One more thing: as my grandmother used to say, no kid ever voluntarily starved themselves.
Healthy School Lunches
- Thread starter Tina2001aniT
- Start date
Yeah, I went round and round with that for years - dinnertime was becoming unpleasant. Then I realized I don't really care if they eat what I cook. I make whatever I'm hungry for and if they don't want it, that's their business. They can pour a bowl of cereal or make a sandwich and it doesn't bother me.baileydog said:
Note: they had to do this themselves - I'd already made a dinner and, if they wanted something different, they had to rustle it up.
MDTerps
Back in the saddle
vraiblonde said:
I agree with this statement. If you choose to let them have something else, then they should make it.
In my house though, if you don't eat what's on your plate... to bad so sad your not getting a snack later. So my son has gotten the hang of it and he will eat whats on his plate but he doesn't ask for seconds, unless it's something he really likes. For snacks he gets yogurt, fruit, or crackers. At the end of the week if hes done well eating somewhat healthy I'll let him have a snack of his choice.
Oh...I'll have some one day...many years from now. I'm gonna be mean to it too, I'm already thinking of practical jokes.
Tina, why can't she just have apples with peanut butter, and the broccoli with ranch? Would she eat a pudding cup? Also, they make fat-free hotdogs that are pretty tasty - my teens eat them instead of the barf dogs.
LexiGirl75
100% Goapele Head!
This will probably sound strange...
My youngest son is 8y/o and last year was his first year in Maryland schools. In DC my sons ate school lunch because with the two of them on just my income they qualified for reduced lunch.
Now things are different and they wouldn't qualify and definitely not him alone. So, since I was not use to footing the whole bill for lunch (yeah I know it's my child lol) I decided that I would pack his lunch because it would be cheaper. NOT!!!
I am partly if not totally to blame for him becoming a sugar addict because his lunch went something like this.
- Bologna or PB &J or Ham or Turkey luncheon meat with cheese on white bread.
- A fruit of apples or orange or flavored apple sauce singles.
- A bag of chips from the big variety package of Utz and Frito Lay.
- A fruit snack of some sort, roll-ups or bite size chews.
- A Capri Sun, Hi-C, Kool-Aid cooler or the like juice to drink.
- A small box of raisins.
- A Lil Debbie snack cake of some sort.
- A pudding cup some days.
He packed his own lunch and he ate like that the entire school year last year and with no complaints. Maybe a handful of times he asked if he could buy lunch at school.
The last two weeks of school I let him buy his lunch because I wasn't shopping in mass so close to the end. He always found something he liked though there were a few instances where he did not eat a main dish for some reason.
This school year I am putting money in his account and he is eating the cafeteria food. Simply because I think they serve more nutritious food than what I was buying and it's less work for us both.
My son is picky and won't eat anything with mayonnaise in it, nothing with red or green pepper bits in it, no pickles, nothing Taco-bellish, never salad or anything that would go in one, nothing experimental like the time I made pillsbury beef pockets with the pie crust and ground beef wrapped and baked. I admit it was not the best but I still ate it.
Tina, my suggestion would be to speak with a nutritiouist and see what they suggest is healthy food. Sometimes the foods that we think are bad for us are not as bad when bought in the right yum-level (i.e. low, light, free).
In addition to that see if she wants to buy her lunch on some days because they give the menu for the month in advance. School lunch has come a long ways and I know that they are healthy foods, not crunchy carrots and celery healthy but balanced and proportioned healthy.
My youngest son is 8y/o and last year was his first year in Maryland schools. In DC my sons ate school lunch because with the two of them on just my income they qualified for reduced lunch.
Now things are different and they wouldn't qualify and definitely not him alone. So, since I was not use to footing the whole bill for lunch (yeah I know it's my child lol) I decided that I would pack his lunch because it would be cheaper. NOT!!!
I am partly if not totally to blame for him becoming a sugar addict because his lunch went something like this.
- Bologna or PB &J or Ham or Turkey luncheon meat with cheese on white bread.
- A fruit of apples or orange or flavored apple sauce singles.
- A bag of chips from the big variety package of Utz and Frito Lay.
- A fruit snack of some sort, roll-ups or bite size chews.
- A Capri Sun, Hi-C, Kool-Aid cooler or the like juice to drink.
- A small box of raisins.
- A Lil Debbie snack cake of some sort.
- A pudding cup some days.
He packed his own lunch and he ate like that the entire school year last year and with no complaints. Maybe a handful of times he asked if he could buy lunch at school.
The last two weeks of school I let him buy his lunch because I wasn't shopping in mass so close to the end. He always found something he liked though there were a few instances where he did not eat a main dish for some reason.
This school year I am putting money in his account and he is eating the cafeteria food. Simply because I think they serve more nutritious food than what I was buying and it's less work for us both.
My son is picky and won't eat anything with mayonnaise in it, nothing with red or green pepper bits in it, no pickles, nothing Taco-bellish, never salad or anything that would go in one, nothing experimental like the time I made pillsbury beef pockets with the pie crust and ground beef wrapped and baked. I admit it was not the best but I still ate it.
Tina, my suggestion would be to speak with a nutritiouist and see what they suggest is healthy food. Sometimes the foods that we think are bad for us are not as bad when bought in the right yum-level (i.e. low, light, free).
In addition to that see if she wants to buy her lunch on some days because they give the menu for the month in advance. School lunch has come a long ways and I know that they are healthy foods, not crunchy carrots and celery healthy but balanced and proportioned healthy.
MDTerps said:
This is what I did too. Of course I have a weird child who likes things like liver & onions, spinach and most veggies. I have a sign in my kitchen... it reads "Mom's Diner - Tonight's Menu - Take It or Leave It". The other rule we had was you have to try new stuff. You don't have to finish it but you have to try it.
As for lunch - have you tried wraps vs a sandwich? Also, if you do fix something for dinner that she likes, make a little extra and give it to her for lunch.
vraiblonde said:
This is what we did growing up too. My mom cooked and if we didn't like what she made or if we weren't home for dinner than we mad whatever we wanted. I tend to do the same with my kids. Also I cook more in the winter than in the summer were all busy so we tend to eat fast meals during summer.
Chasey_Lane
Salt Life
Day's daughter is a picky eater and doesn't like anything I fix for dinner.Tina2001aniT said:
But wouldn't you know, the same things I fix at home are the same things her sitter fixes for lunch/snack and she loves it. I know this may sound bad, but my advice is to start packing different things in her lunch that are good for her. If she's hungry, she'll hopefully at least try it and like it.
