Sending your child to school with a lunch can be a labor of love or a pain in the butt depending on your parenting style. Just like what we keep in our diaper bag, the contents of a child’s lunch can reveal a ton about whoever packed it.
In fact, there are few things that say more about a parent than the ever popular “lunchbox note” which can be used to profess love, reinforce expectations, inflict worry, etc, etc.
The possibilities are endless really.
Here are 12 different lunchbox notes from very different parents, plus one more chance to win a $250 Amex gift card from Mini Babybel:
the Classic Mom:
You’re an old-fashioned kind of mom who ate PB&J religiously as a kid and want your kid to follow in your footsteps. Except you traded your apple for Twinkies every day and pray you’ve raised your kid a little smarter.
the Sarcastic Mom:
You’re a love it or leave it kind of mom and refuse to be anybody’s short order cook. That lasagna is not going to waste on your watch. If your kids don’t appreciate their lunch, at least they’ll appreciate your sense of humor.
the Pinterest Mom:
You’re a competitor who will not be defeated in the high-stakes game of packing lunch. When the other parents find out about your hand-carved melon flowers and the cheese cut to look exactly like SpongeBob SquarePants, they’ll know who the lunch master is at this elementary school.
the WannaBe Pinterest Mom:
You’ve been spending a little bit too much time on Pinterest, where everything looks so easy to pull off! Unfortunately, you forgot you don’t possess a creative bone in your body. But what you lack in talent, you make up for in love.
the scholarly Mom:
Every moment is a teaching moment, including time spent in the cafeteria. How else is your little Einstein going to go to an Ivy League if he doesn’t make the most of every second he’s in school?
THE super COOL DAD:
Yes, we get it, Dad, you’re the cool parent who packs treats in their lunches instead of Mean Mom who makes them eat fruit the rest of the week. We’ll be sure to give you credit at the dentist next time we visit. (Pretty cool monster sandwich though.)
the drill sargent Mom:
Managing the schedules of multiple kids is tricky business and you are not going to show up late for swim practice if it’s the last thing you do. Some people program their schedule in their phone. You’ve got a color coded master calendar hanging in the kitchen. Did I say hanging? I meant— you’ve converted one whole wall into a white board.
the forgetful mom:
There are so many in-school and after school activities, you don’t understand how any parent keeps track. What? The kids were supposed to bring in a show and tell item today? NOBODY TOLD ME! Oh, it was listed on the school website? Oops. I didn’t realize I was supposed to be checking that thing.
the Star Wars Obsessed Mom:
It doesn’t need to be the fourth for you to feel the force. It’s with you all day every day and has been since you were five. You are first in line every time a new movie comes out and your dream is that one day your kids will get as excited about it as you do.
The Overprotective Mom:
You’ve been lurking outside your kid’s classroom since preschool and don’t see any signs of backing down. Once a teacher actually shut the door in your face while you were trying to observe circle time.
The Totally Embarrassing Dad:
You love a good dad joke and make them often. Your kids are the perfect age for them too. They think you are HILARIOUS, even though you’re pretty sure you’ve caught mom rolling her eyes more than once.
the ridiculously busy Mom:
You have things to do and places to be and packing a lunch sometimes falls off your radar. Plus, you suck at it anyway. Your kids love microwave meals— they have them for dinner all the time! Tomorrow, you’re giving them cash. It’s pizza day!
No matter what kind of lunch you send with your child to school, Mini Babybel can fit right in.
Whether you want perfect portions, protein, convenience, a good source of calcium, bold flavors, or fun packaging that gets kids excited, Mini Babybel checks off all the boxes.
Mini Babybel is 100% natural cheese and a great choice for an easy, packable lunchbox addition or snack for everyone in the family. It comes in seven different rich and creamy flavors— from classic Original to smooth Mozzarella style, each with at least 4 grams of protein and 15% of your daily calcium needs. All for 70 calories or less.
If that doesn’t say “I love you” sufficiently, you can write it on a note!
GIVEAWAY: $250 Amex Gift Card + Mini Babybel
Today, I am giving away one more $250 Amex gift card + a selection of Mini Babybel cheese to pack in your kid’s lunchbox. Just leave a comment below telling me what your kid’s lunchbox says about you!
I’ll pick my favorite response as the winner which will be announced on Monday, October 5th.
You must be a Mommy Shorts Facebook Fan or subscriber to enter!
winner update:
We pay for lunch at school. I think that must say I am extremely busy or lazy, one of the two 🙂
shit, i’m supposed to write a note? but he can’t even read yet!
My guy can’t read, so no notes yet. But I like to pack his favorite things in his lunch- things I know he’ll eat. I think it’s most important that his belly is full so he can have a good day. Luckily, he loves all kinds of things, so most of his lunch is very healthy and I get to throw in a cookie without feeling bad.
My kids’ lunch says “Yay, I get to eat last night’s leftovers all over again!” It’s that or “Another boring sandwich???”
My daughter’s lunch box says that I am inconsistent! Turn the string cheese into a ghost, the orange into a jack-o-lantern, and the juice into a mummy for Halloween? You bet! But the next day she’s probably getting whatever leftovers I can cobble together from the fridge as I’m dashing out the door.
I love these! My “mini” is in first grade so usually it’s lots of hearts and flowers and smiley-faces. Some short notes like “I love you bunches” might go on a baggie containing a bunch of grapes..but only if its a good day and I remembered to pack lunch the night before. If not, I’m scrambling to get something semi-healthy in her bag! Cold pizza counts, right?
My son can’t read yet, and doesn’t eat lunch at school, but we add some chicken scratch pictures. Some days he can’t quite figure out what it was supposed to be….
With four kids, I’ve run the gamut, with the exception of the Pinterest lunch (who has time for that, times four?!?!). There is a definite line where you can notice where we have become exhausted as parents. The First Child NEVER bought her lunch. It was lovingly prepared and nutritiously balanced, with a thoughtful and uplifting note. The Second Child received jokes instead of a note, and maybe the meals were a little less adventurous, but heartier, since #2 is a boy. By Third Child, the child that could live for days on air, I was desperate to find SOMETHING she would eat, and that became any sodium laden, processed food that would get swallowed. She introduced the kids to the concept of buying lunch at school, because I was desperate for her to ingest anything that might possibly resemble food. Now, Fourth Child is in school, and the notes have stopped, the same sandwich could be made three days in a row, and all sense of adventure has diminished. Fortunately, First Child has taken interest in helping to pack lunches, so we’ve revitalized the process all over again. There are days we rock it, and there are days they buy, because I’m just not into taking a special trip to the store. And therein lies something I tell myself is balance.
I randomly send notes in my daughters lunchbox but I think I’m a mix of all the types! I send good luck notes, I love you notes, and random I’m proud of you notes. I pack her lunch everyday and usually the night before. Usually PBJ, salami, or cheese, and crackers with one healthy snack and one fun snack with a Capri sun or water. BUT if dad packs it its a pepperoni roll with lots of sugar unhealthy snack. I’ve opened her lunchbox before and it’s had a sandwich, a candy at, and….a fun dip! For school! With a note that says don’t tell mom lol
Lunch is a BIG DEAL in our house! My daughter is in either gymnastics or ballet most days after school, plus I want her well – fueled to learn, so lunch is all about energy management. This year, she has decided to pack her own lunch (she’s in 3rd grade). I have given her lists of carb foods, protein foods, fruits, and veggies. She picks a couple of proteins, a couple of carbs, a fruit, and a veggie (sometimes a treat). I look it over, and off she goes! It’s empowering her to make good fuel decisions for her athlete body and brilliant mind. She understands that she needs protein for long term fuel and muscle building, quality carbs for those bursts of activity, produce for nutrients and energy…and I do occasionally slip in a little love note (gotta do it where you can when life is so busy)!
My son’s lunch says “Mom just grabbed what was in the cupboard & ‘fridge…cheese sticks, fruit snacks, applesauce-to-go, granola bar.” ????
I think my packing say I like well rounded lunches and if you don’t like something too bad, you’ll keep seeing it until I feel you’ve sufficiently tried it.
I do picnic style lunches for all my kids that include a variety of things- usually a pbj, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, fruit squeeze pouch, juice box, cheese, and a cookie. Something like that which includes a bread, protein, fruit and vegetable. I pay attention to what they will and won’t eat but just because you “ate the cookie first and didn’t have room for the broccoli” doesn’t mean you won’t see it again…without the cookie so I’m sure your belly has room. Love you, boys!
My kids and I pack it together! My oldest struggles with a learning disability so his notes are positive in nature! “Have a great day & im so proud of you! Keep practicing you will get it! Never give up and practice makes perfect! No one learned how to do this in one try” those sort of things!! My youngest is in kindergarten so his notes are I ❤️ you or something easy like that!
My daughter’s lunch says: I have packed the 12 things that you have loved in the last two weeks in hopes that after you decided you didn’t like anymore that you have cycled back around and love (and eat) at least one.
I’m a boring mom. Same things day after day. But I haven’t had any complaints yet! And I am so thankful for the Hot Lunch Mondays and Pizza days (means I get a break that day!)
My girls love notes so I try to add fun drawings to make them entertaining.
I have five kids, three in school, and I babysit my two nieces. I love, love, love anything crafty and right now lunches and lunch notes are my creative outlet. I buy unruled index cards and make a bunch of lunch notes in advance (I think I have around 250 made right now). I usually try to put a note that they can relate to that day. If they’ve had a rough few days or are feeling down, it’s a cheerful note telling them how awesome I think they are or how much I love them. If they’ve been having trouble with rules on school, I might put in a gentle reminder to be good. I also have jokes and puns because we all need some fun in our lives and a smile! My Kindergartener can’t read yet, but his teacher reads his notes to him and loves them!
The food differs everyday, sometimes they have plain pb&j, sometimes they have mini sliders, meat and cheese kabobs, DIY pizza lunchables or cracker lunchables, tomorrow they’re having mini sausage octopus (octopi?). For me it’s fun and I’m up at 5:30 every morning to get it done. I don’t think it’s for every mom though and that’s okay! I do it because I enjoy it, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it. There was a time when I was pregnant with my last baby that I was severely depressed, my kids only ever bought their lunch that year. So I guess also, this is sort of my way to make up for not being the best mommy during that time!
School lunch does not make a bad mom.
I agree, that is not why I was not a very good mommy at that time, it was for not have the energy to do ANYTHING while I was severely depressed. My kids still have money on their accounts for the mornings that life happens and or I just am not feeling it, and that is totally okay.
My lunch box style is schizophrenia 🙂 some days I’m the Pinterest mom and some days you get whatever the hell is in the house. ????
I’m a your all old enough to do this yourselves now, yes even you 6yr old. I prep on Sunday’s and then leave the nightly packing up to them. I put skinny pop, peanuts, veggie straws, and fruit in baggies. I make mini meatloafs, pizza croissants, spaghetti, etc and baggie that up. I should sneak in a few notes every now and then. I’ll work on that
I rock! That is what my kids’ lunchboxes say! Mostly because there are 4 of them, and I actually manage to make them. With food and everything. Also, I write notes on bananas. Talking bananas pretty much rock.
Pretty sure it says “mom never thinks through this packing thing and just tosses whatever she finds in a lunchbox.” But, it also screams, “my kid is super picky and I only send food he’ll actually consume.”
Just an idea, but if your kid cant read yet – think about drawing a fun picture, my dad used to draw a stick figure of Michael Jackson with a stop sign, at least that’s what he told me it was, to this day – I still have no idea why but it was funny and still is!
What lunchbox? School lunch is so much easier for mom and a good way to *encourage* trying new foods.
Before my twins started school last year I bought cute matching bento boxes, coordinating reusable sandwich bags, and lunch sacks made of recycled plastic. That I packed exactly one time all year. The first day of school. Complete with a cute “have a great 1st day” note. then i came to my senses. and it was school breakfast and school lunch every day after.
My daughter eats lunch at home, but I imagine I’d include a note saying “I know all you want are meat and cheese sandwiches, but please try and eat the other things I tossed in.”
My lunch box mom style looks like super healthly mom that’s really disguising super lazy mom. It’s always a prepackaged salad and a babybel (yes, honestly) plus a fruit juice. Takes me exactly 4.7 seconds to throw that sucker together. Truth is, my kid just likes salads and thinks sandwiches are boring. No notes because they’re in preK. 🙂
My kids’ lunch boxes would say “mom likes to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the lunchbox and thinks her children are going to starve because there is some imminent disaster and she won’t be able to pick the kids up exactly at 2:45 so she wants to be prepared for such an event”. Or it could also say that “I have no idea what the kids are in the mood for and I’m not taking any chances and having the school call me to tell me the lunch was inadequate of inappropriate”.
My son eats at home, still in my mind I’m totally a pinterest/scholar mom, but the truth is I;m a wannabe pinterest/lazy mom LOL
Yeaaaah, ours say “boring creatures of habit and routine”. Both kids can have hot lunch one day a week, but otherwise it’s PB&J (hasn’t been completely nixed at our school yet thank goodness!) and usually will even be the same jelly, since we usually make our own each summer, and it will last almost all year. Yogurt tube, and a fruit cup/applesauce, or some other form of fruit. Used to try other combos, but this is what will always come home as an empty lunch box. Sometimes throw in something extra or a random cookie here and there. Notes sometimes too, so it is a fun surprise to say “love you” along with something that makes them laugh. Yeah, pretty boring and regimented. =)
I pack lunches Monday through Thursday. He gets to buy pizza on Fridays. I write notes for my son’s lunches. I write them all in one day over the summer, some jokes, some love notes, some hidden pictures. I love to write them and he loves to show them to his teacher and friends. I will continue to write them until he asks me not to or grows out of it.
My son’s lunch says that daddy didn’t pack it: yogurt or apple sauce with chia seeds, fruit and veggie smoothie, avocado, and I love the little babybel cheeses. The teachers (my son is 2) ask my husband at pick up what was in his lunch. He just shrugs. I don’t know. Ha ha!
Definitely the Lazy Lunchbox… leftovers already packaged, or a package of crackers and a jar of p.b….
My notes say “I love you, have an awesome day!” BUT they should say “please eat something today. Please?!” Is my kid the only one who doesn’t eat at school?
I’m totally a pinterest wannabe mom! Lol…maybe 3 times a year I manage to pull off something sort of cute, but mostly it’s just an attempt to get a reasonably balanced and healthy lunch packed each day that he’ll actually eat.
My big note success this year is the continuing saga of the alien eggs! He loves hard boiled eggs, but would refuse to eat them if they weren’t perfectly smooth. Well for whatever reason, one morning when I boiled the last two eggs in the house, one of them cracked and came out all lumpy after it was peeled. No time to make a new lunch, so I drew a very bumpy looking alien (and I’m no artist, so it was definitely elementary level art work), and added a note that said, “oh no! The alien egg has invaded your lunch! Quick, eat him before he eats the rest of your food!”
He loved it! Ate that bumpy egg and asked me if there would be more alien eggs. Now any time we have an egg that cracks when it’s boiled, it becomes an alien in his lunch. If I’m really on the ball, I go all pinterest-y and stick whole black olives on with toothpicks to be the eyes.
A previous school required our lunches to include a grain, a fruit, a protein, a vegetable and a dairy. Now that I am packing lunches for pre-K, I stick to this almost daily. Usually it’s pretty basic, but I occasionally slip in a treat or cut a sandwich or cheese slices into shapes for fun. If the treat gets eaten, but the veggies do not, no more treats for a few days. Today was a turkey/cheese/tortilla wrap, raisins, edamame, and a bonus jack-o-lantern cookie. So what does that say about me? I guess that I try to be healthy, but also make things fun.
My toddler goes to “Play School” twice a week and the highlight of his day is always snack time! I use an old baby food freezer tray and fill each compartment with bite sized finger foods. Anything from grapes, alphabet cookies, puffs, cheese slices, blueberries, kiwi…I always want to give him a variety of colors and textures because school just provides one small snack which is usually cheddar crackers, pretzels or graham crackers. My boy loves to eat and it’s fun to see his face light up when he gets his smorgasbord of treats. Yes, I’m that mom, the one who misses her baby when she drops him off so she waits outside and watches him through the one-way mirrored glass window! I have gotten better and will leave halfway through to grab myself a nice breakfast. No notes YET, but I’m sure that’ll be a whole other fun element to add to his lunch box!
My style says “I realize this is an obscene amount of food for a three year old, but I figure the more I pack, the better the odds are that you eat SOMETHING, no matter how picky you are”.
Meat, cheese, crackers, fruit, veggies, yogurt, crunchy snack, milk…it probably weighs more than she does.
Hastily thrown together sandwiches, a pack of peanut butter crackers, a drink and a banana, I think it’s a “I’m not a morning person” lunch. A “please go to school so i can go back to bed for 5 minutes even though I won’t because by then I’ll be wide awake” lunch. If a note is included it usually reminding them to turn in late work or homework.
I don’t leave notes because I’ve been instructed that they’re embarrassing.
My son’s lunch says that I pack what I know. Classic late 70’s-early 80’s school packed lunch!
Like, exactly the kind of lunch my mom packed me.
Sandwich (ham, bologna, pbj), juice box, chips, fruit, dessert (cookies or pudding).
And of course it’s warm, because who has time to keep track of ice packs? Or remember to freeze juice boxes so lunch will be cold?
I am definitely a classic packer! Although no pb and j due to other kids allergies, cheese sandwich with an apple the where it’s at!
I am work full time, college part time, single parent cliche lunch maker. That means I have it down to the least amount of steps possible and I walk a fine line between “fresh and healthy” and “don’t judge me I’m on a budget” in my daughters lunch. Most of the time these days it’s turkey and cheese-no bread!(how does my child not want every single one of her carbs?!!) with a fresh fruit like grapes or whatever is on sale that week, a fruit snack and handful of goldfish crackers 🙂
She can’t read yet and daycare feeds her for me BUT Babybel cheese is known as “special cheese'” in my house since she would eat it all day if I let her- Shes’ only 2.5.
My son is four and starting to understand my dry sense of humor. He also unjustifyably loathes potatoes…. Yesterday I secretly packed a just huge raw idaho potato in his lunch bag and a fork (and the real lunch tucked in his backpack, teacher was in on the joke). I wish I could have seen his face! When I picked him up he tossed the lunch bag at me while rolling his eyes….victory.
Even though my son is part South Asian, he has blonde ringlets and hazel eyes. He loves Indian food, especially kitchiri and daal with homemade yogurt. I had to explain to his day care provider what he was eating. But now he is in preschool and they don’t heat up lunches. So I’m trying to get him to like cold sandwiches.
I pack a very healthy lunch every day except once a week when I give her money to buy lunch for the cafeteria.
My kid’s lunch says “my mom is smart” because I’ve got dad on lunch duty.
I don’t write lunchbox notes… but I do paint a lunchbag every day for my son. The past couple weeks I have been working through The Simpsons. Today’s bag was Mrs. Krabappel making a completely exasperated face at Bart…. my son is a bit of a Bart. You can check them out on my Instagram account @cdjaxon31 !
My son is in Kindergarten, so I’m just now entering the world of packing school lunch. We have Yumbox bento boxes and I really enjoy finding creative ways to fill them with healthy foods. I also have a kid who never stops moving, so I try to squeeze lots of protein into his lunch. When he opens up the box, I hope the foods I’ve chosen (nourishing and well-liked) and my hand-written notes/pictures show him that I love him. I like to draw pictures and write notes that make him laugh or connect to whatever special things are happening in school that day.
The Pinterest worthy lunches that I create for my children doesn’t mean I’m the perfect mom. No one is the perfect mom! We are all trying to make it, day by day, without being too hard on our kids and too hard on ourselves.
My daughter just switched from a daycare center where lunch was catered everyday to preschool. We still haven’t figured out the school lunch website to set up an account ???? but she loves bringing her own lunch! Same sandwich, snack, and fruit everyday. She can’t read but I put a note on a napkin with a heart on it. And asked her at the end of the day if she liked it, and she goes, “what note?” ????
My lunch style says “I’m new to this, hold my hand please!”
What does my kid’s lunchbox says about me? After 3 kids and about 11 years of packing lunches it says we’ve learned that lunch during school is not the time to teach lessons on trying new things. Just pack what ever they WILL eat without earning youself a call from the teacher about the school’s “healthy choices guidlines.”
I am the I try to make sure it looks healthy but some days so tired and worn out so it is filled with processed food mom. By the end of the year pinterest/looking good lunches are out the window it is is lunch survival mode lol
We are a food allergy family and our school is nut free. PLUS, we have a very picky eater. So we have found that we can cook up tortellini for the week, season it and each day we put about 15 tortellinis in a bag he can pick and eat. We also cut up broccoli and add a little dressing. Lots of finger food. Which ends up being much easier to prepare in advance. He eats everything. Its not always easy to have to work around the allergies, but it gets better.
We try to balance things our little ones like with new foods. We also always include a small treat!
My kids took bologna (no bread) and a granola bar today. There may have been some carrots thrown in for good measure (not like they will eat them.) My lunch box style usually screams “I need to go to the grocery store!”
I pack leftovers, which I think are usually rejected even though the dishes come home clean. I supplement with pouches, cheese, fruit, and of course, crackers. At 17 mo, it’s a gamble as to what she’ll eat, so I try to provide as much as I can within reason.
No notes yet, unless you count “Please warm 10 – 15 sec, thx”.
Ha. I have to drag myself and the baby (who is like me, and LOVES sleep) out of bed at the crack of dawn, so my girl’s lunches are the same thing. Every single day. I should feel bad, but I don’t. I consider it a win that only half her lunch is processed foods. You can bet your ass if her school had a cafeteria, she’d be buying.
Ugh, it ate my comment, I think. My girl’s lunch is the same every day, half processed, half healthy. I cannot summon enough energy to care that early in the morning.
What if you write out a loving message in crackers with letters on them?…..and they can’t even read yet!?
*Whispers*….help me! I have a slight lunchbox obsession ????
My son’s lunch says that even though he’s in 7th grade, his mom STILL packs his lunch. He still takes sandwiches with the crust cut off and his favorite treat that he’s had 5 days a week since he was but a wee tot. I also still put notes in his lunch box everyday….only now they are a little more on the realistic side. Like, instead of writing “you’re the coolest person I know,” I write things like “you’re the coolest person I know….but I don’t really know a lot of people these days.” or “be good….OR ELSE..” Apparently he does actually read them. I know this because Last week I asked him to put one last item in my lunch sachel- and when I sat down to eat that afternoon I pulled out a note from him that said “Smile a lot today….or I’ll beat you.” 🙂 Our family is currently gearing up for the arrival of a sweet little girl due October 5th & my son has recently informed me that he will be taking care of the notes that go in her lunch box due to fact that mine might “make her cry.” 😉
Her lunch boxes say “mom loves me but just isn’t very creative!” I have 4 main items that I rotate and supplement with various fruits. Plus Cherry tomatoes every single day.
I’m the mean mom who won’t send dessert. Sorry if everyone else is eating Oreos: I know you’d eat them first and nothing else.
Does it count if I have a toddler that’s still with me full time? I LOVE food. It’s my thing that I’m good at although my toddler would disagree somedays. We typically have dinner leftovers plus seasonal veggies, fruit, and small treat. Today is was cauliflower Alfredo, pan fried okra from our small garden, purple carrots, pear, and a homemade pumpkin muffin. She eats pb and j or Mac and cheese some days but I make sure she gets a spinach/berry smoothie to balence it out. There are also days that she spits everything out but I keep trying : )
My notes to my five year old daughter usually say the same thing, “I love you so so much. Love, Mama.” But, it’s the incredibly artistic hearts, butterflies, and flowers I draw on the note that I am sure dazzle her so much that she doesn’t even notice that she’s getting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grapes, and carrots… again. Shhh, don’t tell her.
My 4th grader packs his own lunch (I think that’s a parenting win for teaching independence and not a parenting fail for my laziness). I do stick a note (and most times a treat). The notes are usually jokes, occasionally an inside joke, sometimes words of encouragement. Soooooo I guess I’m the super fun lazy mom! Whoooohoooo!
My son is 5 and just started Kindergarten. He is strangely obsessed with weather! I draw him weather pictures to try and brighten his day. Oh, and lots of red hearts because red hearts mean “you really love someone”, according to him 🙂 I’m just learning this whole school lunch business – I just ordered him a sweat proof ice pack for his lunch so I can start packing him yogurt and cheese, per his request!
With my son’s food allergies, I pack his food everyday. But not just lunch! 2 snacks plus brekfast and lunch to get him through until I can pick him up after work. I’ve packed a lot of food in the first two weeks of school – but only included one note. Hmmmm… Must include more! Good news is he’s outgrowing his dairy allergy and asking for more cheeses to try – this from a boy who usually won’t try new things. Bring on the cheese I say!!
My hubby is Thai and I am half-Mexican, and we love to make all sorts of ethnic foods. On top of that we’re the type of people who always pack dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, so baby gets lots of fun ethnic leftovers for her lunch.
This makes her the weird kid with the funky, smelly lunch so I guess that makes us the parents who pack the funky, smelly lunch 😛 We’re actually pretty proud of how diverse her meals are and she loves to eat everything.
I pack my son the exact same lunch I pack myself. That way when we sit down to eat he can’t beg for mine and refuse his. Well, actually he can and does, but this way I still get to eat what I planned for myself :). I am a nanny so we go together in the morning and eat our packed lunches next to each other.
I am a wannabe! That whole lunch thing can cause some anxiety! I asked my three year old’s teachers what other parents were packing because my daughter never ate any of her lunch. Their response made me realize that my anxiety is not imagined and they are looking to see who has healthy lunches and who does not. Cue the pinterest seaching and now many failed attempts at organized lunches.
I’m the super boring but consistent mom. My kids get the same thing every day, and who in the world has time to make cutesy things out of the food? Definitely not me! Note for my daughter is usually something to make her smile and know I love her. Son is in day care and can’t read, so no note for him. When I started them last year she wanted to keep them, so we have a journal where we put all of her lunch notes. Such a sweetheart. She definitely reminds me and guilts me if I miss a day though!
We’re still in daycare over here, (BC, Canada), but my lunches may just be split personality. One day it’s all in nice cute little containers with dips, triangle sandwiches, and cute notes (for the lunch people to read to them), and the next it’s whatever they had for dinner (probably because they didn’t eat it) and a fruit snack thrown in for good measure. I usually end Sundays optimistically hoping that this week I’ll be that adorable bento-box mommy everyone’s jealous of… but I often end the week realistically being just like everyone (almost everyone) else crossing my fingers that the kids will actually eat what’s in there this time. 🙂
Well after finding a weeks worth of un eaten lunches in my sons back pack, I now write notes each day and ask him to tell me what the note said each day. With 3 school age boys and sports activities each day it’s hard to check each back pack on a daily basis. There have been a few times when I didn’t write a note and asked him any way to tell me what it said, that way I know he is at least opening his lunch and at least searching for the note and hopefully seeing the food will spark his appetite. Lol
Lunchables anyone?
I try to pack a mostly healthy lunch for my two year old- either cut up sandwich bites or leftovers from the night before, with some fruit and crackers or pudding. Sometimes though, you can tell that we need to go grocery shopping and I’ve just thrown together odds and ends!
My style is ‘I so desperately don’t want you to be even a tiny bit hungry that I’m loading up this lunch bag’
Homemade soup and fruit salad ( I make it every morning – I’ve got it down to an art form) And then a bazillion little containers – cut up veggies, crackers, apple and cinnamon, dried fruit… SO many things to eat. They’re growing boys, and always finish them all. No matter how much I pack.
My mom watches my daughter in the mornings and makes her lunch. She’s a good mom! (Although when I was a kid, I had to make my own lunch starting pretty early on in the school years…)
My husband has always been the lunch packer for our son. He is now 11 and he still leaves notes in his lunch. I think this says about me that I picked well ;). Fantastic Dad!
My style says I want you to eat healthy but I’m not very creative and don’t have time to make it cute. Very predictable rotation between 4 or 5 veggies and a protein. I would love to make it more exciting…I’m working on that.
Our daughter buys her lunch. What that says about us is that we long ago gave up the battle of trying to convince her she had to wait till lunch to eat it instead of having it as second breakfast and telling the teachers she didn’t have a lunch.
My son’s lunch box says I’m a lazy mom and can’t be that bothered with making him eat different things. I live for Friday because it’s pizza day and I don’t have to pack lunch.
I always make sure my kid’s lunch has protein, a vegetable, a fruit, and a treat. I am totally a type A mom. Organized, perfectionistic… Type A for sure.
We are a well balanced lunch box family – I usually pick 1 or 2 days a week to sneak one little candy or cookie in next to their fruit and sandwhich. That little candy makes them so excited! And they never know which day it is going to be but they know they have to have good behavior to earn it.
My son’s lunch says I am all over the place! He usually gets the same boring thing for days at a time (pita with turkey and an apple), but then I’ll have a sudden flash of guilt for being boring and attempt something fun from Pinterest… that never comes out how its supposed to! Luckily, my husband is more artistic than I am and can usually salvage my wreck into something that remotely resembles what it was originally supposed to look like.
I packed a note one day in my kindergartners lunch…she asked me not to do it again as it “distracted” her and she wasn’t able to eat enough after trying to read it (it was all pictures). So her lunch now says “my mom is boring and nothing will take away from my eating time”!
My son’s lunchbox says Im just trying to get him to eat! Short of going in to bring him his lunch most comesback uneaten. So frustrating! But that’s life amiright?!
My kid’s lunch box must be saying I am someone who likes to experience new recipes and ideas, plus very creative in a good way.
I am your wanna-be pinterest mom. I do bento, but in the laziest possible way. My boys can’t read yet, so instead of notes I send a different napkin each day. (Like party napkins…. fishes, tractors, dinosaurs, etc.) It has spoiled my kids. My son said yesterday, “But mom, we had the pirate napkins last week! Not again!” lol
One of the driving forces when
we picked my daughter’s daycare was that they serve lunch once kids are out of the infant room. I’m a teacher and packing my own lunch is hard enough…the thought of also packing for a toddler was just mind boggling for me!
My daughter is in daycare and her lunchbox says: “my mom want’s me to eat healthy, but not too healthy. I like the fruit but i really like the goldfish crackers.”
My 6yr olds lunch box contains ONLY fruit…she can’t digest wheat or dairy and has sensory processing disorder so she can’t stay certain textures and or smells.
My kids lunch box says I’m a devoted mom because I pick out EVERY seed in EVERY strawberry, I cut her apples into tiny bite sized, skinless chunks, and supply her with a lil note reminding her she’s loved more then she can ever imagine….and that cause she hates sugar…it doesn’t make her any less sweet (when she heard the saying “you are what you eat” she got very upset because of her autism she’s very literal and was sad cause she HATES sweets and thought perhaps cause she won’t eat them that it would effect her sweetness!!))
we gave up on vegetables in our first month of kindergarten. Everything is home made, though!
Making lunch is a joint effort at our house. My husband typically packs our daughter’s lunch while I handle bedtime duties, and he often leaves the note writing to me. My mom always drew an awesomely artistic note for my lunches when I was growing up, and I’ve tried to continue the tradition. The notes for our 6-year-old are cutesy and often punny, and I try to live up to the artistic standards set by my mom back in the ’80s! ;D
My lunchbox says I’m the mum of a lovely ASD boy who only ever wants a vegemite sandwich, apple, cheese and either additional fruit or snack.
So indulgent and accepting of his limited taste buds!
My kids are only in kindergarten (half day) and pre-k so no packing lunches yet. My daughter gets a juice box and small snack for school. And since it’s afternoon, we usually have time to “pack” it together, allowing her to choose her snack and juice flavor. I see myself being a few of these when the time comes. Never the Pinterest mom! And in reality, because of food allergies and pickiness, her lunch will probably be almost the same thing every single day. I do like the cute notes tho and will probably include them…at least when I remember 😉
Mine says I am trying to feed them healthier!
My kiddo just started kindergarten. I have written her a little note on a post-it every day so far. Simple notes with a sparkly sticker. She has kept every single one of them and puts them in her desk when she gets home. ❤️❤️❤️
My daughter is only one but sometimes I send her to Grammy care with food. It is usually when we have a special treat, like donuts! 🙂 Not sure that counts for what they are looking for, here, but she does love babybel cheese for a snack!
My kid is the least picky person on the planet, he loves trying new things and there is almost nothing he refuses to eat. So I think it says more about the quality of the hot lunches at his school than anything about me that he asks for a lunch to be packed for him everyday. Since he is almost 10 he is “getting a little too old for I love you notes” from mom. (His words, not mine) I will sometimes draw him a little picture. He’s assured me that this makes all his friends jealous….. he is so sweet for humoring me.
Love you, miss you, see you! -Mom
My 13 year old son buys lunch because in middle school, a packed lunch says he’s not cool. My 4 year old daughter has autism and her lunch says “I only like a handful of foods so pack the exact same things every day!” Day in, and day out (for 2 years now) she takes macaroni and cheese, a juice box, a gogurt, cheese, fruit, and fruit snacks.