I’ve met plenty of ‘dumb’ people that function just fine in a familiar environment. You would never know in normal circumstances. The problem comes when something out of the ordinary happens. For instance, we had a shop worker with a learning disability. She dealt with all the common problems just fine, but if someone asked for something out of the ordinary, or for directions (this was pre-smartphone) it quickly becomes apparent.
Insane binge eating after 10 pm, especially cheese. Also sending passive aggressive emails at work.
Everyone delights in how wonderfully absurd the world is, while performatively following rules in the most ridiculous way possible.
There is a fax machine revival in order to comply with GDPR rules.
Everyone does just the bare minimum amount of work required and ‘shower thoughts’ also count as work time.
Advertisers, accountants and marketers no longer exist and their profession is outlawed.
All money is placed in a big pot where it is shared and when we need some we take just enough for what we need.
Nobody locks their doors and we all nip over to each others houses to borrow things from time to time. We all have each others back.
Here in Northern Sweden the preschools in the cities are all closing down due to lack of kids. We have the opposite problem in the villages. Long waiting lists and shortages. Our municipality, population 5000, has 6 existing preschools and just built a new one. City housing costs more than 3 times as much as the villages and small towns. Families can’t afford housing in the city. It’s all rich retired people in the larger houses and young single people in tiny apartments.
Sweden here. Our health system is under some strain right now but still functioning. If we want a GP appointment we have to call at exactly 08:00 am to register and then get a call back several hours later, usually you get an appointment the same day if it’s potentially serious, a week or two for non-urgent issues. There are GP offices and health centres everywhere, even in small towns of 1-2 k people, so you rarely have to go far. We have an annual fee cap of about €300 after which all prescriptions and treatments are free. In many cases your employer will refund the cost of doctors appointments (€20). My partner had a tissue sample tested for breast cancer recently (negative thankfully!) it was totally free and took about a month for the results.
I think with the attitude you describe you are 90% of the way there. What I find hard is walking that line between being the best friend/mentor and the authority figure. You can’t be everything all the time. I think some flexibility and context in your role is a good way to manage this. I’m the authority figure when we get ready for preschool and the best friend when we are playing and goofing around. Its hard to get him to accept decisions sometimes without wanting to debate every little thing, but I think this is part of being a mentor.
For calorie dense you can’t do better than fat. Oil might be ‘expensive’ but it is one of the cheapest things to buy on a per calorie basis and you only need a teaspoon to fry an egg or make mashed potatoes taste half-decent. You would be surprised how much better potatoes and eggs can be with a little fresh chill pepper or coriander if you can find it. The better it tastes the easier it is to eat. One more tip… Canned condensed milk. It’s cheap, calorie dense and delicious. A spoon a day will last weeks. Delicious in tea and coffee. Good luck!