Healthy and Creative School Lunch Ideas

"Not another peanut butter and jelly sandwich!' "Oh no, not fruit for dessert again." "Hey, wanna trade?"
These phrases and many more just like them are what I hear every school day as I supervise the kindergarten students that attend the school in which I work. Worse than that is the child that takes one bite and throws out his lunch before I can stop him. If parents only knew!

Having raised three children myself and working and seeing what I see every day, I'm here to defend the lunch room and the lunches that are packed. I am here also to tell parents to lighten up. I realize that with the obesity epidemic full blown in our Country, obesity and healthy eating are served up at every chance the school system gets.
But Mom, that doesn't make your kid the cool kid and that can be devastating--trust me.

Want to know what will get your child noticed and be healthy while it does? Get creative. Anybody can make a sandwich but only a super Mom can make a sandwich that is shaped like a dinosaur or a truck or a flower. Invest in some over sized cookie cutters, accept the fact that there will be some waste, and make a sandwich any child would be proud to unwrap. Just like you have always heard, presentation is everything. Want to provide a dessert that is anything but ho-hum and is healthy to boot? Why not try an apple cored and sliced and put back together with peanut butter. Wrap in firmly in plastic wrap, freeze overnight, and the next day your child is the one everyone wants to sit next too. I have seen perfectly good food chucked away and it all could have been avoided with a little forethought.

What if your child is not into sandwiches? Not a problem. Make some cold cut roll-ups, store in a brightly colored container and, voila; your little girl is the hit of the lunch table. Take a page from a popular oriental chain restaurant and prepare that tuna salad as usual. The twist? Serve it up in a little lettuce bundle, rolled like a pinwheel but packed with those all important omega 3s. I sympathize with the working mother. Who has time to get creative in the wee hours of the morning while the dog is barking, your husband can't find his keys, and your eldest needs ten things before she can get in the car. Bottom line, relax. No child in my ten plus years of working has ever starved. There is no shame in giving your child that dollar or two for lunch every now and then. Besides, people like myself will never let a child go hungry and that, my friends, is who works in our schools.