u/EvelynHardcastle93

The job market is terrible, AI is taking jobs, and my company is one of many that has experienced mass layoffs. So far I’ve been safe.

I have worked for my company for 10 years, am fully remote, and make decent money for my field. Sometimes I look at other job postings and come to the harsh realization that if I ever lose my job I will likely have to take an in-person job for less pay. That’s if I can even score an interview. I think about totally switching careers or getting a new certification in something. But that takes time and money, which are very limited resources.

I feel like my flexible job is the most important thing holding my family together right now. My husband and I have two toddlers. He just returned to office for the first time since we became parents. It’s been a huge adjustment and really hard! He now spends significantly less time with us due to commuting and less flexibility. It puts a lot more responsibility on me to do drop offs, prep dinner, etc. I feel like we are rushed all the time. Then I imagine me also having to go into an office and it just doesn’t seem possible.

The pressure of this is really weighing on me. I know technically there is nothing to panic about yet because I still have my job, but everything seems so precarious now. Is anyone else feeling this?

My 3 year old’s diet basically consists of dairy products, fruit, packaged snacks (like goldfish crackers), and now, sweets. I consistently offer healthy options at every meal, but she often does not eat them.

I can’t get her to eat meat at all. She has a select few veggies she will eat sometimes. She will sometimes eat pasta, bread, nuts, eggs or oatmeal, but not consistently.

She complains about being hungry all the time, even with a full plate of food in front of her. (Even when her safe foods are on the plate!) She’s always asking for snacks and milk. I try to limit her snacks, offer her healthy snacks, or offer her a healthy option with her junk option (ex. I’ll give her a plate with the goldfish she’s asking for with baby carrots.) She still pretty much just eats junk and begs for more junk.

I feel like I’ve slowly lost control of her eating. We have more bad meals than good. I feel like things started to take a turn around Christmas because she got so much candy from holiday events and family members that we started making a rule that she could only have candy after dinner. Cue the power struggles and dessert obsession. Dinner time is the worst part of our entire day. She will take one or two bites and then whines for dessert. Like nonstop broken record whining. She says she doesn’t like whatever food is on the plate even if it is something she likes. I try not to pressure her to eat it, but my husband is really bad at it.

When she was younger, I feel like I did everything “right” with food. We did baby led weaning and it was always very low pressure. I can’t believe we’ve gotten to this point and I need to turn it around!