Packing Lunch
Thoughts & Reflections
As we head back to school, we thought we would put together a short post with a few recommendations on packing a lunch. For many families, this will be the very first time…how exciting! We would love to share with you some of the things that we have learned over the years. Of course, if you have helpful tips, we would love to hear them too. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Let’s get started:
- We recommend that you have your child help with the process. Not only will this foster responsibility, children also love to make their own choices – especially when it comes to food. Perhaps it would be helpful to develop a routine. For instance, maybe every night after dinner you work together to prepare a healthy meal. This could involve selecting what should be included, apples, oranges, pears, but also, food preparation, i.e.: spreading the peanut butter on the bread.
- Having the right lunchbox and containers can be a huge advantage. What should you look for? We recommend that you find a lunchbox that is easy enough for your child to open. If you’re not sure what would work best, perhaps you would like to take your child to the store and try a few out? Of course, the same thing can be said for containers. This would also apply to juice boxes too. The easier they are to open, the more independence and confidence your child will have with themselves and their meal.
- With the above in mind, we also recommend that you consider using re-usable containers for lunch. Certainly this is great for recycling purposes, but it’s also an excellent way to see exactly how much food your child ate for the day.
- Lastly, we recommend that you not worry about providing a new and special food every single day. For children, each day is new and special, and they don’t necessarily require the food to match. Don’t worry! They’ll soon develop another appreciation for food. We would also suggest that there is no order to the food, i.e.: there’s something that must be eaten at the end. Sometimes the temptation to eat dessert first can be too overwhelming.
Of course, we’re always here to help with lunch, but we thought these tips might be useful, at least to get started.
Written by:
Bobby George
