You Have No Lunch Money? Here Are Some Crackers.

As I have stated before, I rarely allow my son to buy lunch at his Elem. school. My main reason being how small the portion sizes are. When he told me that he would have to pay extra money to get extra food it just stamped it in my mind even more that him buying wasn't a great idea.

This week however, he begged me to allow him to buy on Monday. It was spaghetti day and he went on and on about how much he wanted to buy. I caved and let him. He came home from school so hungry, in a bad mood, and tearing into the kitchen to find something to eat. I pointed out to him that this is why I don't let him buy. I can pack him something bigger and healthier that I know he will eat instead of him buying, not liking it all and not having enough. The rest of the week he asked me to pack. He enjoyed fresh fruit salad, yogurt, cucumbers, tomatoes, sunchips, roast beef lunch meat, tuna salad, black bean soup and a bacon tomato sandwich.

In passing on Wednesday he mentioned something that really struck a chord with me. "If you owe money on your lunch account they will give you lunch 3 times, after that they only give you a pack of crackers." WHAT? I was shocked at this statement and asked him if it had happened to anyone he knew and he said yes. I asked my sister, who is a teacher, how her school handles this kind of situation. She said if they owe on their lunch account they just don't get the hot lunch. The child will still receive a sack lunch with a PB sandwich, chips, milk and an apple. Sounds like a much better solution to me.