First Time Mom with 3 Year Old Starting Preschool

Mine eats the same thing ALL THE TIME. I think he's MADE of of pb sandwiches and milk.

He sometimes has hot lunch at school but mostly he has a pb sandwich, apple sauce and milk.

I stopped sending a treat becasue that's ALL he'll eat. He has a snack on the drive home otherwise I have a MONSTER to deal with.

Only pack, what you KNOW your child WILL eat.
Otherwise, a child will NOT eat, even if they are hungry.
I volunteered at my kids Preschool and school, all the time... and this is what I see at lunch time. All the time.

Some kids have the full on cute/fancy/variety buffet at lunch in cute boxes/totes... and the kid, will not eat. Because, they don't like it. Thus, they go hungry. Thus, they get tired/fussy later. Then they go home, all tired and fussy because they have an empty stomach and the parent wonders why the kid is so fussy. It is because, they have had nothing in their tummy, since breakfast or snack time. Low blood sugar.

Experiment at home, with foods. Not at school. Then once you know, your child likes something, THEN you can send it to school.

Also, per my son, he is very picky. He would only want the SAME thing (a sandwich)... every day. I explained to the Teachers. It was no big deal. The main thing is that the child eat and does have a lunch that they will eat.

At home, is where you experiment and can have the full food pyramid at home.

Hello, I would have her help with packing the lunch. Offer two choices for protein, fruit, etc. That way, she will feel like she decided on what to eat.
Good luck with your precious little girl.
K. K.

Definitely ask your daughter what she wants. I agree with the mom who said to give her a choice of 2 different things. If she wants the same thing every day (like my niece) then make her the same thing every day. Does the school have hot lunch? Our preschool had hot lunch so we paid for hot lunch on the days they had chicken fingers and pizza and we made a sandwich the other days. Don't forget snacks too. They schools all have snack time in the morning then they have lunch an hour or so later. So we always have to come up with a couple of snacks each day besides the sandwich or hot lunch.

Whenever there's a big change in your child's life, it helps to keep everything else in their world as close to their normal routine as possible. If she's used to a variety of lunches at home, give her a variety at school. Otherwise she may equate school with "boring" the "always the same."

Best of luck to you and your precious girl!

My daughter would only eat her lunch if it was the same ole thing, so I went with that. Actually made life easier for me because I knew what to buy and saved the new/different foods for dinner and snacks on the weekend.

I know 3 is a little young, but my daughter helps pack her lunches...she's 4 this year, but also when she was 3. I do a little variety so she doesn't get bored, but not much b/c she's not much of a sandwich eater and lunches go into the fridge so even a thermos is sort of out. Ask her what she wants the night before, she'll probably tell you.

Mine liked finger foods, Crackers and cheese. PB sandwhiches, small meat sandwhiches.little bags of fruit. I wouldnt give them the soup and mac and cheese container yet. She will have to wait and get someone to help her and might miss half her lunch time.

I get some basic main entrees that I know they like and then rotate them. Sometimes they eat the same on 2days in a row, no biggie.
PB & J
Meat and cheese sandwich,
Chicken wrap
Bean and cheese burrito
homemade lunchable - meat, cheese crackers etc
celery and PB
These are the basic ones and then sometimes I use some leftovers in their lunch, but I always ASK them if they want that first. I just want them to eat there lunch.
I mix up these basic entrees with these basic sides
yogurt, go gurt,
cheese stick
fruit
veggies
crackers - goldfish etc
pickles
Pack healthy options that you know she will eat. Enlist her help to establish your "basic" list and then expand it from there.