Most of these things are beyond my control. But today I did try to practice one thing that she will need to be able to do -- eat lunch quickly.
Anna's track record at quick eating is abysmal. Not only does she like to read books, tell stories, and stare in the distance during meals, she's really not that much of an eater to begin with. Anna's eating habits resemble those of a mouse. And she cannot seem to operate any type of plastic bag or box. She just sorta pokes at it and pulls and then hands it over to me. I have visions of her coming home each day with a fully intact lunch.
So today I set the timer for 15 minutes, boxed up her lunch, and had her give it a try.
Surprisingly, she did a good job at focusing on her meal and mostly finishing it. It surprised me how often she asked me if she had eaten enough. I thought the lessons was supposed to foster independence and now I'm sorta thinking she may be looking around the cafeteria for a lunch lady who will grant her approval before she heads to recess. I know for a fact that she has a loose network of friends who help her with stuff she can't do herself. Stuff like opening ziplocs.
Once last year when I sent her to school with gym shoes that had actual shoelaces, I asked her how she manages to get them on at gym time. "Sarah R. does that for me." Hmmm... of course she does. Sara R. is the youngest of four children. I've noticed these kids come into school with a wide variety of abilities and interests. However, you can always guess which kids come from larger families. They seem to have a certain practical know-how that your average first born doesn't.
I know Anna will be fine. She's going to learn to do this her own way and create her own rhythm. And really the one who needs to lessons is probably me. What the heck am I going to pack her for lunch every day for nine months?
3 comments:
I'm sure she'll do great! I do know that Ryder had a really hard time adjusting to the long days last year. He was having meltdowns every evening, which isn't typical for him (I had the joy of witnessing some of them!). And one day at the beginning of the year he literally collapsed into his teacher's legs at the front of the classroom and started crying "I am just so tired"! After that incident, Beth go super strict about getting them to bed early and on time every night - no exceptions. And he did much better. All that to say...I think you'll know pretty quickly if she just needs 30mins or an hour of more sleep to make it thru the day. Oh, and protein! That helps them too :)
First of all, first grade?!?! These kiddos are growing up way too fast.
Second, I totally relate to your nervousness re: what to pack for lunch every day. I still have a year before I have to do this, but I'm already a little freaked out about it.
Hi! Okay, put on your seat belt b/c I've been meaning to come back to this post to leave you a doozy of a comment. First off, this is all funny to me, b/c I feel like you're moving forward and we're moving backward. G did full day school last year with lunches and all, but now we're switching to a half day with no lunch. At any rate, counting all my kids' various schools, I guess I've got 5 years worth of lunch packing under my belt now.
My number 1 tip might be to prepare your, "all families are different" speech or your, "if Suzie jumped off a bridge would you?" speech or your, "well, our rules are different, but that's okay" pep talk. Because you would be AMAZED what some people send every day for lunch. Total crap food. (I don't know, maybe I'll be much more lenient toward that idea when it comes to elementary school, but when you're talking 2-3 years old, I didn't understand why people would send Cheetos and brownies.) So, I think I may be the only mom not sending "dessert".
My strategy was to always think of it as main + veg + fruit. So like, sandwich, some carrots, and some berries. Or nuked burrito + cucumber slices + apple. Etc.
I guess having that formula in my head helped me whip things up without over-thinking it all too much. I am lucky in that Georgia is not too picky about temperature. So if you can train Anna to not care about the temperature of her food, that would help. : ) I got away with sending leftover spaghetti, mac n cheese, etc. and having her eat it cold (well, lukewarm, I guess, because I also never messed with those cold pack thingies). (Suddenly I sound terribly mean, don't I?) She also likes her veggies very cold, so I could get away with pouring frozen mixed veggies or peas into a container and having them be mostly thawed by lunch time.
My sister's advice to me when I started down the lunch making path was this: Kids do not care nearly as much about variety as you do. So if you find a winning combination, stick with it and don't worry that you're not changing it up. Definitely good advice, but I will admit that I usually try not to follow it, because I'm a believer that the narrower my kids' rotation of foods becomes, the narrower their palettes/preferences become, too. So, I tried to keep at least some variety in lunch; however, based on what Beth said, I never, never beat myself up for lack of it. So it's nice to have that idea in the back of your head.
OH - and I'm a big fan of Lunchbots tins. Dishwasher safe and pretty easy to open.
Try not to fret, and just tell yourself you'll feed her bigger snacks or dinner if lunch isn't her scene. I hope she does great! I now know that full day school was too much for Georgia last year, but I hope that Anna starting it at almost 6 1/2 (instead of at "I just turned 5" like G did) will mean that it won't be so draining on her. Susan's sleep advice is good. And I know you've seen me shove hard boiled eggs in G for added protein. Ha! : )
Post a Comment