School Lunches

by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., author of Feeding: The Brazelton Way

When parents prepare a lunch "from home" for a child to take to school, food takes on an additional meaning for the child: It becomes a connection to parents, a private moment to remember them and feel close to them when she is at school. I can still remember the oozy peanut butter sandwiches and the occasional piece of leftover fried chicken that I found in my lunch box as a schoolboy in Waco, Texas. This food was a tie to home and to the parents who had sent me off. The lump in my throat caused by our separation would always subside when I ate my wing of chicken.

Every sandwich, every apple, every piece of celery carries a symbolic message to the child. And you can put in a special note from time to time: "Have fun at school today!" or "Remember our plans for this weekend!"

Preparing a child's lunch box is also an opportunity to let her make choices about her food, and even to let her do some of the work to get it ready. She will be even more excited when she opens up her lunch box at school to see the dessert she picked out, the extra napkins she scrunched in. Of course, it takes more time to prepare lunch than to give your child money to buy it at school. But if you and your child do it together—for example, after supper, when you can divert leftovers for this purpose—this can be a special time for you to be together!

If your child does eat the school meals, find out what is being served. Are there healthy choices or only fast food? Also, do children stock up at vending machines with sweets and soda and boycott real food at the cafeteria? Sometimes parents need to organize and speak up if the school lunches are unhealthy, if fast food chains have bought their way in, or if soda pop is freely available.

Excerpted from:

Excerpted from Feeding: The Brazelton Way © 2004 by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., and Joshua D. Sparrow, M.D. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Perseus.

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