A Few of My Favorite Things: For Preschoolers Lunches

Meal time is an oh so frustrating time for many parents.  There tends to be high expectations(from parents as far as the amount of food they think their child should be consuming) and a low performance (from the child who has a stomach is the size of a hard boiled egg).  What I am saying is... parents tend to give their children too much food at meal times.  This can be very overwhelming for a child.  Children of all ages want to feel a sense of accomplishment with everything they do..including eating their meals.  It is best to give them less and allow them the opportunity to finish and feel proud of eating their meal and say, "Look! I finished all my dinner!".  They can always ask for more.  If they chose not to eat still then oh well.  They will not starve and you will let them know when the next meal time or snack time is (sometimes it is not til breakfast), then carry on with your day.  Do not get sucked into being a short order cook.  If a child knows that you will eventually make them what they want to eat in that moment, they will never try new or different things.  Remember, children continue to do things as long as they are working for them.  When "whatever it is" stops working for them, the child will eventually give up! They are smart little people! Just remember when feeding them, the rule of thumb is a tablespoon of each type of food for every year of age (ages 2-6). 

My biggest frustration as a preschool teacher is over packed lunches that children barely eat.  Then to add another layer to that, a frustrated and concerned parent that comes to me asking me why their child is not eating at lunchtime.  I fully understand and validate the concern.  However, we need to have our expectations in line with reality.  Know your child.  A whole sandwhich, a bag of pirates booty, an unpeeled orange, an 8oz waterbottle and a ziploc bag full of goldfish is barely going to get eaten by your typical preschooler.  I have compiled some pictures of my favorite lunchtime items and ideas for you to look at.  With the busy lives we lead it is incredibly easy to get sucked up in prepackaged and convienent items to pack your child's lunch with.  I am not necessarily agains pre-pacakaged items...just know your consumer ;0) My next post will be on yummie lunch ideas for school and home.

Thermos' are great for sending leftovers to school the next day.  I love cookie cutters for cutting out sandwiches in different fun shapes.  I think that container lunches are great because they make it easy for you to portion your child's lunch. I think the reusable lunch sacks are great and very green :0) You can find them all over etsy.com.  Giving your children reusable bottles allows for you to decide what type of beverage to give them for lunch and how much.  I think the colorful ones are great for your older children...they are collapsible :0)