The School Lunch Bandit

"What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine." - Modern Proverb

   Our 'Lil Miss has been putting up with our peanut butter and honey sandwiches for some time. She finally cracked and told us she was sick of them, and wanted something else. The Wife did a lot of research and came up with the most popular solution, which ended up being the FUNtainer Food Jar by Thermos. We'd heard good things and have since really liked what we can do with our little girl's lunches. Chicken nuggets, bean burritos, and so on.  The solution to diversifying our 2nd graders lunch menu has also presented a dilemma. The school lunch bandit began to make an appearance and children were coming home hungry.

   Think back to a time at elementary school when you were sitting in front of a lunch that was less than compelling to each. Was there ever another student that had a lunch you coveted? The struggle continues to this very day, as I witnessed when volunteering at my daughter's school one day. Each day, someone has something another student or two wants. We recently had an incident where a girl was taking chicken tenders out of the food jar to eat for herself. The yard duty was called upon, but the girl grabbed another afterward and it ended up that my daughter only at 2 of the 5 tenders I had put in for her. She came home fairly hungry. The next morning upon drop off, I had a chat with her teacher and discussed ways we could discourage the school lunch bandit.

   We've discussed being more assertive with our 'Lil Miss, and hope that some encouragement from the school will all result in everyone getting to eat what they were sent with. I look back and wonder if I was taking it too seriously. I mean, I was REALLY excited about the new tenders we'd bought her. It also made it real when our little gal was digging through the pantry for food RIGHT when she got home. True, she's growing, but coming off of getting to only eat 1/3 of her lunch it needed to be addressed.

   Mixing up school lunches is a massive undertaking. I credit The Wife with working hard to find a solution which we've both been able to implement. I just hope she doesn't ever start asking for sushi.

J.

Lunchtime In The Park

"Think left and think right and think low and think high.
Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!" - Dr. Seuss

   The park is a place of wonder to me. Always has been. I spent many a year fighting pirates, armies of the bad, my own brothers, and so on. I've driven in fast cars, rolled over the world in a monster truck, and visited far off places in my own time machine. The slides, ladders, poles, ropes, and such of the park were always my own jungle gym, obstacle course, or world beyond wonder. Now it's time to pass it on. 

   I was able to spend today's lunchtime with my 'Lil Man. We headed over just as I finished my morning's work, and he finished a round of Phineas and Ferb. We headed out and spent our lunchtime doing all of paragraph one. Well, most of it. We both made new friends, got some exercise, hydrated, rinsed and repeated. It's been getting to be nice weather locally, so the shade was the best place for The Cheeky Daddy, and my 'Lil Man was ALL over the place. He was trying new things, going to new heights, and getting a little sun on his cheeks. 

   The end of the day showed how it wore on him. He was tuckered out at dinner and didn't go to bed without a fight. It was worth seeing him play, imagine, socialize, and just be a kid. The imagination is limitless with those little people and we need to encourage that. We need to find the time, or make the time when needed. The Wife has told me how hard it is to pull that off with our 6MO, and there's NO doubt it's tough. When we can, though, it pays off big time. See you at the park!

J. 

Lunch Bag Art Surprises

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”  -  Henry David Thoreau

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” - Pablo Picasso

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” -  Albert Einstein

      I love these quotes from some of the greats. I've tried to do more of my lunch box art surprises for my 'Lil Miss. They're VERY quickly done, so that I don't get burned out on doing them. I remember how much fun it was to get a note from my mother in my lunch, and so I've tried to start doing more of that with my first born. As she is in kindergarten now, we're still in the beta test phase. I'm finishing 1 every week or two on average. Some weeks I'll do almost all 5 days. Sometimes I'll go a few weeks without doing one.
      The point is actually trying. She loves it and I enjoy the outlet for my art (which is hard to find time for these days). Being fast, there are liberties taken on anatomy and architecture. She gets the point, and that's all that matters.

The only other lunch bag artist that I can find out there is a legend. Check the cool dad here.

J.