Today's lunch was typical fare, but on Friday Jackson ate school lunch in honor of the Chinese New Year.

February 16, 2010

Jackson’s Lunch:

• Roast Beef and Swiss Sandwich
• Blood Orange Segments
• Green Salad with Feta and Vinaigrette
• Snap Pea Crisps

Jackson’s preschool class celebrated Chinese New Year last Friday.  They made dragon puppets, sang and danced.  The school also prepared and served a Chinese-inspired lunch. 

On a typical day, I pack Jackson’s lunch, and he’s more than happy to eat it.  But when he found out that the school was celebrating Chinese New Year with a special lunch, he asked if he could eat school lunch that day.  I happily and enthusiastically said, “Of course!”

While it’s true I pack a lunch for my son so he’s properly and healthfully fueled, I also can see and understand the importance of being part of a community.  Chinese New Year was something Jackson learned about with his peers, celebrated with his peers, and he wanted to belong to all parts of the celebration. 

So, while the lunch was perhaps not the most nutritious or maybe not as nutritious as one I would’ve packed for him, it was important for him to share in it.  And, since I was invited to join them, I partook as well in the stir-fried veggies, rice and eggrolls, and it was heart-warming to share the whole experience with Jackson, who was very proud to show off his dancing dragon and Chinese food.

Yes, the food could have been healthier (the eggrolls were fried, frozen and reheated, and the rice was white), but Jackson enjoyed the experience.  I believe it’s fine to eat deep-fried goodies occasionally when the trade-off is learning about a culture or building a community.  The occasional bite of something we don’t normally eat isn’t the end of the world; it’s sometimes the window into a different part of it.

Roast Beef Sandwich "Sushi"

December 1, 2009

 

Jackson’s Lunch:

• Roast Beef Sandwich Sushi (remove the crust from 1 slice whole wheat bread and flatten the bread with a rolling pin.  Spread on some cream cheese.  Place a thin slice of lunchmeat on the cream cheese and top with carrot and cucumber “matchsticks.”  Roll up like sushi and cut into three pieces.)
• Pineapple with raisins
• Root veggie chips

Maybe you’re wondering why I go to the effort of packing a lunch for Jackson everyday when he could get a perfectly fine lunch at school.  I guess the number one reason for me is that I don’t believe the school lunches are perfectly fine. 

I’m typically the one in charge of feeding my family.  I plan our meals, do the grocery shopping, and prepare the food we eat.  Also, as I mentioned before, I’m passionate about healthy food; therefore, the food I feed my family tends to be whole food based—minimal processed foods, limited artificial flavors and colors, and so on. 

I guess I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to food, but I have no control over the food that’s served at school. 

I take pride in knowing that what my family eats is wholesome, and I try to make it as yummy as I can.  I put a lot of time and effort into food planning because I want my family to be healthy.  I can’t just let my efforts go to waste by allowing Jackson to eat food on a daily basis that I know nothing about.  I put a lot of effort into making sure my family has a healthy diet, so why would I let my efforts be for nothing by allowing Jackson to eat something potentially not as healthy every single day? 

Packing a wholesome lunch—one in which I’ve put thought into, one which is filled with real food not additives—makes sense to me and is important to me.  To me.  I know not everyone feels the same way I do, and I’m certainly not going to judge anyone for having their children eat school lunches.  In fact, I’m certain school lunches are far healthier than many other things kids eat or could eat, but, like I said, I’m a food control freak. 

I like everything surrounding the lunch packing.  I love the planning and coming up with new ideas.  I love finding new ideas and trying them out.  I love the actual food prep.  I love it that Jackson tells me the lunches I make are way better than the school lunches (yes, he’s eaten school lunch many times; we all have crazy mornings when there’s no way a lunch is going to be prepared!).  And, of course, I love that I have control over what he’s eating. 

I know I won’t always be able to dictate his diet, but I’m hoping that by doing it now, I’ll give him a solid base for making good food choices when he’s able to make those choices on his own.

So, why do I pack Jackson’s lunch?  Because I care about him and the food he eats.  Because I want to.  And because I enjoy doing it.