Ways to Brighten Your Child's Day While They're at School

Parents and children are so busy these days with classes, school, after-school activities and work it can be hard to fit in some quality time. Help make up for that by using these tips to brighten your child's day while they are at school. Classes can get long, especially during the middle of the week or months without many holidays. Be proactive to show your child that you care about them and give them a sweet surprise at school.

Pass Your Child a Note

Purchase a set of cute sticky notes in bright colors, shapes or cartoon characters. You can get a pad in the shape of your child's first initial or a simple pad of sticky notes like pink hearts or yellow stars. Write a brief note for your child like "Have a great day at school!" or "Good luck at your game today!" Slip the note somewhere your child will find it during their day at school. You can stick the note inside their textbook on the current chapter he or she is studying in class, inside the cover of their school notebook, or on the inside of their lunch box. When you child finds the note it will be a sweet gesture to break up their school day. This even works for older children and teenagers depending on the type of paper you use and what you say in your note.

Pack a Special Lunch

Your child gets tired of peanut butter and jelly every day. Brighten up their Wednesday with a special lunch box filled with their favorite lunch meal. For younger children, use cookie cutters to cut shapes a lunch sandwich into a special shape. Pre-packaged lunches, like Lunchables brand school lunch boxes, can be too expensive for some families to purchase for their children frequently. Consider using one of these "designer" lunches as a special treat. What seems like expensive cheese and crackers can be very cool to an elementary age student to find in their lunch box.

Ask your child to show you items in the grocery store that they would like to find in their lunch box. Healthy cheese sticks, chocolate soy milk boxes, cinnamon-apple chips, and "Naked Juice" single servings are all non-processed and healthy additions to your child's lunch. Also consider adding a unique fruit like sliced Starfruit (about $1 each), "Ugli Fruit" or "Unique Fruit" (look like misshapen grapefruits but sweeter), or fresh raspberries.

If it is not against your school's lunch rules policy, include items your child can trade. For example, throw an extra cupcake, juice box or string cheese snack into your child's lunch so they can have something worthy to trade during the lunch games. (But be aware that some schools forbid any lunch time trading, so double-check with your child's school.)

Send Them Something Sweet

Whether or not your child eats a packed lunch at school, you can always add a little something sweet for the playground at recess or noshing between classes for high school kids. Slip a baggie of home-made cookies or some mini-muffins into your kid's backpack with a simple "I Love You" note. Miniature candy bars, homemade candy and baggies of children's sweetened cereals all make great sweet snacks for school.

For a bigger surprise, drop a tray of cupcakes, cookies or brownies off for your child's entire class to share. This is great for elementary school students on a Friday, before breaks, or near holidays. Your child's will get "brownie points" from the other students as everyone gets to enjoy a surprise snack.

Surprise Them With a Lunch Visit

Elementary age children, especially Pre-School, Kindergarten and First Grade students, love showing off their parents and siblings. Ask your child's teacher when a good time would be to have lunch with your child at school. Sit with your child at his or her normal lunch table (even if it means you have to sit on the little chairs) and eat whatever the cafeteria serves. This puts you on the children's level and makes them feel more able to approach you. Let your kid show you off and tell stories as you eat with him or her. I still remember the times my father came to eat lunch with me when I was in elementary school. It was so much fun and made my day.

Volunteer Your Skills

You may not have a cool job for career day at your child's school (or maybe you do), but chances are you have a talent that could be put to use in your child's classroom. Think about what you enjoy doing and find a way to fit it into your kid's education to enrich everyone's experience. Maybe you are a great scrap-booker - make a classroom scrapbook and run color copies of each page so every student has their own version at the end of the year. Or do you know a lot about your Native American heritage? Build an authentic teepee or lodge on the school lawn (with administration's permission of course) and give your child's class a tour during social studies. Do you work for the Department of Natural Resources with fish stocking? Bring large coolers with catfish to school and let the students view them up close. Even older elementary aged students can still think it's cool when their parents get them out of the classroom and into a hands-on learning experience.

Build Anticipation

Slip a note into your child's jeans pocket or coat pocket before they leave for school so they will find it later. In the note, tell your kid that he or she will get to go swimming, go hiking or some other fun activity after school. You may have already scheduled this afternoon's event, but waiting to tell your child until they get to school gives them a fun surprise. This way, they will look forward to the afternoon all day and enjoy the excitement more. Swimming, local museums, hiking, seeing a movie in the theater, visiting a restaurant like Chuck-E-Cheese, or going to a favorite store in the mall are all simple activities. Think about what your child likes to do and surprise them with that.