School lunch 4-1-1
Aaah yes, back to school time. For touched-out and overstimulated working parents who braved a summer without consistent childcare coverage, the 1996 Staples ad might be right. It may indeed be the most wonderful time of the year. But that doesn’t mean you’re twirling around a la Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, utterly carefree in the Alps. You’ve traded summer chaos for new challenges, including school lunches.
We use the Bentgo brand, and have graduated up sizes over the years. They’re excellent!
My philosophy on kid lunch
Whatever you do has to work for you and your kids.
If they won’t eat what the cafeteria serves on a tray, that does feel like a fit. If packing every day causes meltdowns - or too much missed sleep for you when your tasks already keep you up too late - that too doesn’t feel like a win for anyone either. If they’re open to it, encourage them to try some school lunches with the backup plan of packing a heavy snack. If they love it - great! There will be some days off packing in the future. If they don’t like it - that’s ok. Now you know and you had a plan B that kept you fed and happy. Maybe you’ll like another menu item.
Kids should share ownership of the mental load on this task, appropriate to their age.
For little ones, have them handle easier tasks like washing their fruit or filling their water bottles - and graduate up the responsibility over time. If they’re packing, I ask them on the weekend what they’d like me to buy for their lunches or snacks. If they’re buying, I ask them to go through the menu and circle what looks good to them. I also had great success with bento-style lunch boxes when my kids were young. I liked the environmental-friendliness of no single use plastic bags, and I also loved how it made packing easier for them - Put the protein here, the fruit here, the veggie here, the carb here. Taa daaa!
Even now that my kids are in middle and high school, they still use this system - and an inspiration menu we developed together. Click here to view larger.
Keep it as simple as possible.
Maybe that looks like deciding once and creating a menu. Every Monday you have a turkey sandwich, Tuesday is chips and salsa with chicken, Wednesday is cheese and crackers, Thursday is PB&J, and Friday you buy lunch because you like the school’s pizza. Maybe that looks like making an oversized dinner recipe and sending leftovers in a thermos. Or maybe that looks like hiring some support - an older sibling, a stay-at-home-mom neighbor who wants to make some extra cash - to get the job done. No judgment. No “one way” of doing things. Find what works for you and take it off your mental plate.
And once in awhile…
I can’t keep up with notes in lunchboxes every day, but I do like to occasionally use the lunchbox as a way to share a surprise dose of love and encouragement. I’ll send notes on the first day, on birthdays, if they have tryouts or auditions, if they’ve had a rough day - be it a tiff with a friend, a late night of poor sleep, or a big test. It can be a heartfelt line or two - or even a fun doodle. And may I share these amazing doodle ideas from my talented friend Kristen McLean! Kristen is a visual notetaker. During meetings and conferences she live illustrates the conversation by capturing all the key points and creating a visual summary. This keeps attendees engaged while the information is presented and makes it easy to share the value of an event long after the closing keynote. And she’s also a mama of a kindergartener, leaving doodles for her sweet girl and sharing the inspiration for us to reuse. She’s an EXCELLENT follow on Instagram for personal and professional reasons!
Need some more strategies to make life easier?
At Laura Kassner Consulting, our mission is to reduce our client’s mental load so they can pursue things that bring them joy. As a busy professional and mom of three, Laura gets it and likely has strategies, systems, and solutions to support whatever challenge is stumping you. Her friend Kori calls her, "the perpetual problem solver.” Schedule a free consultation today and know - you don’t have to do it all alone.
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