The online response to the request was swift. Photo / Getty Images
The online response to the request was swift. Photo / Getty Images
Having a baby will turn your daily routine upside down. While many parents-to-be will try to get themselves as ready as possible, including making and freezing meals ahead of the arrival of a newborn, one couple has turned to their neighbours instead.
New York-based sports writer, Jack Jockinen, took to Twitter to share "the most millennial phrasing" he's ever come across from a pair of first-time parents in waiting looking to outsource their meal planning - with some very specific requests.
"My wife and I are having a baby. I'm starting a meal train because it is our first and neither of us have a clue what we're doing. If you are feeling neighborly" so I clicked the link bc there is no way these people are asking strangers to make them food bc they have 1 baby(2/?)
Jockinen learned his neighbours were using a new app called Nextdoor, which connects people within a community, to ask locals for help with a "meal train" as they struggled through the last stages of pregnancy and entered parenthood.
The request from the anxious father-to-be. Photo / Twitter
But rather than just hoping to pick up on leftover lasagne from two doors down, Jockinen discovered the couple had listed "30 specific meals with recipes!", noted their least favourite meal - mashed potatoes - and added that they "try to avoid sugar whenever possible and eat whole, simple foods."
Some of the recipes the couple would like their neighbours to make for them. Photo / Twitter
The sports reporter also detailed that the pair had "offered" for neighbours to come and do their vacuuming, wash their dishes or walk their dog - all of which will "nourish us as much" as having someone make one of their requested meals for them.
Jockinen goes on to add to his Twitter thread: "This guy then tops it all off by telling us we can sign up for a day to text, and if they decide they would rather not see people."
Comments on Jockinen's tweets were mixed with some sharing that they could understand the couple reaching out for extra help at this time in their lives.
One person wrote: "What's the big deal? A neighbourhood of folks who know and care about each other is great. I love it."
But others said they needed to take responsibility for the situation they were in rather than ask for handouts.
One woman replied commenting that even with her terminal illness she wouldn't make these sort of requests.
While another tweeted she had "come for the drama but was staying for the recipes." Someone else shared they'd taken a screengrab of the dinner ideas for their own meal planning.
And for Twitter user Katie Blargh the most outrageous point in all of it was that the couple had requested a specific type of cocoa be used:
Meanwhile, a single dad weighed in tweeting that the dad-to-be "shouldn't be a father".
Fortunately for the couple, and to the bewilderment of Jockinen, at least one neighbour has responded positively. They shared that they "know how tough this time can be and what a big transition it is so count on us for support! We'll be in touch!"
