Do you remember being little and eating lunch at school? Ever wonder what a school lunchroom is like today?
I am lucky to volunteer for lunchroom duty in my kid’s school. In a school where lunch lasts nearly 3 hours and nearly 1000 kids come through the multi purpose room doors each day, I have learned a lot. My dad (better known as papa) volunteers alongside me. We open gogurts and Little Debbie’s; pass ketchup packets and napkins. We love our “job” and look forward to it each week.
So as we all begin packing those school lunches once again, I wanted to share 12 truths of the elementary school lunchroom.
1. Dessert is always first. Whether you pack a lunchable or a gourmet meal, you can bet the sweets are the first thing they eat. They are kids and this is their eating freedom!
2. Drinks go fast. If you have a big kid or a kid who drinks a lot pack a bigger drink. My 8 year old son can suck down a juice box in 3 seconds flat. Last year I started packing him larger bottles to drink because his drink was gone before he ate every time.
3. Kids put hot sauce on everything. It may be just our school, but on chicken finger day hot sauce rules the school. From 1st grade to 5th that stuff is on everything! Turkey sandwiches, crackers, fries, potatoes. You name it and a little boy at the 2nd grade table just put it on something!
4. School napkins are terrible. You may remember this from your days in school. The napkins are literally paper thin and tear immediately. If you have more than drop of anything to clean up it requires about thirty napkins!
5. Gogurts are terribly hard to open. You may think, I don’t have a huge problem at home. Well, let your kid gnaw on it for a few minutes. Get it good and wet and then try to tear it open. After a few tries at this we decided our trusty lunchroom scissors had a new purpose. Thank goodness for sanitizer!
6. They don’t eat their food. There are a few exceptions. Kids who eat their whole sandwich (even the crust). Eat their healthy snack and dessert last. These are usually first graders in the first week of school. After this they look around and have the knowledge that no one tells mom what you ate. If you looked through the trash can after lunch you would be amazed at the amount of food thrown away.
7. They think you’ll get mad if they don’t eat it. Tell them if they don’t eat it to leave it. I have come up with this rule for my kids. I tell them I won’t care if they don’t eat it, but don’t throw it away. I have seen kids throw away entire unopened bags of chips, muffins and even Little Debbie’s. I have told my kids if they save it they can eat it in carpool. Warning-This backfired on me once when my son brought his open yogurt home in his lunchbox.
8. It has a distinct smell. You may remember this too. The smell of warm Bologna and school hamburgers. Mix this with 5th grade boys who have recently had gym and a few fruits and milk. Compound all of that with the occasional lunchtime puker. (We have also witnessed the double puke- one saw the other and lost his lunch too.) Lucky for our lunchroom the air flow is pretty good, but some days it is bad!
9. The custodians are amazing. The next time you see your a child’s custodian, thank them for taking care of your kid. At home you clean up after they leave a mess on the floor. You clean up their puke, poop or whatever else may have not made it to the appropriate place. At school the custodians do all of these jobs. They make sure the lunchroom is clean, sanitized and in working order. If it wasn’t for their work our kids wouldn’t have tables to sit on or a clean place to eat.
10. It is loud. How could this be? 300 kids at a time in a small area. Kids who have a short time to talk to their friends. Kids who get excited and talk louder and louder to talk over their peers. It is loud. In our lunchroom we have warnings and every so often 2 minutes of silent lunch to remind them it is time to eat and speak quietly to those around us. As soon as 2 minutes is up it is back to the low roar.
11. They love different things in their lunch. My daughter loves pickles. When I pack her pickles it makes her day. It has taken us 5 years of school to find this picky kid’s favorites. Pickles, black olives, hummus- everything comes individually these days and having something a little different breaks the monotony of the Lunchable word we live in.
12. Kids love it when you are a part of their day. If you can, volunteer in the lunchroom. Pick a day to pass out straws and get the experience of being in the chaos. If you work and can’t be there in person, Put a note in their lunchbox- even for big kids it means a lot. The first week of school is full of lunchbox notes. After the newness wears off keep adding them. There was a first grader last year whose mom drew pictures on her sandwich bag every day. Everyday she smiled seeing it.
Here’s hoping you have a great school year and awesome school lunches. Any lunchroom tips you have to share with us?
