Shocked at what parents send kids for lunch!

[palmtreegirl]

My kids have around 2 lunchables a week, I usually buy a few of them when I go grocery shopping. They don't drink soda because they don't like it but they do drink juice. Lock me up and throw away the key!!!

 

[poohandwendy]

I have a friend who is a 'lunchlady' and she always talks about how much people send in with the really young kids in elementary school and how they rarely ever finish even half of what their parents packed. They just do not have time and they like to sped the time socializing with their friends.

 

[poohandwendy]

My kids have around 2 lunchables a week, I usually buy a few of them when I go grocery shopping. They don't drink soda because they don't like it but they do drink juice. Lock me up and throw away the key!!!

LOL, you may have to share jodifla's handbasket...

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

This thread brings back so many memories of my childhood! When I was young, my mom went all out to make sure we ate healthy, natural food. She made whole wheat bread, made her own jelly to control the amount of sugar in it, and only used real peanut butter - the kind that is just peanuts with maybe a little salt. If I brought a lunch, it had that homemade sandwich, veggie sticks, a piece of fruit, and maybe a carob-raisin-oatmeal cookie.

In preschool, one of my friends told me about getting "pop and cookies" after school for a snack. I came home and asked my mom about it. She gave me some whole-wheat crackers and juice and said "people have different names for different things. Some people call this snack pop and cookies, and we call it juice and crackers." It made total sense to my 4 year old mind and I bought it completely. For the next year I was telling my friends that I got pop and cookies for my afternoon snack, too. Mom's cover was blown in kindergarten on our first field trip when my eyes were opened to the real pop and cookies in my classmates' lunches.

After that, school fieldtrips were the ONLY times we could get whatever we wanted for our lunches. I went all out - twinkies, Hawaiian punch, potato chips, the works. My mom even had another mom make me a "wonder bread, skippy peanut butter and welches grape jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off" - the dream sandwich of my childhood that my mother would never make for me.

Now, 30 years later, I'd give anything for that homemade wheat bread my mom made, and I applaud her efforts to keep us eating healthy.

 

[poohandwendy]

That is a nice story Imarriedgrumpy. Is your mother still living, if you don't mind my asking?

My mother made things with carob too...yuck, I hated it. But, I love that my mom was concerned about our health.

 

[mouse1]

You said exactly what I was thinking.

 

[CPM]

I bet it was because of the field trip. When my son had a FT, I do pack a junk food kind of lunch because it's a fun day.

usually it's a sandwhich, always on wheat bread, one peice of fruit and some kind of treat (like cookies) and a Gator Ade or Milk.

I go in to see him at lunch, and most kids have basically the same kind of lunch.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

We're not allowed to send candy, sweets, most chips, or soda to school (one exception is sweets on a birthday and even then they request you send a new book for the class instead of cupcakes or cookies. Our school provides lunch for all students on field trips.

Dd is only in Kindergarten (3 hour days home at noon) so she gets a snack rather then a full lunch packed. I pack 2 of these items: an apple, mandarin oranges, carrots, pickle or PB+J and a sports bottle filled with water. Thats what she asks for, so I'm lucky. I'll be in trouble when ds (king of chicken nuggets) gets into school.

 

[Nancy]

But, you reminded me of something. Isn't it wierd how they will sometimes go on a kick where they want to eat the same exact thing every day for a while? It would bore me to death.

MY 17 year old nephew has had the same lunch since he was in 1st grade. My SIL makes him a grilled cheese sandwich every morning, so he eats 1 cold grilled cheese sandwich, 5 Oreos (it used to be 3, now he can 5) and gatorade...only original flavor. He never buys or takes anything else. He only eats about 5 different foods: hamburgers and fries, pizza, chicken, and grilled cheese.

I actually have no clue what my kids eat for lunch now. The schools offer so much variety once they get to middle school that they can eat very healthy. I give them $10.00 at the beginning of the week..that covers lunch all week. If they don't want to buy then they make their own lunch. I haven't made a lunch in about 3 years.

 

[CrazedDisFan]

Field trips are generally the only time my kids get lunchables. Usually for field trips, our teachers request the kids bring completely disposable lunches, so they don't need to carry a lunch box all afternoon. Lunchables are a simple way to accomplish this.

However, that being said, as a special education aide, I am consistently appalled at the lunches some children bring. An adhd kid doesn't need a 1/2 dozen cookies, hostess cake and a Pepsi in his lunch, thanks. Likewise, the child who can't stay awake needs more than a mayo sandwich and water.

(*Just a note I addressed the mayo sandwich child as I thought it maybe a monetary issue in the home, turns out the child goes in spurts of what he will eat and refuses to eat anything else. About 3 weeks later he was on white milk and pb&j. I had the social worker and principal discuss with the parent too, because I couldn't stand the thought of the child consuming this each day.)

 

[FreshTressa]

MY 17 year old nephew has had the same lunch since he was in 1st grade. My SIL makes him a grilled cheese sandwich every morning, so he eats 1 cold grilled cheese sandwich, 5 Oreos (it used to be 3, now he can 5) and gatorade...only original flavor. He never buys or takes anything else. He only eats about 5 different foods: hamburgers and fries, pizza, chicken, and grilled cheese.

I actually have no clue what my kids eat for lunch now. The schools offer so much variety once they get to middle school that they can eat very healthy. I give them $10.00 at the beginning of the week..that covers lunch all week. If they don't want to buy then they make their own lunch. I haven't made a lunch in about 3 years.

Didn't some guy in England die from eating only white bread his whole life or something like that.

 

[Nancy]

Didn't some guy in England die from eating only white bread his whole life or something like that.

I don't know but this kid eats NOTHING! My girls are shocked when we go for dinner and all he ever orders is a hamburger and fries. I have never seen him eat a salad of any kind, no potatoes other than fries, nothing. Thanksgiving dinner I did see him eat a biscuit and some turkey.

I had to respond to the mayo sandwich. My 13 year old used to make herself mayo or ketchup sandwiches all the time. She still will eat ketchup sandwiches once in a while...she is a very weird child!

 

[rigs32]

Somewhat OT, but kids (adults, too) want what they can't have. If you see your friends eating something you *never* have, of course you would want it, too.

My cousins were allowed zero candy. So, of course when they did come in contact with it, they inhaled it. Removing all sugar from their diets (except fruit) made them seriously crave it.

All things in moderation, of course.

 

[FreshTressa]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006020536,00.html

There's the kid that died.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

That is a nice story Imarriedgrumpy. Is your mother still living, if you don't mind my asking?

My mother made things with carob too...yuck, I hated it. But, I love that my mom was concerned about our health.

Sadly, my mom died of a head injury in Aug. of 1999. She was a very creative, quietly passionate woman who adopted everyone and always looked out for us. She tried her best to get us to eat healthy, and we called her "the health nut" and rolled our eyes as we took out our carob cookies at lunch time. I learned a lot of lessons from her, however, and I'm thankful for the great lessons in healthy eating she taught me. Now I love healthy, all natural food, and I can't stand the wonder bread, skippy, and twinkies I craved as a child. I know she'd be thrilled to know that all her lessons have paid off!

 

[Planogirl]

No wonder since ALL the guy ate was carbs and that for many years. I don't think getting on the occasional kick will cause such problems.

 

[FreshTressa]

If an occassional kick will kill you, I'm in trouble!!!

No, I was responding to the 17 yo that just ate grilled cheese.


Y'all are going to think I'm the food nazi at my house, lol. NOT. We had frozen pizza and apple slices for dinner tonight, lol.

 

[FreshTressa]

I just did not realize that field trip meant special lunch. I assumed these kids packed like that all the time.

Still not going to pack junk for my kids...I would worry it would not make them feel very good, but not going to stone the people that do!

 

[noahynav]

Ohh, I have to agree with Rafiki on this one.

My son is a terrible eater. And unlike what a previous poster stated, I WOULD rather have some junk food in his tummy during the day then nothing at all....even if it is sugary or whatever. HE makes up for it at home, because he likes my cooking, just not the schools. I imagine you would be absolutely horrified if you saw what I packed for my son on a daily basis.

 

[Muffy]

MY DD's favorite lunch is a Boars Head maple turkey breast and provolone cheese sandwhich on a bakery roll with mustard. I always add a granola bar and a bottled water.