“Soon you will have a new set of kids who can declare how weird your lunches are,” I said to my son as I packed up his lunch the other day.
Being on a year-round school schedule means that my kiddos are still in school for a few more days. Last day of school? July 2nd. First day of school? July 25th. Yup. That’s it.
I don’t love year-round school. I love summers filled with days at the pool and time standing still and lots of bored children. To me, that is what childhood is made of, all those hours spent trying to find something to do that end with rock piles and days spent in swimsuits.
My children still get some of that, we just have to mush it into three weeks. I just want to sleep in and not pack school lunches and fix hair. They can all be ragamuffins bathed by chlorinated pools for a while.
It has been one full school year of packing my “weird” lunches. The kids have all adjusted and I smile to myself when I ask my son what other kids take and he says, “Mostly junk food.” I was the mostly junk food mom for a long time. We may not be as healthy or varied as some, but we’ve come a long way. We eat fruit and watch portions. My gymnast daughter packs herself healthy snacks for her hours at the gym. They no longer complain when we take whole wheat “things” and fruit and veggies instead of pre-packaged cookies and chips.
Not that I don’t send those once in a while. I believe in a little leeway in the healthy food department. Last week, they packed peanuts and gummy bears for their sides. I was the hero that day.
But in a few short days, school will be out and I said when we started this that we would re-evaluate in a year.
The conclusion? Aside from a few “icky” lunches, the kids wouldn’t go back to the way we did things before. And I wouldn’t either. Next year I will have five kiddos to pack lunches for.
A lot of work? Perhaps. More work than before, but totally worth it. If you want to know how I manage to feed my kids their “weirdo” lunches just check out my lunch packing posts here and here and my fun little how-to vlog about how to make school sushi.
As of next Tuesday, I will have earned a little reprieve. Little. Bitty. Did I mention my lack of love for year-round schooling?
