Kids Benefit More from Making School Lunches

I have 3 kids and I haven’t made a school lunch in 18 years. What?! I know! I spend my mornings getting ready for my workday. The kids prepare their own school lunches and have since Kindergarten. Over the years, we’ve discovered that the kids benefit more from making school lunches than if I had made them.

Friends would take pity on my kids for having to get themselves ready for school, and for having to make their own lunches. I could have made their lunches, and could have gotten up early every morning to do this, but why?

I remember sitting down for lunch when I was in school, wondering what mystery meat was in the sandwich today. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I would throw out food if it wasn’t made the way I liked it. Then when I got home, I’d eat a meal before dinner because I was starving!

The Family Solution

When my kids started school and it was chaotic getting out the door in the morning, I saw a solution. We could delegate the lunch prep to the kids. Less television time for them, but we were able to survive.

The kids made their own lunch, every day. When they were little we would give them choices for items that could be put in their lunches.

We would coach them on what containers would work for their snacks or sandwiches.

Foods for snacks would be limited to a couple of choices to make it easier in the mornings.

Groceries were planned for the food choices they agreed to put in their lunches.

The Benefits

First of all, we never had to worry about food being thrown away because they didn’t like what I put in their lunches. They made their own lunch! With guidance, they chose the menu for the week.

Even our picky eater loved this. He could have more control over what he ate for lunch and we had fewer fights about food.

Surprisingly, the kids never complained about having to make their lunches. They loved being able to help us out, and they liked knowing what was going to be in their lunches. It gave them a little bit of independence.

One of my friends asked, “How do you get out the door on time with three kids?”. I told her that the kids helped out by making their own lunches and getting themselves ready for school. She was shocked at their independence and admitted to me that she still cut her 12-year-old daughter’s steak.

Having the kids make their own lunches and giving them clear boundaries as to what they could include in those lunches, helped our family get out that door every day. The kids loved helping to choose what was in their lunches by creating the grocery list.

Have you delegated the school lunches to the kids yet?