Am I a bad dad for only buying food instead of cooking?
So about two years ago, the dynamic in our household shifted. I spend a lot of time with our four year old now and take care of the household. I also have my own business so I just try to negotiate my time between everything as much as possible. My son is my everything and I’m not a perfect dad (a la Bandit from Bluey) but I try my best. Now, I’ve never been much of a cook and honestly I get a lot of anxiety in a kitchen so when I do cook, it takes me a lot longer than my wife and I’m not very good at making meals without some type of recipe. This hasn’t been too much of an issue since recipes are pretty easy to find online and we usually use meal kit deliveries which substantially cuts down the anxiety of meal prep. However recently I’ve been so goddamn tired. I’ve had to manage my own emotions because my son is going through that big feelings phase. He’s been pushing boundaries so I’ve had to stay balanced with disciplining him. He’s become a lot more needy so I’m constantly feeling guilty for leaving him to play on his own at times and honestly I’m just tired of parenting. I keep doing it because I love my son but man am I tired. I don’t really socialize without my son as we have no one to watch him so literally anywhere I go, he goes. Unless of course it’s a school day. My issue is that for a while now, because of how tired I feel I opt to order in instead of trying to cook and I’m beginning to feel guilty like I’m not giving him enough food variety or the right nutrition. I always try to opt for healthy choices and hardly ever order pure junk food and I generally try to incorporate some good nutrition in between like fruit and veggies. My question is, am I doing him an injustice by not cooking more? I feel like I’m failing in this area and it’s beginning to really stress me out.
Posted Jan 3, 2023, 4:29 PM UTC