how I got my girls to make their own lunches for school

It has been school time for the last couple of weeks again.  Back into the rhythm of dropping and picking and organising.  It gives the days a bit of structure after the long summer break.

A couple of years ago I found that the lunches I was sending into school were coming home again pretty much untouched.  I had a mandarin that went to school and back seven times (I knew because I marked it with a pen.  I'm cunning like that).  I decided that if they made their own lunch they were more likely to eat it.  And I didn't have to make it.  Which gave me more time to sleep. Win win. 

So I set up a chart (with picture symbols!) with options of what they had to put in their lunchbox and they had to choose at least one thing from each column.  I have set it out below for your education.  In case you have children who you need to make lunch for.  Thank you.  The columns were:

Breads and cereals
- sandwich
- wrap
- corn puffs
- dry breakfast cereal eg fruity bites
- vita wheats
- rice crackers
- corn thins

Fruit and vegetables
- apple
- banana
- stone fruit
- carrot sticks
- celery sticks
- fruit tub
- mandarin
- grapes
- watermelon
- whatevs in season

Dairy
- cheese slice
- yoghurt tub
- cream cheese dip
- cheese stick

Protein
- boiled egg
- piece of cold meat eg ham, chicken
- leftover rissole

Something else
- muesli bar
- leftover birthday cake
- hot cross bun
- popcorn
- sunflower seeds

 It worked surprisingly well.  They got used to putting a variety of things in their lunchbox for balance of colours, flavours and nutrition.  And we have been cracking down on them making it the night before so there is no angst in the morning over there being NOTHING TO EAT.

Of course we have days where there is a carrot stick and two old crackers left in the cupboard.  But mostly they have a fairly good lunch.  The lest favourite choice is sandwich - which I can understand.  A sandwich from a lunchbox from your bag that has been sitting on the bag rack in the sun for hours is not delicious.  Not at all.  I also make them put it all in little containers so we have no plastic wrap in the lunch box.

So there you have it.  A boring blog post about lunch.  I can hear you thinking - 'she hasn't blogged for ages and the best she can do is talk about lunchboxes!'.  Well.  There is other stuff happening in our lives at the moment, but tonight I am thankful they have made their own lunch for the first two weeks of school.  And I am thankful for the small things.

Here is a lovely picture of Gab that Annika took.

Good school lunches to you.