When I ask Sophie how school was, the first thing she has to report is what was in the other kids' lunch boxes. Last week, she was very impressed that Alexia had a plum in her lunch. So when I went to the store, I bought plums and sent one with Soph. This week, Addison had bunny yogurt. That one stumped me. Bunny yogurt? A perusal of the yogurt section revealed that Trix, as in the breakfast cereal, has yogurt now. So my refrigerator currently is the repository of "Blastin' Berry Blue" and "Rockin' Red Raspberry" Trix yogurt.
I wonder if the other kids ever have lunch-box envy over the contents of Sophie's box. She loves the Smuckers pre-made round pb&js, and all though they are way to expensive, and probably as nutritious as a jar of marshmallow fluff (note to self--buy jar of marshmallow fluff so I can make her a fluffer-nutter for lunch next week), they are one of the things that make school a cool thing for her, so she gets them. She also gets a huge kick out of the apple dippers you can get instead of fries now in fast food kid's meals (not that I ever let her eat fast food. What kind of mother do you think I am? Well, actually, the kind that buys her kid McNuggets on a fairly regular basis.). So--I bought some little caramel apple dip things, and send those and apple slices pretty regularly. String cheese, Jello, Pudding Snacks. I really do try to make her lunch fun for her.
Why do I do this? 2 main reasons. 1) When I told her she was going to a new school, she was very apprehensive. When I told her she could take a lunch box, and pick any one out she wanted, the problem was solved. She was totally on board. Lunch box? Well, why didn't you say so Mom! She has 2 lunch boxes now. One is actually a heart shaped bag thing--with, of course, Disney Princesses on it. The other is a Barbie box that came with a pink thermos (jump back!) AND plasticy window-cling like outfits to put on the Barbie on the front of the box. Her school likes to have the kids bring a little place mat (something about defining their space) and the teacher said most kids just bring a dish towel in their lunch box. I, however, searched Wal-Mart and found Winnie the Pooh hand towels that cost 5 bucks each. What can I say? I spoil my child--but I also leave her ALL DAY with other people--and if Winnie the Pooh hand towels make both of us feel better, so be it.
Oh--reason number 2. I remember school lunches in elementary school. My coolness factor during those years was about a -3. Opening up your lunch box (I had to take a brown bag-horror-because I always LOST my lunch boxes) was a bit like bearing your soul. My mom ALWAYS sent tuna. Tuna was pretty frowned upon by my table mates--and I felt like a huge doofus as I took mine out of my bag. Also, mom froze our juice boxes--a nice idea, the rational being that it kept everything cold, and thawed by lunchtime. The problem was, it never thawed by lunch time. I remember ripping the top off and gnawing off chunks of frozen fruit punch. Now--obviously, my mom was a very sweet lady to make me a lunch at all. At least I didn't have to gag down hot lunch--except on pizza days, which were circled on the lunch calendar at home--but still, I never felt that my lunches were ever quite all they should have been.
Today's best thing about being a mom:
Reliving old childhood memories
Today's worst thing about being a mom:
Reliving old childhood memories
10 comments:
I always loved gnawing on our frozen juice boxes... weird. You're a great mom, really. You love your Soph and that's what matters.
Rob and I had pretty decent lunches growing up. I can't remember anything too damaging
My kids totally dig their thermos' or when I send the odd thing for lunch. I'll nuke a hotdog and wrap it a paper towel and then in foil. In thermos' I've send mac-n-cheese, chicken and wild rice casserole, spaghetti and Muffin Man's fav lasagna.
Sounds like Sophie has many tasty lunch morsels. And a little spoilage for the kid never hurts them. :)
Dermot doesn't have a lunch box, but he has his own lunch tupperware with three sections. That way he knows it's his own and the other kids know not to touch it since his daycare provides food for the kids.
My mother never once made me a school lunch, and I went to a Catholic school with no hot lunch program. I had to make my own lunch as early as 5 years of age. So my lunches were quite often a bag of cheetos and two ding dongs. Delicious and nutritious:) Sophie is so lucky that you care.
I also had lunch bags instead of a box after first grade. Since you can't find bags with the name Lonna on them, I got bags with my middle name - Michelle. So of course no one knew that it was my lunch. Sigh, so traumatic.
Way cool MOM! I want a lunch like Soph's - heck I want a lunch box like Soph's! I used to freeze cokes and take those in my lunch...envy of all the kids in school every Friday. But I remember putting one in the freezer on Thursday night and ended up sick on Friday.....when mom came home from work she was pissed to see that it had exploded all over the freezer. It was my first time to get to defrost a freezer - something every 5th grader should know!
oldmotherhubbard - ha! that's excellent!
miz, you're totally great to make sophie a lunch. I'm with lonna - my mom never made me a lunch. but it wasn't that bad, because in our school, if you DIDN'T buy lunch, you were looked at as weird.
I remember elementary school, coming in in the morning and finding my name on a popsicle stick in a cup. I had to take my popsicle stick and put it in another can - either one marked "pack" or one marked "platter" or one marked "soup and sandwich". the teacher would count up each one and send a paper to the cafeteria to let them know how much of each thing to make for us. I think they finally stopped doing that when I was in about 4th grade.
I haven't thought about that in decades.
Madeline gets peanut butter and honey on whole wheat and apple juice Every Day. I guess it's good that she has a high tolerance for repetition. I can't recall who's on her lunch box at the moment, odd, since I look at it every day. I feel like it must be Barbie. I do try to mix it up with the crunchy snacks, tortilla chips being her current big fav. I'm boring though, I just don't have the energy for any creativity at that point in the morning.
Like Patrice - I remember that it was very uncool to pack lunch at school, but maybe that was just later years.
Aw - it's so sweet that you think so much aobut what she wants in her lunch box and what will brighten her day. She's a very lucky little girl.
That's great that you keep Sophie up to date with her lunches. I used to beg for a brown bag but my mom thought those cooler boxes were the way to go. Have you seen how huge and embarrassing those things are? I went through about 5 in middle school because I kept "losing" them.
Frozen juice boxes were the best as were nutter butter suprises and napkin notes!
Thermoses are the greatest invention known to humanity.
I eat the Smuckers pre-made PB&J almost every day for lunch!! They are awesome!! I can buy 10 of them at Wal-mart for $5.00. So, it costs me $1 to eat lunch. At that price, I can't beat it!!
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