Children and School Lunch

My daughter is in 3rd grade and she'll often report back to me friend's lunches that appear that they packed them themelves. Either that or their parents need a lesson in nutrition, the food pyramid,and childhood obesity :-)

My girls, in 4th and 5th grade, will pack their own lunches if they want to take lunch to school instead of eating the cafeteria food. I think by 4th grade, they're perfectly capable. My older daughter was packing her own lunch in 3rd grade, again, not every day, JUST when SHE chose to do it.

My son helps us pack his "lunch" bag. He is only 3 and goes to the sitters house. I think it depends on how you train them. Have them help you make their sandwich, pick a fruit, and a veggie. Can they do it unattended, no, but with the proper guidance it wont be long.

I have to pack my husband's lunch...does that answer the question. :-)

My now-17 year old son starting making lunches for the whole family when he was 12, in the 7th grade. I was working 2 jobs at the time and he figured those extra 15 minutes of sleep would help me through my day.

Now, as a senior, he's teaching his little bro (soon to be 14) how to do this so when he (my senior) leaves for college, I'll have another 4 years of someone making lunches for the family.

It's been such a gift all these years. What sweeties!

I do my daughter's lunch. Her job is to get up get dressed and get her stuff together.

My daughter is going to be 11 on Sunday and I pack her lunch for her. She is capable of doing it herself, like if I am too busy with the baby she'll do it, but most of the time I do it. I don't think that should be something she should have to worry about in the mornings.

My mother packed my lunch through 12th grade. She felt it was her job as a mother and I have to say I plan to do the same for my kids...

I still do it for my kids, they are 13 and 15. They help sometimes if I ask.

My 3rd grader packs her own. My oldest is in 8th and he has been doing it since 2nd grade. How old are your kiddies

Depends on what is going on. Sometimes my kids all make their own (they help each other) and sometimes I make all three. My kids are 8, 6, and 4. Yes, even the four year old likes to make his own. Unless he wants a PB&J sandwich. But if he wants a turkey or ham sandwich, he knows how to make it too.

So based on this, I'd say however old your kid is, they should at least be involved in the process.

My daughter started packing her lunch last year in first grade. She always takes the same things and I have to remind her, but she will do it. My son is in kindergarten and I sometimes will supervise and direct him in packing his lunch. I agree with a previous poster about this being how you train them. As soon as I reached 6th grade at age 10, my M. handed me the lunch bag and told me it was up to me to pack my own lunch. I have a family member that still makes lunch for her son at age 18. Trust me, you don't want your child to be that helpless.

My guys aren't in school yet. But i pack my 27 yr old husband's lunch every day lol ;-) I think I started making my own lunch in 5th grade.

My son learned to make PBJ sandwiches at a very early age. Think footstool to reach the counter age. LOL But he always had a strange affinity for school lunch (yikes!).

In about 4th grade he began to want to bring lunch occasionally so I let him pack it - with parameters on what he could put in the lunch box. Some days he would pack mine also....very cure, eh?

I believe that this is a task we can offload onto our kids as soon as possible. LOL I barely have enough time to pack my own lunch in the mornings. He is 15 now and has decided that the extra few minutes of sleep is more important that packing lunch now.

My 9th grader has been doing her own lunch for awhile - I do it if she didn't do it the night before and is running late. My first grader and I do it together the night before. Sometimes she does it all by herself.

my son is in 4th grade and this is the first year that he and i talk and pack his lunch together. we work together and talk about what he he would like to have in his lunch. but years before i always packed his lunch!! and just to let you know my son asked this year if when he gets into high sschool if he can walk to school by himself......i told him i would have to think about it!!!LOL!!!!

I pack my fifth-grader's lunches but sometimes she does it. We use mornings for her to do some things like practice instruments so I don't mind packing if she's doing that as she should. To speak to the issue of "if they do it themselves it'll be all junk"-- honestly, just don't have the junk available in your house and they can't pack it. If I have junk in the house, I'll eat it too, so I try not to buy it in the first place. But darn those holiday gifts of candy....

My 2nd grader can pack his own lunch, and he actually thinks it's a privilege to do so. Apparently one of his classmates packs his own lunch, so my son will go through phases of asking to make his own lunch. Most of the time I pack his lunch due to time, but sometimes he'll rush to get ready so he can do it himself. I do check to make sure he takes a healthy meal!

I would not trust my kids to make good food choices at this point, they are 8 and 6.

My DD is 10 and just started doing her own lunches this year. I have to check them though b/c one day she was trying to take some cheetos and a fruit roll-up and that was it! Lol.

I prep it the night before.
The next day, my kids get it from the fridge. They put it in their lunch bag. And make their water bottles.
And put a blue-ice ice pack in their lunch bag.

My kids are 5 and 9 years old.
They can do this.
However, I also... often pack their lunch bags for them too. Because, they are getting ready for school and if they dilly dally and make their own lunch bags... well I don't want to be late in getting them to school.
Its also about timing... in the mornings, and getting out the door on time.

I prep & make their lunches the night before and leave it in the fridge. Because, otherwise, if you have the kids make their own lunch... well they will probably just put cookies/treats/candy/junk in it. That is not "lunch."
I have actually seen, kids with "lunches" like this, at my kids school. Because, they pack and make.... their own lunches. And the parents... don't really bother making lunch, for their kids. I actually asked the kids.... why they have what they have, in their lunch bags. Because, "they" made it. Not their M..

There is a difference, in the kid packing their own lunch bags.... or "making" their lunch for their lunch bags.

And yep, like the others said: Husbands, don't even pack their own lunch bags very often.
So, will your kids do it themselves?

My SD didn't start packing her own lunch until she was 10.
I always made sure I had snack containers, food she liked etc.
Now she's talked her M. & dad into school lunches she buys at school.
So we don't have to worry about any of this any more.
Always good to have a lined re-usable lunch bag & thermos around.
I would also try to use mini tupperware containers for cheetos, crackers,
sliced apples, carrot sticks etc instead of ziploc baggies that get tossed.

Daughter is 14 and has been packing her own lunch since starting middle school. She has to get up at the crack of dawn! I'm not a morning person so better she should do it for herself anyway. We had been giving her a small weekly allowance since age 8 (increasing it in increments yearly) and we increased it in middle school so that she could use it to either pay for her school lunch or make her own and keep the money. We thought that was a great incentive for her to make her own. This year she asked for a lot more and the deal was that she would have to make a lunch for her dad too as he was competing with his siblings to lose weight. My son who is 7 has been getting his own snack since the middle of last school year. It just takes training and making sure you have the right foods to choose from in the house. Good luck.

My daughter is 8 and can pack her own lunch for school without a problem. My 5 year old autistic son cannot.

I have packed my son's lunch every day since Kinder. He is now in fifth grade and I am still doing it. I love making his lunch and packing his favorite foods. I cherish these times because I know it won't be long when he will no longer need my assistance.

I do not have the time nor the money to do home lunches. I would be more of a short order cook if I did that. Plus we get free lunches so I would be silly to make lunches at home.

Bwah-ha-ha-ha! I shudder to think about it. He's 8. No way.

Robyn:

My kids are 9 and 11. They can make their own lunches. They choose to do hot lunches at school. When they want a sandwich for school? they make it the night before or ask me to.

I do NOT do any lunches the morning of - sorry - lack of planning on your part does NOT constitute an emergency on my part.

Clothes, back packs and other items (music, library books, etc.) are set out and accounted for the night before. This includes lunches...while they are in the refrigerator - they are accounted for.

I monitor what they put in their lunches when they make them...not 2 bags of chips AND cookies AND roll-ups...but I let them make choices when they do it!!