Here's a wrinkle I don't think we'd planned on. I just dinged 60 on the server that my husband has been playing on since he started playing. Long story short, my first character was on a different server so that I could play with a female friend of mine. I'd made an alt type character on my husband's server but didn't play her much. When I finally got fed up with the server my main was on (the only decent person there was my friend as far as I could find) I moved over to Stonemaul permanently. I ditched my half-assed attempt at an undead mage, rolled up my druid and was good to go. Well, now months later I'm finally level 60 and my husband and I are both in the same guild. I'll be starting my raids with them this week actually.
The problem? We have two small children who need to eat dinner and raids start at 5pm. Ack! How are we going to make dinner?! There are no problems with the kids running around playing and such while we raid. They're already used to that, they play in the computer room and we can get them things that they need (you know, cups of juice, snacks, what have you) when we have breaks. Before it was easy because if I was running an instance and in the middle of combat my husband might be in a a space between pulls where he could safely go afk for 30 seconds you know. But now we'll be on the same schedule essentially. We both play support classes too (he's a holy priest, I'm a resto druid) so the guild ideally would want us to both be in a forty man raid. It's not like we can easily switch off any raid nights other than say, ZG and AQ20 runs.
It's more of a logistics problem than a real stressor. It's just that it hadn't really occured to me when I joined his guild that eventually we'd both be raiding on the same nights and thus on the same schedule game-wise. For tonight, since dinner is already thawed out, I'm just planning on eating with the kids at 4pm (about two hours earlier than our normal dinnertime) and letting them snack when they get hungry later one. We'll make a plate for my husband (who doesn't usually get home from work until just about invite time) to heat up and that will take care of tonight. But what about the rest of the week? The rest of the time I'm raiding. I suspect that it will be me who shows up to fewer raids, because I'm the mama after all and that's who the kids often want. Ack, who'd of thunk that the social problems of parenthood in America would follow me into Azeroth :o
- Logistics, real life dinnertime and raiding schedules


2006-03-21 06:27 pm (UTC)
I worry about the same thing with my raid schedule, and our dinners. It's just me and my SO, so it's not quite the same, but I feel it's important to eat real meals on occasion. lol.
I'm currently doing stuff like making slow cooker meals on raid nights, making big meals that create leftovers on non-raid nights, and ordering pizza. I've also considered making casserole-type dishes that can be put in the fridge and then just popped into the oven. (Then all I'd have to do is take a quick break to pull it out of the oven and grab a plate.)
2006-03-21 06:29 pm (UTC)
Need dinner? Its called amicrowave kids!!! lol
In all seriousness though, you could pre make things like stews, casseroles, that sort of stuff, put them into kid and parent sized portions, and then nuked when needed. Healthy meal, No fuss. :D
2006-03-21 07:50 pm (UTC)
Yeah, I think a slow cooker will be on my shopping list for today, it's high time the household had one anyway.
2006-03-21 06:37 pm (UTC)
Obviously the needs of your kids come first. How long do the raids last, and what time do the kids go to bed?
Is it possible to do kind of a Rachael Ray "cook all your meals for the week on Sunday" so you can just warm things up and feed them real early? Is a 4:30 dinner time unreasonable for them? (You don't mention their age).
I think getting them used to a 4:00 supper with a snack later is a good one. I think it means you will need to start planning your meals for the week and make a batch of things. On some nights, you can do soup and sandwiches as well.
Good luck!
2006-03-21 06:42 pm (UTC)
Sorry I don't have a solution for you.. though I'm interested in hearing whether anyone else does.
2006-03-21 06:52 pm (UTC)
What we do...Trade off raids (he does AQ and I do ZG) There are only two MC raids per week that we can both go to (because he works) and those nights we have Pizza, or left overs and hire a babysitter.
The other nights, I have kids all by my self (because hubby works nights) and so sometimes I go, but the guild understands that I can't raid till after 8 (my youngests bed time). We have some young rogues who have early bedtimes them selves, so I just make sure my character is out side of MC and ready and then when they leave they sub me in.
I can't say enough how much I love this guild. We have one nursing mom, so often we get "afk to go lay the baby down" and we have a couple parent/child sets. Often the kid will play while mom makes dinner and when she is dead, they trade (playing the same character). Everyone is very understanding of RL commitments. Though sometimes the guild complains that my kids need earlier bedtimes. lol
2006-03-21 07:49 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 07:23 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 07:48 pm (UTC)
Bad eating habits, you mean like eating a snack when you're hungry? Sorry to sound snarky but this is a sore spot for me due to RL crap.
2006-03-21 08:12 pm (UTC)
You find a guild that raids at a time that's more convinient, say when the kids are in bed. Or you get a sitter one day a week and only raid on those days. You don't make and freeze meals for the sole purpose of raiding - your kids deserve fresh food, not leftovers every night.
2006-03-21 08:37 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 08:45 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 09:02 pm (UTC)
I'm not a parent myself, but I know lots of people cook a week's worth of meals on one day a week (or some people do it once a month! they must have huge freezers), and reheat/serve with some fresh stuff too. You could try that, and slow cookers.
Anyway, I feel a little embarrassed about this community now. I had no idea people were so judgemental here. I don't honestly think you're putting raiding before your children or their nutritional and attention needs. All but the most obsessed parents I've seen and been friends with/acquainted with have hobbies and regular activities that don't focus on the child(ren). *shrug*
2006-03-21 09:04 pm (UTC)
Ths cooking community is a great one, btw.
OK, my 2 cents here
2006-03-21 09:06 pm (UTC)
Computer is off-limits from 6 pm to 9pm Monday through Thursday UNLESS everyone is finished with dinner (which is sit-down every night), baths, homework and has their PJs on (including me!). The only exception to this is my once-a-week Guild meeting in UO, and my hubby graciously takes over for me on that night, for the hour or two that I need to be online. Otherwise, we play when the kids are in school or visiting with the grandparents.
For our "Gaming and Grub nights", we have family-friendly people over for dinner at our home and tabletop gaming. The kids are allowed to watch movies, my older child is allowed to play Sims2 that day, and they have the run of the house and can call on us at anytime to help them with anything from finding toys to pottying.
We still have fun, we still game. But the kids have, do and alwys will come first. That's the burden (and joy) of being a parent!
Re: OK, my 2 cents here
2006-03-21 09:13 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 09:21 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 09:34 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 09:36 pm (UTC)
I've often wondered how other moms deal with wanting to play WoW and family/RL ....
*smiles*
2006-03-21 09:43 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 09:45 pm (UTC)
Salads, cold cuts (I think that's what you call them in the US?), and there's always pie; savoury, as opposed to sweet. Stir fries are quick and tasty as well.
Are you able to cook earlier in the day? I don't know if you're a stay at home mum or work, then come home (and given the amount of crap in this thread, you don't need to answer that, there are some really nasty and judgemental people out there. *hugs*), but if you have time, maybe make an earlier meal and have it ready to go.
Ignore the tripe in the rest of this thread, and I think it's cute your son asked for mustard. I used to eat Vegemite by the heaped dessert spoonful when I was a child - though the thought makes me cringe now. 8-) The fact that someone went into your personal journal to find ammunition makes me feel quite annoyed. I wonder how they enjoy the stories about my cats? ;-b
2006-03-21 09:53 pm (UTC)
*huggles*
2006-03-21 09:45 pm (UTC)
For me ... I have come to love the crock pot ... hehe .... not because of WoW but because I worked and was a full time student. *smiles*
Re: *huggles*
2006-03-21 10:33 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 10:02 pm (UTC)
I, personally, didn't have much attention from my parents when I was growing up given my father was in the Army and normally over seas, and my mother worked night shifts. I'm not suicidal, I'm not a murder, I don't think about hurting people and I'm not depressed. I'm a Network Operations Specialist at 19 years of age making more money than most 30 year olds. This is almost as bad as the "video games make people violent" discussion. Get a clue!
As for the OP; I would personally try to find a guild that raided at a better time. I'm in an Australian guild on Tichondrius and we raid at about 20:00pm at night. If that's not a possibility (Or you simply don't want to), you could try getting a third party to make dinner for you. I'm not talking about junky take-away, but you could stop by an Italian restaurant and pick up some pasta, or some chinese or something. Most families have take away once a week - make your raid nights those nights. Less stress for you all around :)
2006-03-21 10:07 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 10:06 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 10:08 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 10:15 pm (UTC)
http://community.livejournal.com/stupid
http://community.livejournal.com/domest
glad I'm not the only one :)
2006-03-21 10:27 pm (UTC)
Parent_Drama and Fandom Wank will get it later today.
Another random comment
2006-03-21 10:17 pm (UTC)
Bumping dinner up a couple of hours ... like 4pm is not fracking lunch time ... Damn !!! When the hell do you start your families day?
Oh hun ... and here .... *huggles* and *support* .... that's just my 2 cents ... which aint much.
What a load of Codswallop!
2006-03-21 10:26 pm (UTC)
Nowhere in the manual does it say that a parent - particularly a mother - needs to subsume their lives totally into that of their children. And I notice there's no snarking at the father, just as an observation. In fact, whaddaya know? There's no manual. I still maintain that if she didn't care, she wouldn't have asked. And we are all too quick to judge, it seems.
I still say kudos for asking, and I hope that my reply and others that tried to help and offer suggestions weren't lost in the raw manure being poured into this post.
2006-03-21 10:35 pm (UTC)
Also, you can make a big thing of jello (if they're not vegetarian) with fruit in it for snacking on for several days.
2006-03-21 10:45 pm (UTC)
2006-03-21 11:06 pm (UTC)
Congratulations?
2006-03-22 12:19 am (UTC)
You consider your responsibility to feed your children dinner at dinnertime each day to be a "social problem"??
WOW, and that's no acronym.
2006-03-22 12:22 am (UTC)
2006-03-22 02:41 am (UTC)
2006-03-22 06:58 am (UTC)
2006-03-22 03:50 pm (UTC)