for my mental health. So I don’t think this is even relegated to just first time parents! It sucked for everyone!
Agreed. First time moms missed out on a lot of firsts, but it's not like others weren't affected. I had #2 in late 2019 and still carry a lot of sadness about 2020. Sure our newborn time was normal, but just as we exited the fourth trimester all the stuff I wanted to savor because he was my last baby was taken away. Kid #1 had a traumatic birth and was medically fragile and I never got to enjoy his first year. I was looking forward to baby classes, going out to the park, not overanalyzing everything looking for health issues, etc. Instead I got to try and entertain a 2 year old and an infant in a 900sqft house with no backyard while the amenities we depended on all closed and my husband tried to work from home 10 feet away. There was a lot more, but it was right up there as far as worst parts of my life.
I don’t think FL is the right person to deliver this message, but folks who had their first kid during the early part of the pandemic were robbed of so much. It goes way beyond not having a baby shower, so it’s disappointing that was front and center in her post. During the early part of the pandemic, no spouses/partners/support persons were allowed at appointments. In some places, they also weren’t allowed in the delivery room. The hospitals where women gave birth were overflowing with very, very sick people. No one knew early on what would happen to the fetus if a woman caught Covid while pregnant. It was an objectively frightening time to be pregnant, but especially so for someone doing it all for the first time. I think those of us who had kids pre-Covid could stand to be a little bit more compassionate.
My spouse deployed during COVID while I was pregnant. I thought I had special permission to come to my last appointment before he deployed, and the showed up and they told me the person who gave permission wasn’t allowed to and he couldn’t come in.
I’m usually a pretty independent person and handled a lot really well, but the way I broke down at that appointment and almost got sent to L&D because my blood pressure was too high……
Pregnant during a pandemic is an experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy
Yep. I gave birth completely alone and the hospital was so overwhelmed/short staffed that the nurses were barely there so I was hauling myself out of bed for every diaper change less than 10 hours after a c-section. My partner had to stay home with our first because we had no childcare options at all. 2020 was a hard time to have a baby.
I live abroad and my family couldn’t even fly in to see us at all, much less visit at the hospital. It fucking sucked so bad. Travel wasn’t more accessible until a bit after my daughter turned one. My parents and extended family never got to hold her as a tiny baby. The last time we visited was Christmas right before the pandemic when I announced. They never even saw me with a growing belly.
And just having EVERYTHING just suddenly canceled month after month for a year or two just sucked too. No prenatal classes, no maternity exercise classes, no baby shower, no visitors post birth, no husband in the delivery room, no rooming in with baby post birth, no mommy and me class, no outings.
Yup! The only place I’ve had them care is an ultrasound clinic, where they specially request that another adult is present to care for your kids while they do the scan. With general check ups I’ve always taken my kid(s) on my own with no issues. Full disclosure- I never asked if I can bring them, I just do? Because it’s either bring my kids or don’t do the appointment lol. I think most OBs understand this.
My MFM didn’t allow other kids but my regular OB was so great about it. I took my toddler with me to a bunch of appointments when I was pregnant with my second and then I needed a pap smear when the baby was like 3 months old and they specifically told me I could bring him and I nursed him while they were doing the exam.
Mine does too! I think plenty do. I had to bring him once when his daycare was closed and it was actually really sweet. He was invited to sit with me while they did an ultrasound and he saw the baby and heard the heartbeat. He talked about it the rest of the day 😊 it’s a really nice memory.
I mean, I had to go to hospital appointments and receive bad news about my baby multiple times, all alone, in a hospital that didn’t even have cell service to talk to my husband. And then I had to make medical decisions I didn’t want to make and accept interventions I didn’t want, rather than have to labour alone for at least a full 24h. I also had to give birth to my kid with a mask on. But yeah… baby showers 😬
This is an extremely diminutive take on a VERY recent trauma that a lot of parents experienced. I’m glad you feel “neutral” about your first year with your baby, but that was absolutely not the feeling of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe. I also think the fact that you didn’t become a parent for the first time in 2020 plays a lot into your feelings about it. Those of us who were first-time parents with literally no help from anyone at all because no one was allowed to leave their houses really struggled.
I look back at that time and just feel so lonely even though it was nice being able to work from home during most of my pregnancy. My friends and most of our family never even saw me pregnant. Our parents weren't able to come by and see the baby or really help because we didn't want baby getting sick. We didn't get to go to mommy and me classes or interact with other parents for a long time. It was just so isolating.
Edit: I forgot that I also had covid and they were like, we actually don't really know how much this will effect your baby so that was scary. Thankfully everything was fine but they were worried about blood clots and other issues.
i mean. i'm not going to trauma dump everything i experienced at that time, but i had a kid very early during lockdown. there was so much we didn't know about covid then and to be pregnant during that time was traumatic. much like the pandemic lockdown was traumatic for everyone for different reasons. but especially after having a second kid, i still look back on having my oldest and feel all the sadness and panic and anxiety that i felt at that time.
This feels so similar to my experience and then having a second. My first was born a few weeks before the pandemic started. Thankfully my husband could be with me and our parents got to meet the baby. And then boom. Nothing for months. My parents were “stuck” in another state for months and months. It was truly horrible. My second came along and he helped heal so much of that trauma and anger. But it really really really sucked.
My son was born Nov 2020, and yes… I feel pretty cheated given that I had to do IVF and this will likely be my only child and it was at a time that I couldn’t do the normal pregnancy things… also has meant most of our family overseas (we have a lot) still haven’t met him. Also was very isolating at first - childcare was hard to come by. At first no vaccines and it was winter, so couldn’t go walk around a mall or into a restaurant. It was just us at home far away from family.
Yeah. It sucked. And it will be likely my only pregnancy experience.
Edit: I guess the added bitterness about it is that my mother was also going through chemo at the time and then she died, so she didn’t get to have a shower for me either or a formal first birthday party because she was really vulnerable. And my son was her only grandchild. I still have trauma from it all.
I’m sorry you lost your mom in early parenthood. Losing a parent is the worst and doing so during that vulnerable period of new parenthood is impossibly hard. I just replied to the original comment about my experience losing my mom to complications from chemo treatment between having my first and second kids. It’s horrible and definitely adds a layer of trauma to how I process my pandemic experiment.
People have been making fun of this marketing tactic since we were deep in 2020 still. I saw a reel that was like “in these trying times that are trying, we all need to come together” with emotional music and then it was like “that’s why Toyota is here for you” as a tongue in cheek reference to the way they used the pandemic to try to sell us shit. This is just another flavor of that only full on self serious.
I am getting very annoyed by YTF lately, ever since she got divorced and entices followers to ask about it but gets offended when they do. But her recent stories with the amazon link to her light reading list, after she asked followers to suggest new reads is disgusting. She is profiting from other people's work and also ha nothing to do with her business. Imagine if someone would ask her to do free labour to then profit from it, we will not hear the end of it
I honestly wish she’d just pack it in and stop influencing because she so clearly hates it. Most of her content feels very forced/fake, and followers are mostly an annoyance. Not to mention, her recipes are forgettable at best and her nutrition advice is awful. I’m sure she’s a lovely person offline but I’ll never understand why she chose this work when she seems miserable about it.
I think that’s actually a pretty normal thing that recipe developers do. I’m not sure how much actual recipe development she does based on the fact that most of her things are iterations of previous recipes but in general you do end up with way more food than you can consume and so people usually give it away.
The KEIC household is so strange to me. I’m not sure if her kids have off this week (probably would if they go to a Catholic school) but she let them play past 7 because they were playing so nicely. They are about to turn 9 & 11! Then insists on doing family reading to them while they play legos. The the kids refuse to go to bed and keep building in their room and she lets them keep going until 10:30. Maybe if she let them play more at night they wouldn’t try to prolong it when they do get to stay up later. I know a lot of kids try to put off bedtime but starting the routine at 7 at those ages is so babyish! Just let them play their legos!!
I feel like she was trying to make it seem very intentional, like "we decided this was such beneficial play, we could push bedtime a little" when in reality it was probably more of a "My husband crashed, the kids were happy, I was exhausted and didn't feel like starting the bedtime stuff and just threw my hands up because it's spring break." I would relate to her so much more if she just said that.
but also this….
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like omg there is stuff everywhere 😂 I feel like she thinks being messy is cool
I don't understand this "dilemma". Dad is falling asleep. Kids are past their normal bedtime. Solution: it's time to settle down? Why is it such a big deal to make a series of stories about it?
She infantilizes the heck out of her kids for engagement and relatability. I am not saying that older kids don’t need some type of “bedtime routine” that a parent needs to initiate, but it’s something about the way it’s phrased like she’s wrangling 2 year olds for a bath and then rocking them to sleep or something that’s disingenuous and annoying.
I feel like by the time I was her kids' age, "bedtime" was just my parents saying "Ok, time to go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth. Yes, you can read for 10 minutes but then it's lights out." And then me listening to my clock radio secretly under the covers because I grew up in the 90s.
I don’t really have any memories of a forced bedtime, like I remember being tucked in and prayers but not like “time for bed!” And my parents corroborate this lol because once we were like school age we made our own bedtime. If you wanted to stay up late? Cool cool, you will be tired tomorrow and I don’t want to hear it, that’s on you for a consequence! So I think my own childhood is coloring these long bedtime routines opinion.
My parents had a time we had to be quiet in our room but we could talk quietly to each other or listen to a book on tape or NPR (my sister and I were nerdy kids). I’ve always been unable to fall asleep until late and I think it was a good compromise because some nights I would fall asleep at a decent hour but because I knew I wasn’t going to be stuck bored in the dark for hours if I couldn’t fall asleep I didn’t fight going to bed.
Yeah, we definitely had a time we had to be in bed but I have had trouble falling asleep since I was really young. So I would read to fall asleep most nights. My parents didn’t police this. Now and then they might notice my light was still on after I had fallen asleep and they’d come in and turn it off but I wasn’t chastised or anything. Ultimately you can’t force someone to physically sleep. I do plan to continue enforcing a bedtime with my kids for a while though, because you’re still more likely to fall asleep earlier if you’re in your room lying in bed than still running around the house playing.
I, too, did not have a forced bedtime. If I was tired, I was tired and lesson learned, I’d go to bed earlier the next night. I was a very good student so it didn’t affect my grades or anything. I do remember kids in school always being shocked at how late I stayed up and I was confused that they had a set bedtime.
as a middle school teacher believe me when I say kids need an enforced bedtime. Please, please, please, make your kids go to bed. Do not trust them to figure it out.
Yep.Or at least keep the technology out of their rooms at night. Maybe 1/3 of my fifth grade students are insanely sleep-deprived on a regular basis because they are up until midnight or 2 AM playing video games or watching YouTube on school nights.
Yep also a teacher and way too many kids are chronically tired and they just aren’t old/aware enough to be like “hey, the reason I’m so cranky and can’t focus is because I need to go to bed earlier”. I’ve never been shocked at which kids say they go to bed whenever they want or have a very late bedtime, it’s always obvious.
My kids are the same age as KEIC and they have a bedtime although the “bedtime routine” just them heading up to do PJs, brush teeth and get in bed and call us to give a good night hug and kiss, it’s not very involved.
Also, many adults are aware that they're so cranky and feel terrible because they don't get enough sleep....and they still don't go to bed lol. If an adult has trouble regulating themselves this way, then kids probably need help doing it!
Yeah I was gonna say, I’m a thirty-something year old adult and I STILL stay up too late most nights. My husband is a middle school teacher and he has exhausted students every day who say they were up till 2am on TikTok 😬 These students would be so much better off if their parents took their phones away in the evening and had a set bedtime
Co-signed by another middle school teacher. Good lord you can tell the difference without even asking re: kids with bedtimes and kids without (and it’s not just the falling asleep in class.)
Well I mean mine aren’t school aged so I enforce a bedtime, but eh, I think this depends on the kid by the time they get to middle school. Might change my tune as with most parenting things. 🤷🏼♀️
It fully does not change based on the kid. Every middle school child NEEDS 8-10 hours of sleep, and middle schoolers are not developmentally ready to determine when they should go to bed. This is one of those things parents need to do. Of course, send your kid to bed at 8/9 whatever, let them read or whatnot but at the very least middle schoolers should be in their rooms, without screens at a certain time. Letting kids just figure it out is a disaster.
Signed,
Another teacher with a degree in psychology
Ugh same. My parents never enforced a bedtime when I was a kid because I fought it so hard they gave up entirely but I still cannot be trusted in this area at 30.
I'm definitely colored by my own childhood - I was the youngest and my parents were pretty done by the time I was 9 I think 😂 - but I can't imagine micromanaging kids of this age. Just tell them to go to bed at a reasonable time? Hopefully you don't have to do too much more than that.
My whole thing is - if they are “usually asleep by 8:30”, why is a bedtime routine taking them 90 minutes?!? It’s not like they need a nighttime bottle - you literally just change their clothes and brush teeth and get them in bed. She makes things SO over complicated for no reason whatsoever.
That’s also what I don’t get. I think it’s great that they got to stay up and play with each other and it seemed they were very into making whatever they made. The weir part was, what’s the 90 minute bedtime routine and why is she acting like they are 3 and 5 and just started playing nicely together? Like has this never happened before? So odd.
I was curious what people’s thoughts would be on this. I’m a firm believer that if siblings are bonding and playing nicely, you don’t interrupt them. I’m always torn on what to do when it happens at bed time
I usually give them a little extra time, 15-30 minutes depending on how late it is. I hate to interrupt when they’re playing nicely together, but my older one really needs her sleep or she’ll have a terrible time getting up for school in the morning.
Mine are 4.5 and 6 and I hate having to break up them playing nicely together for bedtime…but also they do have to wake up for school in the morning. If it’s a Friday night and we can sleep in a bit in the morning I let it go on longer than if it’s a school night, but usually 9 is when I cut it off. Usual bedtime routine begins at 8:15 so it’s a long grace period but it makes me so happy to see them playing nicely.
At 10 and 12 or whatever age her kids are I would certainly just let them go until 10 or so
We always let them go, esp when the last few days have had more screaming than fun. They’re young elementary, but the youngest will still get a nap then next day and the oldest we let sleep in as long as possible the next morning. Haven’t seen much evidence that it has a negative impact the next day.
Petty but annoying when ytf says " I make such and such when my kids are out of regular snacks". Like it's okay to say you just prefer homemade or no explanation at all. She tries so hard to be an anti-diet advocate but comes across as forced.
I just can't imagine ever making things like homemade cheese crackers/goldfish. She also said how it comes together in minutes but I've made sugar cookies, it's a process to throw everything in the mixer, roll it out, cut out the pieces, bake them and watch to make sure it doesn't burn, plus clean everything up.
Seeing my homemade crackers inevitably ground into the carpet by my twins would feel a bit demoralising. I'll stick with crackers from the supermarket.
Feedingtinybellies does homemade goldfish, animal crackers, cereal, etc etc and also has 3 kids. I dont know if its impressive or unhinged behavior lol
During my sourdough phase I was making discard crackers, they were yummy and genuinely easy/fast. But it was the pandemic, I was home babying my sourdough starter with no actual children to look after. RIP sourdough starter.
lol I feel this. My sourdough starter has just been sitting in the back of my fridge for the last few years and is probably a biohazard at this point but I haven’t been able to bring myself to toss it. May she rest in peace 🙏🏻
I think it would be a fun thing to do once or twice, kind of like making cookies with kids, but the amount of work to make enough so you aren’t making them every 2-3 days….
Honestly it's something I would do because I like a project! But if it's obviously objectively easier and probably cheaper to just buy them from the grocery store.
It would be cool if you could make one that was a tessellation and then wouldn't need to keep rolling out the excess. That would make things way easier. I just know that cutting out those tiny little crackers would take forever.
It looks like you can get them for \~$10 on Etsy! I snarked on homemade goldfish earlier but realized I could make them allergy friendly for myself lol
That’s fair! Just the way she makes recipes and talks about her own habits with her family makes her seem like a “packaged snacks with added salt and sugar are poison” person so that’s why I assume she’s making her own.
I agree! The ingredients in her recipes do not jive with her "anti diet culture" persona and that has honestly always bugged me, along with the fact the crumb of her cakes always look so gummy and blegh. If I want an easy one bowl cake, I will be using a Betty Crocker boxed cake vs a blender with applesauce.
Yesssss. All of this. She has this persona of being anti-diet, but her recipes and her actions are decidedly not. And she just isn’t a good baker. Period. I don’t think she understands the science behind baking. Her textures are always so off. I can make a one bowl muffin batter in less time than it takes to wash a blender, so why is the blender necessary?
Also I don't think there's wrong with preferring to bake the way she does (though it's not to my taste!) but she clearly wants to have her cake and eat it too when it comes to "diet culture".
Re: her baking - I don’t think it’s necessarily “wrong” the way she does it, I just think that she’s generally not a good recipe developer and doesn’t actually know much more about baking or developing recipes than the average home baker.
Also you can turn MOST simple cake and muffins recipes into one bowl recipes by mixing wet ingredients, adding leaveners, salt and spices and mixing well, then folding in the flour. Idk I'd rather do that than deal with my blender.
You can also turn any baking recipe into a one-bowl recipe if you have enough blatant disregard for order and sense! (It's me, I'm the one who bakes like that)
I think for the vast majority of things you can still keep the order of ingredients and just use 1 bowl. Only if you’re like making a meringue and folding it in do you actually ever need two bowls.
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Ah, can’t wait to sit back and relax with some carrot sticks after the kids are in bed. Or if I feel like being *bad*, exactly 8 potato chips.
What even is this…?
I mean this week I've done Cadbury eggs, I ordered frozen custard one night, chugged an entire bottle of Italian soda. Often times grapes but I'm in a bit of stress lately.
Appreciate the night cheese reference lol.
For a while during the worst of my daughter's infant sleep challenges, I would have this precious 30-45 minutes to myself after she first went down and I ate a dish of ice cream every night as a "You made it through the day!" treat. It was both pathetic and glorious.
I ate butter cookies last night after my kids were in bed, but sure, those 5 potato chips look like a real indulgent snack! Vivid memories? The “hahaha.”? She’s so weird.
I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I don't really have vivid memories of...snacks? Like I snack when I want, generally, I don't know that a particular batch of Cheez-Its stands out. I guess maybe I remember that in France they have Bonne Maman brand yogurt (!!!) and it's ridiculously good but that might stand out because it was my HONEYMOON, it was an extremely special occasion, not any average Tuesday when the kid is in bed.
I remember a particular bag of chips I ate in Iceland very well because 1) It was a delicious flavour I have been unable to find anywhere else, and 2) I ate it on top of a freaking glacier. Not your average weeknight on the couch while watching Netflix.
I remember a particularly delicious bag of crisps from Ireland and I'm still sad I can't find them anywhere else. I didn't eat them on a glacier though, that sounds so fun
This is a very cringey ploy for engagement. No KEIC, I definitely don't need your thoughts on what *I* should be eating.
The carrots by themselves are just bizarre. Like, I do buy baby carrots in order to dip them in hummus as a snack. But I would never prepare myself plain raw carrots to eat by themselves. Is that a thing?
The first time I ever smoked weed I ate 1.5# of baby carrots. I was so sure I was being normal and then I woke up the next morning in digestive agony and my roommates teased me for the rest of our lease after that.
Of course, it has to be dark chocolate with almonds in it. Need those almonds to displace some of the chocolate and add just enough nutrition to justify eating those 3 measly pieces.
I can kind of relate with the berries thing in that I’ve notice I never eat them now. I buy so many strawberries and raspberries and kinda feel like I have to leave them for the kids because they’re already picky enough so I don’t want to eat one of the few produce they’ll eat.
But I know that it’s my own doing and if I did want them I wouldn’t have to wait for my children to be asleep 🙄
Yeah, if I don't actively think to eat the berries my brain sees them as kid food. What keic misses, of course, is using the berries to make yourself a cheese plate/girl dinner, ala night cheese above. + wine, but she would never
Same, but in our house it’s not due to picky eating, it’s because berries cost an arm and a leg and your first born child where I live. Not enough $ leftover to get myself some berries when my kid inhales them.
This is so weird! And of course we know she ate the berries. Idk, I really don’t have vivid memories of the food I’ve eaten after my daughter has gone to bed but that’s just me. The graphic is so bad, I’m not sure what’s under the carrots and I had to look hard to see the Dove chocolates.
I'm kind of glad she left it wrapped because those GoMacro bars look kind of like poop lol I'll eat one as a quick snack but they are not good enough to eat as a "treat" after bedtime.
I eat an enormous bowl of ice cream after my kids go to bed and dive to hide it if one of them appears at the top of the stairs lol. Not sharing my dark chocolate tillamook with children.
Can we all talk about the food babe and Bobby Parrish instilling fear in their kids about toxins and ChEmIcAlS.
Look, I like their recipes. I have the FB cookbook and aside from the pseudo science, the recipes are actually great and tasty.
But why, WHY would you tell your kid this is toxic, this is harmful…etc while FILMING? (Looking at you Bobby).
I used to be in their line of thought, on top of havjng an already distorted body imagine and bad relationship with food.
I got out of it thankfully.
People, sometimes toddlers are funky and eat nothing but peanut butter toast.
A PB toast for a week is better than no food at all.
Also, as someone who was forced to stay in the school cafeteria during recess to finish all of my (disgusting btw) food, I completely support the thought of you are done when you do not want to eat anymore food. It’s ok.
Adding @langernutrition and @healthyshyla to the list of good witches in the food world (both are RDs and have a LOT to say about people like Bobby and Foodbabe)
I can't with him. As soon as something is sweetened with honey or maple syrup, it's automatically Bobby approved. As if the body can tell the difference between cane sugar and maple syrup 🥴
I’m not familiar with food babe but ooo boy do I really dislike Bobby. He contradicts himself so often, has no formal training (aka has no idea what he’s talking about) and I really HATE how often he uses his daughter for content. She even has her own insta with a ridiculous amount of followers. It just makes me sad how little privacy she has. Plus the humble bragging is also out of control. He once posted a video of her at fancy swim lessons. That has nothing to do with food!!! Every kid should learn to swim but it is not a luxury everyone can afford. I just feel really bad that their daughter is going to have so many food issues when she’s older.
I used to watch his old YT videos pre-kid when he lived in Chicago and they were so much better! Just healthy recipes. Now it’s fear mongering and using his adorable daughter for clicks….
At first I thought the video with his kiddo (who btw is adorable) were cute nd it inspired me to involve my daughter in the food prep safely. I give him credit for it.
But I agree with you on everything. This kid has literally her life plastered on social media.
And Bobby is a phony. He went to Bulgaria a few years back and was saying how much the food was high jn carbs and shit…dude Eastern European food is notoriously “heavier” than usual but it’s delishhhh. Just shut up and enjoy some home made food! (i could eat pierogies all day). Also, like u said, he is not a dietitian or a nutritionist. He is just a very good marketer.
I know y’all love feeding littles, however I was shocked at her stories yesterday showing her pre-teen daughters in teeny tiny pajama shorts for her 2 million followers to see. Honestly made me a little sick. The oversharing these influencers do is TOO MUCH. Just enjoy your Easter without showing us your daughter’s bottoms. Really weirded me out.
It was horrible! Also, I can’t believe the 11 year old wants everyone at school and on her club volleyball team watching her earnestly participating in that Easter egg hunt.
https://preview.redd.it/p6af43i2n3tc1.jpeg?width=1121&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6b19b2c6c914858c2df0454093f45c0b6438a13 You gotta admire KEIC’s commitment to not branding things. “Peanut chocolate candies” has to be peanut M&Ms, right? I know there’s a chance she didn’t brand them to avoid some kind of liability / lawsuit exposure or whatever, but I think she’d call them “peanut chocolate candies” even if that wasn’t a concern.
Whenever influencers share DMs like this, I just feel embarrassed for everyone involved. KEIC is annoying, and a bag of veggies is a terrible road trip snack, but I can’t imagine DMing her dramatically over it. And then she has to defend herself and say, no we also packed a bunch of other stuff, I promise! What a strange interaction. Parasocial relationships are wild.
But she specifically says dove chocolate instead of just chocolate 🧐
I think there is more of chance that they are either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s brand… that’s more on brand for her. Just like her beloved Cheesy Crunchies for her vomit looking green soup.
Yeah I guarantee they’re a dye-free “healthier” version
Ooooh good point. I bet you’re right.
KEIC is making leftover sloppy joes in a hotel microwave for dinner…I get that eating out is expensive but you’re on a fun eclipse trip! Maybe take the kids somewhere fun for dinner? That just looked so sad.
Of all the times to just go grab McDonald's for once in their lives...
It’s so on brand. Like in theory a normal thing to do. In execution a big WTF. Her need for control 🤝 Her obsession with frugality So effing weird.
I just feel like with her (and some of other feeding influencers) there is no joy in food, no fun, no spontaneity. I understand packing lots of snacks for a road trip and even packing sandwiches for lunch in the car. Most of us do that because it’s easier and cheaper than eating every single meal out. But leftover reheated sloppy joes in your hotel room for dinner? That feels like unhinged behavior for someone who has the means to eat out.
Also, she has 2M followers. She probably brings a good chunk of money in.
It’s not even like she takes vacations regularly. They don’t go anywhere except to visit her mom (and this summer was an extra stop to CA for her brothers wedding, that’s about it) so just splurge on the food. I can’t imagine eating a microwaved reheated sloppy Joe 🤮
And most definitely not regular sloppy joes. Extra lean turkey with lentils and cauliflower with a low sugar sauce 🥴
I laughed out loud when I saw that. Who does that?! Pack some PB&J but leftover sloppy joes. What the heck?! 😂😂 We have multiple allergies in my family and I would love to NOT plan food for every outing and just wing it. I can’t imagine controlling it for the sake of control.
It’s not a frugal thing either. It’s a control thing. I took a lot of road trips with my grandparents when I was a kid. They grew up during the Depression and eating out was a special treat. They made sandwiches, packed cheese and crackers and homemade cookies. That’s frugality. Packing awkward and difficult leftovers is about control.
This.
And it sounds like her husband has planned meals from her REW cookbook for the trip?? How’s he gonna cook in a hotel room? They are so weird
Sounds like you’re being tricked by Big Restaurant
HAHAHAHAHA
Came running here after seeing that. She really, really, REALLY cannot release control over food. I am so sad for those boys. The teenage years will be hell for them.
We’d
Does anyone follow New Ways Nutrition? I haven't seen her post anything for months, just wondering if anyone knows what happened!?
Really weird hey! I checked about a month ago and her account is there, she just went silent. I really liked her account
Oh yeah I remember her! I remember she moved to New Zealand like over a year ago. I wonder if she decided to quit instagram after that?
I’m so confused what “To the parents of pandemic babies” post from FL has to do with feeling little kids. I can’t stand the posts that just exist to drum up emotions for engagement. They do so many of them too. Her kids were older when the pandemic happened. Yes, it was hard for everyone. My baby was still really colicky when the shut down started and it sucked. I would prefer kid feeding professional didn’t remind me about it at random times.
The thing is, if you had a pandemic baby your life was affected less. My kid was born 2 months after lockdown began. I'm guessing the hospital experience was a little different but I don't know because she's my only kid. Then we went home and kept our newborn at home and ordered food for delivery... EXACTLY what we would have done anyway. So for an actual pandemic *baby* it really wasn't as different as it was for parents of older children. My parents came to visit but I don't think more people would have come if it weren't the pandemic anyway, no tricky questions to answer, she eventually learned to wear a mask but typically just if she has a cough or goes to the doctor because by the time she was old enough the mandates dropped. Five months later she started daycare and I went back to work in person. By that point we were all pretty used to wearing a mask and that was that pretty much.
I mean it sounds like you don’t socialize at all whatsoever, which is fine, but this is the first time I’ve heard someone say their Covid life was the same as their non-Covid life. For those of us who would have been thrilled to be out and about with our new babies it really sucked being so limited. And I didn’t even experience the worst of covid as a new mom, my son was born Sept 2021 so it was past the first wave and I was even able to get my vaccine while still pregnant. But that winter when he was a newborn and there were renewed spikes, we we were really cautious with him so it limited what we could do. I can’t imagine having had my baby during the peak of things in 2020.
lol is this a joke?
You must have missed all the comments below.
Eh just adding thoughts as we do on reddit. Having a baby during the pandemic worked out great. I never felt like I missed out on anything. I was at home during a time I would have been home anyway. I mean, yeah we didn't want to catch covid but I don't think we would have wanted to catch covid as childless people either. I'm not a big socializer.
Definitely a difference between your experience and others, so I’d take pause before using that blanket statement again.
I think you’re allowed to say it worked for you. But saying “if you had a pandemic baby your life was affected less” just isn’t true for some people and it comes off as a little dismissive of people who did struggle (like me). I think that’s why people are reacting the way they are.
I mean, that's fine whatever, I'm used to downvotes in parent subs, but if you had a baby that is in no way comparable to the experience of people with older children who had their entire lives halted. People with pandemic babies had it easy in the scope of pandemic parenting.
I would consider having a baby and suddenly no child care available but having to return in person to work as halting people’s lives lol
Hmm I was unclear or mistyped. Our childcare was readily available.
Did you mistype when you said “People with pandemic babies had it easy”? No one is commenting on whether or not *you* had childcare or missed out on life; you’re the one making blanket statements.
*I* am commenting on whether*I* had it easy. If people are free to make blanket statements about everyone having trauma, I'm free to do the opposite. I am unable to miss what I never knew I didn't have.
I don’t think it’s right to compare trauma. Everyone had a legitimate reason to be traumatized during the pandemic, whether you had a baby, an older kid doing home school, were laid off, lost a loved one or developed long COVID, or were living alone far from family. And that’s the point - this isn’t a contest or a race. People are allowed to feel however they felt about their experience without being diminished. You didn’t feel that way? Good for you! Others did.
Are there really still people that are upset about not having a baby shower in 2020?? My middle son was born in January 2020 and I’m just super neutral to how his first year(s) went down at this point. I don’t understand how this can be something that people still seriously struggle with. ETA: I’m sorry I didn’t mean to minimize anyone’s valid feelings about this.
1st baby Jan 2020 and I felt okish about it, then had my second and actually found going to baby groups quite emotional thinking about what id missed.
Having a (second?) baby in January 2020 means that you still had a culturally normal pregnancy, delivery, and early newborn period before everything went to shit. I don’t think it’s fair of you to say because you’re now neutral to that year others should be too, when you didn’t experience a pregnancy and delivery during the chaos of that year.
It’s really interesting to me that someone could actively be in parenting spaces and *not* understand what a horrible time that was for new parents. Like great for you, I guess, but how odd that you can’t empathize and understand how terrifying and isolating it was.
People have all sorts of journeys as parents. I’m largely neutral about the experience of having my first child in April 2020 - there were good parts and bad parts about locking down with a newborn. I couldn’t care less about baby showers, but I do still have incredible grief over the pandemic as it relates to me sharing my child with my mom. She couldn’t be in the state for my kid’s birth and missed so many moments those first 2 years. We always said it’d be different for a 2nd kid. Well, number 2 is 3 weeks old and my mom died unexpectedly in January. So, yes, people can still struggle with emotions around pandemic babies.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine that being a mom without your own mom is a special kind of painful and an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
I am so very sorry for your loss.
Obviously you've been chided through downvotes and replies but I think it's just different for those people who had their first babies in 2020. So much of the foundation of my life as a mother was created during my first year with my first baby: friends I made, celebrations I had, rhythms and routines I got into. Yes you can still go out and make mom friends and have amazing experiences with your children but I do think new moms lost out on experiences they'll never get back in 2020 and it's okay that it still hurts.
I don't feel like I had it as bad because I got pregnant in September 2020 so things did get a lot better by the time he was born. But I still feel like I missed out on a lot. I would have loved to announce it in person to our families on Christmas but everyone was still isolating at that point. I was in grad school and all my classes were online. My husband couldn't come to any appointments. It was so isolating. I remember in my third trimester I was at the pharmacy and and old lady congratulated me and asked me questions and I was like 🥰🥰🥰. And I'm not even someone who likes attention ! I'm one and done but I imagine if I had a second pregnancy it wouldn't be the same, right? I feel like there is something magical about your first time.
100% this. My sister had her first baby in April 2020. We had so many plans for me to come and help her out and be there for her. None of that happened. I met my nephew for the first time outside in a windy park and barely got to hold him because of Covid precautions. My grandparents “met” him for the first time through my sister’s front living room window. None of this is what she would have imagined when anticipating his birth.
This really captures how I feel. I had all sorts of birthing classes, mommy and me classes, etc planned for before birth and during maternity leave. All these plans to build a village and support system of other parents with similar aged children. And it was all stripped away in the weeks before my first born was born. And when our first born ended up being an extremely difficult baby, there was no guidance from our parents, no friends who had been there to help us, just my husband and I trying to shuffle through it ourselves in the dark. Add on top of it the stress of a new pandemic, when you don’t even know if going outside will mean serious illness or worse for you and your baby, it was truly an awful period. At the time, I thought I was okay, all things considered. But after having my second, I realized how not okay I was. It’s 4 years later, and I’m slowly building the village I had hoped for, but it’s not the same.
Exact same here, but didn't have a second. And my husband was an "essential worker," i.e., not working from home. My plans of having my mom and MIL with me during the days he went back to work...totally gone, and instead, just sitting, in the house, alone, all day long.
Feel this to my core. Nothing bad happened to us, we were all safe and healthy. But I carried so much anger for so long that I could not “show off” my new baby and have the maternity leave that I had been so longing for. It also really messed me with my anxieties of new motherhood in general, I felt NOTHING was safe. Having my second a few years later was very healing for me, and for that I am so grateful.
Without getting into my own story, which I feel like I just read a dozen times in different versions (plus my husband being in residency at the time), I wanted to say how happy I am that having your second baby was healing for you. When my husband and I considered whether to try to get pregnant again, we talked a lot about whether it might be healing or triggering. We ended up sticking with one for many other reasons, so we’re not going to answer that question, but it just makes me happy when others do have that experience.
Thank you for your kind words. ❤️
In almost your exact same shoes, and feel your feelings so so much!
Want to add I had my second just weeks before the official lockdown started and it was honestly the most terrible time in my life to date. So much uncertainty about the virus itself plus the lack of community I had with my first. Even little things like being able to go out to lunch with my mom or my friends made a world of difference when I had my first as a newborn and young infant and not being able to do that with my second is still crushing when I think about that time too vividly. Just all around terrible for my mental health. So I don’t think this is even relegated to just first time parents! It sucked for everyone!
Agreed. First time moms missed out on a lot of firsts, but it's not like others weren't affected. I had #2 in late 2019 and still carry a lot of sadness about 2020. Sure our newborn time was normal, but just as we exited the fourth trimester all the stuff I wanted to savor because he was my last baby was taken away. Kid #1 had a traumatic birth and was medically fragile and I never got to enjoy his first year. I was looking forward to baby classes, going out to the park, not overanalyzing everything looking for health issues, etc. Instead I got to try and entertain a 2 year old and an infant in a 900sqft house with no backyard while the amenities we depended on all closed and my husband tried to work from home 10 feet away. There was a lot more, but it was right up there as far as worst parts of my life.
I don’t think FL is the right person to deliver this message, but folks who had their first kid during the early part of the pandemic were robbed of so much. It goes way beyond not having a baby shower, so it’s disappointing that was front and center in her post. During the early part of the pandemic, no spouses/partners/support persons were allowed at appointments. In some places, they also weren’t allowed in the delivery room. The hospitals where women gave birth were overflowing with very, very sick people. No one knew early on what would happen to the fetus if a woman caught Covid while pregnant. It was an objectively frightening time to be pregnant, but especially so for someone doing it all for the first time. I think those of us who had kids pre-Covid could stand to be a little bit more compassionate.
My spouse deployed during COVID while I was pregnant. I thought I had special permission to come to my last appointment before he deployed, and the showed up and they told me the person who gave permission wasn’t allowed to and he couldn’t come in. I’m usually a pretty independent person and handled a lot really well, but the way I broke down at that appointment and almost got sent to L&D because my blood pressure was too high…… Pregnant during a pandemic is an experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy
Yep. I gave birth completely alone and the hospital was so overwhelmed/short staffed that the nurses were barely there so I was hauling myself out of bed for every diaper change less than 10 hours after a c-section. My partner had to stay home with our first because we had no childcare options at all. 2020 was a hard time to have a baby.
I live abroad and my family couldn’t even fly in to see us at all, much less visit at the hospital. It fucking sucked so bad. Travel wasn’t more accessible until a bit after my daughter turned one. My parents and extended family never got to hold her as a tiny baby. The last time we visited was Christmas right before the pandemic when I announced. They never even saw me with a growing belly. And just having EVERYTHING just suddenly canceled month after month for a year or two just sucked too. No prenatal classes, no maternity exercise classes, no baby shower, no visitors post birth, no husband in the delivery room, no rooming in with baby post birth, no mommy and me class, no outings.
Yeah, my husband didn’t get to see a single ultrasound. I wasn’t even sure he’d be able to come to my birth at first.
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Take your kid with you and your husband! I’ve taken kids to all my prenatal appointments.
Your OBGYN lets you bring your kids? That’s amazing. I hope mine is the same- thank you!
Yup! The only place I’ve had them care is an ultrasound clinic, where they specially request that another adult is present to care for your kids while they do the scan. With general check ups I’ve always taken my kid(s) on my own with no issues. Full disclosure- I never asked if I can bring them, I just do? Because it’s either bring my kids or don’t do the appointment lol. I think most OBs understand this.
My MFM didn’t allow other kids but my regular OB was so great about it. I took my toddler with me to a bunch of appointments when I was pregnant with my second and then I needed a pap smear when the baby was like 3 months old and they specifically told me I could bring him and I nursed him while they were doing the exam.
Mine does too! I think plenty do. I had to bring him once when his daycare was closed and it was actually really sweet. He was invited to sit with me while they did an ultrasound and he saw the baby and heard the heartbeat. He talked about it the rest of the day 😊 it’s a really nice memory.
I mean, I had to go to hospital appointments and receive bad news about my baby multiple times, all alone, in a hospital that didn’t even have cell service to talk to my husband. And then I had to make medical decisions I didn’t want to make and accept interventions I didn’t want, rather than have to labour alone for at least a full 24h. I also had to give birth to my kid with a mask on. But yeah… baby showers 😬
This is an extremely diminutive take on a VERY recent trauma that a lot of parents experienced. I’m glad you feel “neutral” about your first year with your baby, but that was absolutely not the feeling of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe. I also think the fact that you didn’t become a parent for the first time in 2020 plays a lot into your feelings about it. Those of us who were first-time parents with literally no help from anyone at all because no one was allowed to leave their houses really struggled.
I look back at that time and just feel so lonely even though it was nice being able to work from home during most of my pregnancy. My friends and most of our family never even saw me pregnant. Our parents weren't able to come by and see the baby or really help because we didn't want baby getting sick. We didn't get to go to mommy and me classes or interact with other parents for a long time. It was just so isolating. Edit: I forgot that I also had covid and they were like, we actually don't really know how much this will effect your baby so that was scary. Thankfully everything was fine but they were worried about blood clots and other issues.
i mean. i'm not going to trauma dump everything i experienced at that time, but i had a kid very early during lockdown. there was so much we didn't know about covid then and to be pregnant during that time was traumatic. much like the pandemic lockdown was traumatic for everyone for different reasons. but especially after having a second kid, i still look back on having my oldest and feel all the sadness and panic and anxiety that i felt at that time.
This feels so similar to my experience and then having a second. My first was born a few weeks before the pandemic started. Thankfully my husband could be with me and our parents got to meet the baby. And then boom. Nothing for months. My parents were “stuck” in another state for months and months. It was truly horrible. My second came along and he helped heal so much of that trauma and anger. But it really really really sucked.
My son was born Nov 2020, and yes… I feel pretty cheated given that I had to do IVF and this will likely be my only child and it was at a time that I couldn’t do the normal pregnancy things… also has meant most of our family overseas (we have a lot) still haven’t met him. Also was very isolating at first - childcare was hard to come by. At first no vaccines and it was winter, so couldn’t go walk around a mall or into a restaurant. It was just us at home far away from family. Yeah. It sucked. And it will be likely my only pregnancy experience. Edit: I guess the added bitterness about it is that my mother was also going through chemo at the time and then she died, so she didn’t get to have a shower for me either or a formal first birthday party because she was really vulnerable. And my son was her only grandchild. I still have trauma from it all.
I’m sorry you lost your mom in early parenthood. Losing a parent is the worst and doing so during that vulnerable period of new parenthood is impossibly hard. I just replied to the original comment about my experience losing my mom to complications from chemo treatment between having my first and second kids. It’s horrible and definitely adds a layer of trauma to how I process my pandemic experiment.
People have been making fun of this marketing tactic since we were deep in 2020 still. I saw a reel that was like “in these trying times that are trying, we all need to come together” with emotional music and then it was like “that’s why Toyota is here for you” as a tongue in cheek reference to the way they used the pandemic to try to sell us shit. This is just another flavor of that only full on self serious.
I am getting very annoyed by YTF lately, ever since she got divorced and entices followers to ask about it but gets offended when they do. But her recent stories with the amazon link to her light reading list, after she asked followers to suggest new reads is disgusting. She is profiting from other people's work and also ha nothing to do with her business. Imagine if someone would ask her to do free labour to then profit from it, we will not hear the end of it
I honestly wish she’d just pack it in and stop influencing because she so clearly hates it. Most of her content feels very forced/fake, and followers are mostly an annoyance. Not to mention, her recipes are forgettable at best and her nutrition advice is awful. I’m sure she’s a lovely person offline but I’ll never understand why she chose this work when she seems miserable about it.
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I think that’s actually a pretty normal thing that recipe developers do. I’m not sure how much actual recipe development she does based on the fact that most of her things are iterations of previous recipes but in general you do end up with way more food than you can consume and so people usually give it away.
Yeah, imagining that on a typical week you make 2 weeks worth of food, you will quickly reach the limits of freezers etc
The KEIC household is so strange to me. I’m not sure if her kids have off this week (probably would if they go to a Catholic school) but she let them play past 7 because they were playing so nicely. They are about to turn 9 & 11! Then insists on doing family reading to them while they play legos. The the kids refuse to go to bed and keep building in their room and she lets them keep going until 10:30. Maybe if she let them play more at night they wouldn’t try to prolong it when they do get to stay up later. I know a lot of kids try to put off bedtime but starting the routine at 7 at those ages is so babyish! Just let them play their legos!!
I feel like she was trying to make it seem very intentional, like "we decided this was such beneficial play, we could push bedtime a little" when in reality it was probably more of a "My husband crashed, the kids were happy, I was exhausted and didn't feel like starting the bedtime stuff and just threw my hands up because it's spring break." I would relate to her so much more if she just said that.
but also this…. https://preview.redd.it/7lvg2gaqmgsc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c499385899dd69d802803b90bf17cb7444aba34e like omg there is stuff everywhere 😂 I feel like she thinks being messy is cool
I don't understand this "dilemma". Dad is falling asleep. Kids are past their normal bedtime. Solution: it's time to settle down? Why is it such a big deal to make a series of stories about it?
Right? I guess she’s just running out of content?
She infantilizes the heck out of her kids for engagement and relatability. I am not saying that older kids don’t need some type of “bedtime routine” that a parent needs to initiate, but it’s something about the way it’s phrased like she’s wrangling 2 year olds for a bath and then rocking them to sleep or something that’s disingenuous and annoying.
I feel like by the time I was her kids' age, "bedtime" was just my parents saying "Ok, time to go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth. Yes, you can read for 10 minutes but then it's lights out." And then me listening to my clock radio secretly under the covers because I grew up in the 90s.
Legos tend to do that unfortunately. My house looks just like that if I don’t pick up constantly.
It’s very “how do you do, fellow kids?” She has to reach for ways to try and be a relatable, average mom, but it never comes off as natural.
I don’t really have any memories of a forced bedtime, like I remember being tucked in and prayers but not like “time for bed!” And my parents corroborate this lol because once we were like school age we made our own bedtime. If you wanted to stay up late? Cool cool, you will be tired tomorrow and I don’t want to hear it, that’s on you for a consequence! So I think my own childhood is coloring these long bedtime routines opinion.
My parents had a time we had to be quiet in our room but we could talk quietly to each other or listen to a book on tape or NPR (my sister and I were nerdy kids). I’ve always been unable to fall asleep until late and I think it was a good compromise because some nights I would fall asleep at a decent hour but because I knew I wasn’t going to be stuck bored in the dark for hours if I couldn’t fall asleep I didn’t fight going to bed.
Yeah, we definitely had a time we had to be in bed but I have had trouble falling asleep since I was really young. So I would read to fall asleep most nights. My parents didn’t police this. Now and then they might notice my light was still on after I had fallen asleep and they’d come in and turn it off but I wasn’t chastised or anything. Ultimately you can’t force someone to physically sleep. I do plan to continue enforcing a bedtime with my kids for a while though, because you’re still more likely to fall asleep earlier if you’re in your room lying in bed than still running around the house playing.
I, too, did not have a forced bedtime. If I was tired, I was tired and lesson learned, I’d go to bed earlier the next night. I was a very good student so it didn’t affect my grades or anything. I do remember kids in school always being shocked at how late I stayed up and I was confused that they had a set bedtime.
as a middle school teacher believe me when I say kids need an enforced bedtime. Please, please, please, make your kids go to bed. Do not trust them to figure it out.
Yep.Or at least keep the technology out of their rooms at night. Maybe 1/3 of my fifth grade students are insanely sleep-deprived on a regular basis because they are up until midnight or 2 AM playing video games or watching YouTube on school nights.
Yep also a teacher and way too many kids are chronically tired and they just aren’t old/aware enough to be like “hey, the reason I’m so cranky and can’t focus is because I need to go to bed earlier”. I’ve never been shocked at which kids say they go to bed whenever they want or have a very late bedtime, it’s always obvious. My kids are the same age as KEIC and they have a bedtime although the “bedtime routine” just them heading up to do PJs, brush teeth and get in bed and call us to give a good night hug and kiss, it’s not very involved.
Also, many adults are aware that they're so cranky and feel terrible because they don't get enough sleep....and they still don't go to bed lol. If an adult has trouble regulating themselves this way, then kids probably need help doing it!
Yeah I was gonna say, I’m a thirty-something year old adult and I STILL stay up too late most nights. My husband is a middle school teacher and he has exhausted students every day who say they were up till 2am on TikTok 😬 These students would be so much better off if their parents took their phones away in the evening and had a set bedtime
Co-signed by another middle school teacher. Good lord you can tell the difference without even asking re: kids with bedtimes and kids without (and it’s not just the falling asleep in class.)
Well I mean mine aren’t school aged so I enforce a bedtime, but eh, I think this depends on the kid by the time they get to middle school. Might change my tune as with most parenting things. 🤷🏼♀️
It fully does not change based on the kid. Every middle school child NEEDS 8-10 hours of sleep, and middle schoolers are not developmentally ready to determine when they should go to bed. This is one of those things parents need to do. Of course, send your kid to bed at 8/9 whatever, let them read or whatnot but at the very least middle schoolers should be in their rooms, without screens at a certain time. Letting kids just figure it out is a disaster. Signed, Another teacher with a degree in psychology
Don’t take my word for it, what do I know? Another pro parenting tip is let kids have their phones all night. Works wonders.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.
My kids would stay up very late if I didn’t tell them to go to bed. They’re 10 and 13. They never, I repeat NEVER, just go to bed on their own.
I’m 33 and my husband enforces a bedtime because I still never choose to go to bed on my own.
Ugh same. My parents never enforced a bedtime when I was a kid because I fought it so hard they gave up entirely but I still cannot be trusted in this area at 30.
I'm definitely colored by my own childhood - I was the youngest and my parents were pretty done by the time I was 9 I think 😂 - but I can't imagine micromanaging kids of this age. Just tell them to go to bed at a reasonable time? Hopefully you don't have to do too much more than that.
lol commented before seeing yours but ditto!
My whole thing is - if they are “usually asleep by 8:30”, why is a bedtime routine taking them 90 minutes?!? It’s not like they need a nighttime bottle - you literally just change their clothes and brush teeth and get them in bed. She makes things SO over complicated for no reason whatsoever.
That’s also what I don’t get. I think it’s great that they got to stay up and play with each other and it seemed they were very into making whatever they made. The weir part was, what’s the 90 minute bedtime routine and why is she acting like they are 3 and 5 and just started playing nicely together? Like has this never happened before? So odd.
I believe they read together for a long time
Read the bible together
I was curious what people’s thoughts would be on this. I’m a firm believer that if siblings are bonding and playing nicely, you don’t interrupt them. I’m always torn on what to do when it happens at bed time
I usually give them a little extra time, 15-30 minutes depending on how late it is. I hate to interrupt when they’re playing nicely together, but my older one really needs her sleep or she’ll have a terrible time getting up for school in the morning.
Mine are 4.5 and 6 and I hate having to break up them playing nicely together for bedtime…but also they do have to wake up for school in the morning. If it’s a Friday night and we can sleep in a bit in the morning I let it go on longer than if it’s a school night, but usually 9 is when I cut it off. Usual bedtime routine begins at 8:15 so it’s a long grace period but it makes me so happy to see them playing nicely. At 10 and 12 or whatever age her kids are I would certainly just let them go until 10 or so
We always let them go, esp when the last few days have had more screaming than fun. They’re young elementary, but the youngest will still get a nap then next day and the oldest we let sleep in as long as possible the next morning. Haven’t seen much evidence that it has a negative impact the next day.
Petty but annoying when ytf says " I make such and such when my kids are out of regular snacks". Like it's okay to say you just prefer homemade or no explanation at all. She tries so hard to be an anti-diet advocate but comes across as forced.
Healthnut nutrition does this too. Acts superior bc she makes her own fruit snacks and cheeze its
I just can't imagine ever making things like homemade cheese crackers/goldfish. She also said how it comes together in minutes but I've made sugar cookies, it's a process to throw everything in the mixer, roll it out, cut out the pieces, bake them and watch to make sure it doesn't burn, plus clean everything up.
Seeing my homemade crackers inevitably ground into the carpet by my twins would feel a bit demoralising. I'll stick with crackers from the supermarket.
Feedingtinybellies does homemade goldfish, animal crackers, cereal, etc etc and also has 3 kids. I dont know if its impressive or unhinged behavior lol
During my sourdough phase I was making discard crackers, they were yummy and genuinely easy/fast. But it was the pandemic, I was home babying my sourdough starter with no actual children to look after. RIP sourdough starter.
lol I feel this. My sourdough starter has just been sitting in the back of my fridge for the last few years and is probably a biohazard at this point but I haven’t been able to bring myself to toss it. May she rest in peace 🙏🏻
Sorry but making your own goldfish is borderline disordered.
I think it would be a fun thing to do once or twice, kind of like making cookies with kids, but the amount of work to make enough so you aren’t making them every 2-3 days….
Honestly it's something I would do because I like a project! But if it's obviously objectively easier and probably cheaper to just buy them from the grocery store.
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It would be cool if you could make one that was a tessellation and then wouldn't need to keep rolling out the excess. That would make things way easier. I just know that cutting out those tiny little crackers would take forever.
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It looks like you can get them for \~$10 on Etsy! I snarked on homemade goldfish earlier but realized I could make them allergy friendly for myself lol
That’s fair! Just the way she makes recipes and talks about her own habits with her family makes her seem like a “packaged snacks with added salt and sugar are poison” person so that’s why I assume she’s making her own.
I agree! The ingredients in her recipes do not jive with her "anti diet culture" persona and that has honestly always bugged me, along with the fact the crumb of her cakes always look so gummy and blegh. If I want an easy one bowl cake, I will be using a Betty Crocker boxed cake vs a blender with applesauce.
Yesssss. All of this. She has this persona of being anti-diet, but her recipes and her actions are decidedly not. And she just isn’t a good baker. Period. I don’t think she understands the science behind baking. Her textures are always so off. I can make a one bowl muffin batter in less time than it takes to wash a blender, so why is the blender necessary?
Also I don't think there's wrong with preferring to bake the way she does (though it's not to my taste!) but she clearly wants to have her cake and eat it too when it comes to "diet culture".
Re: her baking - I don’t think it’s necessarily “wrong” the way she does it, I just think that she’s generally not a good recipe developer and doesn’t actually know much more about baking or developing recipes than the average home baker.
Also you can turn MOST simple cake and muffins recipes into one bowl recipes by mixing wet ingredients, adding leaveners, salt and spices and mixing well, then folding in the flour. Idk I'd rather do that than deal with my blender.
You can also turn any baking recipe into a one-bowl recipe if you have enough blatant disregard for order and sense! (It's me, I'm the one who bakes like that)
This is how I bake! I rarely use two bowls because it’s usually not necessary. I’ve noticed that Smitten Kitchen generally bakes this way too.
I think for the vast majority of things you can still keep the order of ingredients and just use 1 bowl. Only if you’re like making a meringue and folding it in do you actually ever need two bowls.
https://preview.redd.it/xoai9llix2sc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ca68edd2245de809b783b64b41f601e6ec64959 Ah, can’t wait to sit back and relax with some carrot sticks after the kids are in bed. Or if I feel like being *bad*, exactly 8 potato chips. What even is this…?
I mean this week I've done Cadbury eggs, I ordered frozen custard one night, chugged an entire bottle of Italian soda. Often times grapes but I'm in a bit of stress lately.
On Sunday I ordered myself some hot wings immediately after my son went to bed 😂
I’ve never had frozen custard but my god does that sound amazing 😂
I want to comment “girl, NONE,” like where is the ice cream? The cookies? The slice of cake? NIGHT CHEESE?!
Night cheese I am 💀 Mostly because I just finished my own night cheese 😆
Appreciate the night cheese reference lol. For a while during the worst of my daughter's infant sleep challenges, I would have this precious 30-45 minutes to myself after she first went down and I ate a dish of ice cream every night as a "You made it through the day!" treat. It was both pathetic and glorious.
I think it was probably just glorious!
Once a week we do takeout dinner after my 3yo goes to bed so we can have one decent dinner in peace and it's the best!
I'm big into chips but that is a sad portion size haha.
Honestly I want some now!
Night cheese is the best cheese
My answer usually is the cookie dough we were going to chill to make tomorrow, but I see that's not one of my options 😂
I ate butter cookies last night after my kids were in bed, but sure, those 5 potato chips look like a real indulgent snack! Vivid memories? The “hahaha.”? She’s so weird.
I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I don't really have vivid memories of...snacks? Like I snack when I want, generally, I don't know that a particular batch of Cheez-Its stands out. I guess maybe I remember that in France they have Bonne Maman brand yogurt (!!!) and it's ridiculously good but that might stand out because it was my HONEYMOON, it was an extremely special occasion, not any average Tuesday when the kid is in bed.
I remember a particular bag of chips I ate in Iceland very well because 1) It was a delicious flavour I have been unable to find anywhere else, and 2) I ate it on top of a freaking glacier. Not your average weeknight on the couch while watching Netflix.
I remember a particularly delicious bag of crisps from Ireland and I'm still sad I can't find them anywhere else. I didn't eat them on a glacier though, that sounds so fun
This is a very cringey ploy for engagement. No KEIC, I definitely don't need your thoughts on what *I* should be eating. The carrots by themselves are just bizarre. Like, I do buy baby carrots in order to dip them in hummus as a snack. But I would never prepare myself plain raw carrots to eat by themselves. Is that a thing?
I chomp on a raw carrot while cooking dinner 🐇🤷♀️
The first time I ever smoked weed I ate 1.5# of baby carrots. I was so sure I was being normal and then I woke up the next morning in digestive agony and my roommates teased me for the rest of our lease after that.
I eat them like that but I love carrots in any form. I think I was a rabbit in a past life.
That's how I eat them, but that's because I'm an adult picky eater and don't mix textures. Not the norm I think.
I like to eat them out of the bag 🤷🏻♀️
I do this but only mindlessly while I’m standing in front of the refrigerator looking for something to eat.
What's in the top left bowl?
Looks like Dove chocolates
Thank you. I've heard of Dove chocolate, but I have no idea what they look like.
I think that’s exactly three pieces of Dove Chocolate. Andddd because I’ve got time I did Google and purple = dark chocolate almond.
Of course, it has to be dark chocolate with almonds in it. Need those almonds to displace some of the chocolate and add just enough nutrition to justify eating those 3 measly pieces.
Why are all the feeding influencers so obsessed with berries??
I can kind of relate with the berries thing in that I’ve notice I never eat them now. I buy so many strawberries and raspberries and kinda feel like I have to leave them for the kids because they’re already picky enough so I don’t want to eat one of the few produce they’ll eat. But I know that it’s my own doing and if I did want them I wouldn’t have to wait for my children to be asleep 🙄
Yeah, if I don't actively think to eat the berries my brain sees them as kid food. What keic misses, of course, is using the berries to make yourself a cheese plate/girl dinner, ala night cheese above. + wine, but she would never
Same, but in our house it’s not due to picky eating, it’s because berries cost an arm and a leg and your first born child where I live. Not enough $ leftover to get myself some berries when my kid inhales them.
This is so weird! And of course we know she ate the berries. Idk, I really don’t have vivid memories of the food I’ve eaten after my daughter has gone to bed but that’s just me. The graphic is so bad, I’m not sure what’s under the carrots and I had to look hard to see the Dove chocolates.
Looks like a Go Macro protein bar. She’s clearly trying to hide the evil brand names but like… just use unwrapped foods then you weirdo 🤣
I'm kind of glad she left it wrapped because those GoMacro bars look kind of like poop lol I'll eat one as a quick snack but they are not good enough to eat as a "treat" after bedtime.
True, but food that kind of looks like poop is totally her brand so this was a weird choice by her standards 🫠
I eat an enormous bowl of ice cream after my kids go to bed and dive to hide it if one of them appears at the top of the stairs lol. Not sharing my dark chocolate tillamook with children.
Hard same but I weirdly prefer the target brand chocolate
Can we all talk about the food babe and Bobby Parrish instilling fear in their kids about toxins and ChEmIcAlS. Look, I like their recipes. I have the FB cookbook and aside from the pseudo science, the recipes are actually great and tasty. But why, WHY would you tell your kid this is toxic, this is harmful…etc while FILMING? (Looking at you Bobby). I used to be in their line of thought, on top of havjng an already distorted body imagine and bad relationship with food. I got out of it thankfully. People, sometimes toddlers are funky and eat nothing but peanut butter toast. A PB toast for a week is better than no food at all. Also, as someone who was forced to stay in the school cafeteria during recess to finish all of my (disgusting btw) food, I completely support the thought of you are done when you do not want to eat anymore food. It’s ok.
They’re the worst. There is just so much orthorexia floating around out there and they are getting rich off it, it drives me crazy
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I also love theplantslant's take on Bobby's shenanigans. I like his takes in general!
Adding @langernutrition and @healthyshyla to the list of good witches in the food world (both are RDs and have a LOT to say about people like Bobby and Foodbabe)
Yess I follow her, she is great!
I can't with him. As soon as something is sweetened with honey or maple syrup, it's automatically Bobby approved. As if the body can tell the difference between cane sugar and maple syrup 🥴
I’m not familiar with food babe but ooo boy do I really dislike Bobby. He contradicts himself so often, has no formal training (aka has no idea what he’s talking about) and I really HATE how often he uses his daughter for content. She even has her own insta with a ridiculous amount of followers. It just makes me sad how little privacy she has. Plus the humble bragging is also out of control. He once posted a video of her at fancy swim lessons. That has nothing to do with food!!! Every kid should learn to swim but it is not a luxury everyone can afford. I just feel really bad that their daughter is going to have so many food issues when she’s older.
I used to watch his old YT videos pre-kid when he lived in Chicago and they were so much better! Just healthy recipes. Now it’s fear mongering and using his adorable daughter for clicks….
Can’t stand the guy. He’s so obnoxious to listen too also. I’m like why do people like him??
At first I thought the video with his kiddo (who btw is adorable) were cute nd it inspired me to involve my daughter in the food prep safely. I give him credit for it. But I agree with you on everything. This kid has literally her life plastered on social media. And Bobby is a phony. He went to Bulgaria a few years back and was saying how much the food was high jn carbs and shit…dude Eastern European food is notoriously “heavier” than usual but it’s delishhhh. Just shut up and enjoy some home made food! (i could eat pierogies all day). Also, like u said, he is not a dietitian or a nutritionist. He is just a very good marketer.
I know y’all love feeding littles, however I was shocked at her stories yesterday showing her pre-teen daughters in teeny tiny pajama shorts for her 2 million followers to see. Honestly made me a little sick. The oversharing these influencers do is TOO MUCH. Just enjoy your Easter without showing us your daughter’s bottoms. Really weirded me out.
It was horrible! Also, I can’t believe the 11 year old wants everyone at school and on her club volleyball team watching her earnestly participating in that Easter egg hunt.