Back-to-school

[cartersg1]

I'm not sure this is the proper forum although help is good. My DD is going to kindergarten this year. I am not enamoured of the school lunches and plan to pack her lunch every day. I will do what my mom did - go shopping for "school food". She's not much of a junk food girl but she has a bad sweet tooth. Of course, my biggest concern is trading food at school, a microwave for reheating (she knows how to use one) and proper refrigeration of her lunch (something I will ask about during orientation). While she is not LC for obvious reasons, I still cook for the whole family and she will have a combination of better foods (not processed junk) and leftovers from family dinners.

What do you do pack in your kid's lunches? How do you get them to eat their lunch rather than trade? What about avoiding the vending machines? Many school IDs are keyed to an account that parents can put money on for school lunches and the vending machines. In a society where we want it quick rather than good, how do you talk to your kids about good nutrition when all they see are their friends having something different?? My daughter will have different food from her peers and I don't her singled out as "weird" but I'm not going to give into the quick fix for lunches - toss in a "Lunchables" or one of those Smucker's "Crustables" and a bag of chips and juice box. Just thinking about it makes me ill. I want her to have some balance in that lunchbox - natural sugars, better proteins, at least decent carbs to sustain her through the day but not the loaded-up variety.

Here are some of the solutions so far; foods that she will eat that will pack well:

veggies - baby carrots, cut-up raw zucchini, steamed broccoli and squash, bell peppers, salad greens
fruit - grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, apples
carbs - pretzels, whole grain bread, brown rice, couscous
protein - cut-up chicken, salmon (and salmon cakes), crab cakes, shredded pork, tuna fish, egg salad

DD will also eat "Mommy" casseroles and combo dishes which helps a great deal. It gets rid of leftovers. I plan to give her choices, knowing she may want to substitute something in the morning before school. I'm letting her have a substitution daily, just so she feels her lunches are "her own" and perhaps cut down on the potential trading at school. I will let her have a "treat"; she likes my sugar-free desserts (made with Xylitol for the most part) and cookies.

I don't know why this bothers me. Since DD is adopted, we don't know much abouther physiology so we want to head off any potential problems by eating fairly well and modeling good behavior, knowing there's only so much influence we will have as peer opinions and ideas begin to replace parental authority. Striking that balance will be necessary without the usual "If so-and-so jumped off a cliff, would you follow?" nonsense. I know she will trade food, even though I will ask her not to do so. I just want to be able to cut down on it, give her better choices from home. Thanks!

[Didy]

Okay little Mama, take a deeeeeep breath! You are doing a GREAT job with your sweetie pie and in the whole Big Picture thing, 1 lunch per day isn't going to make or break all of the wonderful things you are instilling in your daughter right now and as she grows. :agree:

It looks like you have a yummy menu planned for her lunches with lots of great choices. I did the same for my kids (27, 24, and 17). They later told me that everyone always wanted their homemade cookies but as far as the apple, orange, carrots, etc... that I included (and later made them pack on their own), that always went straight to the trash! Grrrrrr. My daughter was the only one that ate her's - the two boys, forget it!

My youngest (a son) is also adopted - from Romania, so we have absolutely no medical info on him - and all 3 of my kids have been super healthy!

Don't stress too much about the whole lunch thing, it will work itself out. You just keep being the sweet, involved mama that you are and keep making her those wonderful healthy meals and she will be fine!! (I always bawled my head off when my kids started school!!)

[jschwab]

I don't think you need to worry about this so much. I am curious why pretzels do not fall in the realm of junk food for you? My kids eat low-carb because grain allergries and intolerance and overweight are so directly related to their consumption. My kids also won't eat food they are not allowed, even when I am not looking - it may be less of a problem than you think? All of the "choice" and fussiness over her lunch may make her a little neurotic about food, don't you think? My kids get what they get. Never once do I remember kids trading their lunches in 8 years of grade school - is it maybe a bit of a myth that kids do this?

I am concerned about food in school but less from sack lunches and more from the endless array of cupcakes and candy that seem to have found their way into schools. We are going to homeschool partially for this reason.

Janine

[scthgharpy]

Youre homeschooling because of food issues? hmm.

But yah, one meal a day isnt going to make or break the kid. Just give her choices, maybe have her participate and take some ownership in whats in the brown bag. Ive never known a school to have a refrigerator or microwave available for students, but there are options-small coolers the same size as traditional lunch boxes and tupperware (for example) has some awesome keep-food-at-proper-temperature products for lunches. for warm food its all about the wide mouth thermos.

man, youre going to be doing some MAJOR dishes. gladware is your freind.

Another thing that may keep her swapping food (kids will be kids, after all) is make it LOOK like its snacky and fun. Costco has a lot of stuff in pre-packaged baggies. Baby carrots come in separate lunch packs now, some even with ranch dressing ala those nasty 'cheese' n cracker packs we had as kids. apples come the same way, precut. Those vending machine-style six-cracker packs are hella cheap..and on the days you feel like letting her splurge, surprise her with one of the cookie options.

But most of all, dont fret it if she does swap food. One, Shes negotiating from a point of weakness-SHES the one with the organic sprout and avocado sandwich. What self respecting kindergartner is going to give up his twinkies for THAT? Two, when they do it(my kids surely did) realize its a social thing, theyre cooperating and learning value and about making decisions-thats JUST as important. And three, like the others said, its really about an overall approach to healthy eating, that It sounds like you are already doing. I know its hard to let go...but let her make some of those choices herself, she will become a stronger more independent person. And you wont go crazy!

[KvonM]

i never ran into the food-trading issue when i'd bring my lunches to school, mainly for 2 reasons... 1) i really liked the food mom packed for me. i VERY fondly remember peanut butter and raisin sandwiches on mom's homemade bread. 2) everyone else thought my food was weird and wouldn't have touched it, so there was no option for trading anything... that even extended into high school when i'd bring a dinner to play practice. mom's lamb & lentils or dad's insanely good chili got looked at as if it was toxic nuclear waste. *I* knew it tasted good, if they didn't want to try it, that was their fault and not my problem.

if your daughter is excited about the food she's got in her lunchbox, i would think (and hope) that she'd be reluctant to trade it.

[+35-65]

What self respecting kindergartner is going to give up his twinkies for THAT?

You just hit the nail on the head!!!

Great suggestions have been given - ownership in packing lunches, continuing nutrition education at home.....I would add, when you sit down and talk with her at the end of the day to find out how her day was ask her if she learned anything new, etc., and how was your lunch? If you don't scold her for trading her food, she'll feel comfortable being honest with you and you can keep tabs on her and try to educate her in new ways.

But really, this is just the beginning of letting go. She's a little person now and is starting to make independent choices. Hopefully the information, support and communication she gets at home will drive her toward making healthy choices.

[jschwab]

"Youre homeschooling because of food issues? hmm."

Not entirely, of course, but I do think things have gotten out of hand with junk food in schools. My husband has celiac so cross-contamination is a serious issue, not to mention the chance the kids might have the same problem. I touched bread a couple weeks ago, came home without washing up first, and my husband was sick for a week just from microscopic crumbs. School would make our lives very complicated.

The bigger reasons is that there are no sufficiently safe schools in our part of the school district. Our neighborhood school does not even have a library and probably no textbooks. With three kids, private school is out of the question.

For me, food is a lot bigger than just what kids get served or what we pack in their lunches. It's the way kids are taught about food at school, denied food and exercise when they are hungry and restless (many school have eliminated lunch and recess) and are developing eating disorders at younger and younger ages. We are also lucky to live where homeschooling is not very difficult and the kids will have a chance to work in gardens growing their own food. Who wouldn't rather have that?

Janine

Janine

[SlowNStedy]

Your first child, right?
Some of your questions will have to be on a 'wait and see' basis. Some things are going to depend on who your daughter finds herself eating lunch with, what the attitude within her class is about buying lunch vs. bringing lunch, and how she responds to that. In some classes, buying school lunch is a status symbol, in other, bringing lunch from home is what's cool. I have one kid who would not touch a school lunch for twelve straight years, one who clamored for it, and one who liked to take the same exact thing for lunch every day. I think probably that sharing food with classmates, as opposed to swapping it, is more likely. And really, unless she has medical issues that you're already aware of, a few of her friend's cookies for some of her baby carrots isn't going to harm her. Maybe you should also hang around at school during lunchtime once or twice just to see what school lunch actually looks like. You might be surprised that there are healthy options. Where we live, there is a salad bar every day, and no vending machines, at least in the elementary schools.
Either way, my advice would not to make a huge big deal of lunch issues. Have her help you shop and decide what goes into her lunchbox. She'll feel a bigger sense of ownership and be more inclined to eat what she's got.

[deniselisa]

I always gave my daughter the choice of cold lunch (lunch from home) or hot lunch (school lunch). I fgured she was going to eat what she wanted; because I always had money in her account at school just in case. She did eat hot lunch because her friends did, and would often come home hungry because she would only eat a few things off the tray. If I tried to pack to wholesome, same thing, just come home hungry, and there were and are still no microwaves to warm lunch at school. She is 13 now, and follows a semi-low carb plan and watches the sugar/white flour intake especially. She opts to take lunch, usually a salad with something crunchy (homemade low carb croutons, for example) and topped it with cheese and ranch dressing (I pack it all in separate containers or baggies so the salad isn't soggy- what we do for our family). She also takes beef jerky, string or chunk cheese, a small amount of fruit on occaision, and bottled water. She does take sandwiches on low carb bread, with black forrest ham, cheese, and mustard and pickles. Sometimes a bit of peanut butter with celery sticks, or celery with ranch dressing, sometimes some salami. I put a frozen bottle of water or some ice packs to keep it cold. She is young, but I am glad she watches her foods and is able to make better choices. -Denise