School Lunch Order

Every night before my boy heads to bed, I always ask him what he would like to take to school for lunch for the following day. Even though I know he will ask for the same lunch each day, that is, jam sandwich, I still check with him with the hope that he may surprise me that he had finally taken to something different to eat at school.

If you ask my opinion, I would say my boy is not particularly keen on food………let me rephrase. He is not keen on proper meal. Meal time at home is a real struggle. Actually meal time anywhere is a challenge. He is not really a “picky/fussy” eater but somehow it just takes him forever to eat a proper meal. On 99.99% of the time, one meal takes him about 1 hour to chomp down. May I add that during the whole eating time we (my hubby and I) would have to constantly nag, scold and yell at him. However, no matter how much we tell him off, his food chomping speed doesn’t change. Believe me, I do cook his favourite food and food that I know he would normally eats. But it doesn’t change anything. If we just let it be then it will take more than 1 hour for my boy to eat anything that is considered proper, balanced and healthy. 

Hence, when he first started school, we had so much trouble with his eating pattern at school. Some days, he will eat most of his lunch and other days he will just take a bite or two only. He doesn't have anything fancy, just simple sandwich like ham sandwich or vegemite sandwich which is what he normally requests. Then half way through last year, he decided ham sandwich is too much to chew so he opted for jam sandwich. Since then, he only wants jam sandwich for school lunch and occasionally would request for ham or vegemite sandwich. When he does bring the latter especially ham sandwich, 9 out of 10 times there’s leftover in his lunch box. Sigh!!!

I once asked him why he doesn’t want anything else besides jam sandwich when he is at school, perhaps something more filling and nutritious. Furthermore, wouldn’t you get bored with the same food if you have it everyday? I would, I said. Though, I am not the one eating it I feel bored making the same thing everyday. Well his replied was, “No thanks, mum….I can eat fast with jam sandwich so I can be the first to go play.” 

So, can you imagine my absolute delight and surprise when he told me last Wednesday night that he wanted a school lunch order? My initial reaction was, “Are you sure?” Even daddy couldn’t believe it. 

In his 3 years of schooling so far, this is THE first time that he actually made such request. In the past, it has always been me who has tried my hardest to entice him to try out the school lunch order but he never took to it. To be sure, to be sure, I asked him again and he was really insistent about it. So, I said OK and asked him what he would like. He opted for a meal which comprise of chicken pieces, wedges and salad. I was shocked over his selection because it sounded like a rather big meal compared to what he normally takes to school which is only 2 slices of bread. 

Besides, if I go by his eating standard at home then there is no way he is going to have enough time to finish his lunch in time to play. What if he can’t make it and only managed to eat a tiny portion of the meal - that would be such a waste, isn't it? Worst still, what if he doesn’t like it after having a taste? Does that mean he will go hungry for the rest of the school day?  

Anyway, I agreed but with reservations.

When he came home from school I asked him about his lunch order. Much to my surprise, he had really enjoyed it and had eaten all the fish (apparently the canteen had given him fish instead of chicken in error), some of the wedges but not the salad. Wow, that’s a really fantastic effort from my boy who normally is not very keen on food except for lollies, of course. And more importantly, he even managed to chomp it down within a reasonable timeframe which didn’t compromise his playing time. How is that possible???

The surprise didn’t just stop there….since then he had two more school lunch orders and today he said to me that he wants to have school lunch order everyday. Whoa! Is that some improvement or what? Is this some kind of a change of attitude towards food? 

Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be too excited because his eating pace at home hasn’t seen any significant improvements just yet. Guess what happens at school does not necessarily transfer to home?

For now, I am happy there are some improvements in the eating department at school.

Mother’s Day 2011 Celebration At School

So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed attending Mother’s Day celebration organised by my children’s school. To date, I have attended three of such events. Each one has been very special and moving in its own way. The performances by the kids were very entertaining and they were all very adorable.

Since my boy is in Year 2 now, the school does not organise any class performance or event to celebrate with the kids’ mums anymore. Though, we do get a card and a piece of craft from our child as part of their school work.

After waiting for one long year, I finally got to attend a Mother’s Day celebration at school again. This time it was from my girl’s kindy class. Apart from being her 1^st Mother’s Day celebration in a school environment, it was also her 1^st public performance in front of an audience.

 

All kindy mums were invited to a day spa with their kids as beautician. My child was picked as the head beautician where she had to address all the mums and direct them to the classroom. Lucky for her, she got to dress up for it. The costume was in her favourite colour too…….yup, PINK that is! All the other mums commented that she looked so pretty and cute in the beautician outfit. I thought so too and it is not just because I’m her mum.

Every mum was given a hand massage and had their nails painted. Of course, there was the long awaited performance that I have been trying to piece together for the last few weeks prior to the event from the little spills I got every now and then. I wasn’t disappointed….it was a brilliant singing performance by all the kids. We also got presented with some gifts - a card and a canvas painting by our child. My canvas painting was hijacked by my precious little girl when we got home. The reasons were because she likes it very much and it has her name on the back of it so that signifies ownership. What can I say…….speechless, of course!!!

Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter whether I physically get to keep the present or not because the opportunity to see my girl perform is already the best gift of all as this opportunity will be rare in the future.

Attending my girl’s kindy class Mother’s Day celebration this year holds an extra special meaning to me. This was my 2^nd last Mother’s Day celebration at school. I’d enjoyed every single second of the celebration put up by my girl's kindy class and will be treasured in my heart forever. Looking at the other mums’ faces, no doubt they had a great time too.

One more Mother’s Day celebration at school to go………sob sob!!!!