You’re packing your child’s lunch for school again. Do you ever get tired of putting in the same items day after day? But there are only so many options you can put inside of a lunchbox. It’s time for us to get creative! Put a spin on normal, everyday foods and make it a little more fun for our children to eat.
For example, instead of bread on a sandwich, how about using a bagel, flour tortilla, or pita bread instead? Instead of potato chips, put applesauce or cottage cheese inside Tupperware and send a plastic spoon. For smaller children, cheerio, raisin or popcorn necklaces should be fun. You can also use cookie cutters to make shapes in sandwiches, cheese or meat pieces.
Now after school is out – you hear that same question day after day. “Can I have a snack?” I found a great system for our son, which gave him more independence. I labeled a 3 x 5 index card with NAME YOUR SNACK on it. Then I listed a bunch of items for him to choose from. Things like string cheese, 1 bowl of cereal, banana, fruit snacks, etc. I put lighter snacks, heavier snacks, sweet and healthy. I was delighted to find that he was excited about it! I leave it on the fridge and each day, he takes it down and chooses what he wants. He crosses that item off the list and I update choices about once a week. It helps him to feel more grown-up not to ask mom, and frees me of the nagging!
A lot of times the ideas we come up with that our children think are hits, are really very simple. And some, like NAME YOUR SNACK – can even save us time. I encourage you to be creative. It’s fun!
