Take 5 for School Lunches
We start school this week! I am still working in my office and am about 10 minutes away from totally clearing out Little Guy’s desk to be ready for the new school year. I have been so busy micro-managing my office clean-up that I have not prepared for the school lunch part of the new school year.
Today I am going to take five minutes and clear out the old stuff in the fridge to make room for healthy breakfast items, school lunches and after-school snacks. After I clear out the mess I am making a list of grocery shopping items I will need to make it through the first half-week of school. I am going to ask Little Guy what he would like to see in his lunch but he will have to follow my guidelines.
1 protein
1 wholegrain
2 fruits and veggies
water, organic juice water and an occasional treat of organic flavored milk
1 tiny treat
So far, the containers have been the longest lasting Bento style boxes I have used thus far, they wash up really nicely in the dishwasher which is a major plus.
Now in a perfect world Little Guy would sit down and eat his healthy lunch. However, at his school the playground is right next to the lunch tables. What grade-school child do you know that will sit and eat his/her carefully planned out healthy lunch when all his or her pals are playing on the play ground?
To help make sure Little Guy eats and hydrates during the school day I add a granola bar or two to the front of his backpack for snack breaks and a water bottle on the side pocket. I also ask him every day if he ate his lunch. I can tell if he is fibbing and he knows it. If he says no, the next day I tell him he needs to eat two bites of everything. On good days he complies on bad days his after school snack will be not fun air-popped popcorn or yummy yogurt with crushed a tablespoon of crushed organic chocolate cookies but exactly what I packed in his lunch that day.
Question: How do you encourage your children to eat their school lunch?
Simple Daily Challenge: Take 5 minutes and clear out the expired icky food in the refrigerator to make room for the good healthy stuff.
Happy New School Year!
p.s. Moms Rock!
