School Lunches

When the kids start the count down to summer vacation, so do I. However their countdown is measured in days, mine in school lunches.  3 per day.  Packing school lunches has been the bane of my existence since we stopped homeschooling almost 5 years ago, or approximately 730 sandwiches ago.  171 left to go this school year.  It may not be rational to hate making lunches so vehemently when preparing breakfast isn't a chore and even dinner on a busy evening isn't too bad.  As is often the case, out of the mouths of babes, came a plausible answer.  My son, who was nine at the time, pointed out that while the meals that I'm cooking for a sit down meal are more work, I have the pleasure of watching them enjoy the food that I made for them.  With the school lunches I don't get to hear their appreciative slurping or them asking if there is more food.  I don't get to have the instant gratification of making my sons happy.  And as they say the way to a man's heart after all is through his stomach.

Last June I read an article in some woman's magazine that was written by a woman who had just packed her last school lunch since her youngest graduated high school.  It was a touching article and I actually get teary every time I think about it.  I also feel guilty.  I'd really like to be the mom that enjoys doing this daily act of maternal benevolence.  At least I did until when I thought I would be commiserating with a fellow parent over the banality school lunch packing, she looked at me incredulously and asked, "You mean they don't pack their own lunches?"  A ray of hope appeared and I accosted several other parents as they were leaving karate class with their respective broods in tow, and many of them had similar responses.  It turns out a lot of kids make their own lunches.  Who knew?!  Of course, I made my own school lunches as a child but I don't think I enjoyed it much then either.  I probably thought if I did a bad enough job my mom would take over, so as a result some of my fifth grade lunches contained ham and M&M sandwiches, and in my thermos a little bit of every beverage in the fridge, resulting in an orange juice-Pepsi-milk shake.  I have 2,621 more chances to embrace the lunches.  If not, I'm afraid in eight years I will be writing an article of regret over not packing them food made with love.