Help my kid is starting school

[Yoly1001]

Hello all, my little girl, Abigail is starting school in two weeks. She is only 2 1/2 and will start the pre school program at the University of Houston, I am also a student there. Anyhow, they have breakfast, snack, and lunch provided for them and I hear that no one takes a lunch. I spoke to the director and she said it was fine if I packed something for Abi.

I don't want to ostrasize my daughter from her classmates but she has pretty nice eating habits and I don't want to spoil that for her. She eats whole grains, meats, fruits, and some vegetables. I try not to deprive her of anything so if she asks for something sweet I give it to her, but I do not offer anything with sugar either. I am worried about the school, they post a monthly menu before hand and I am going to try to pack somethign that very closely resembles the lunch for that day. For example the first day is hotdog on a bun, I will give her a hotdog with no nitrates on a whole wheat bun, etc. I am very worried however that she will want to eat the crap that is being provided to her.

The menu at the school is crazy, just one day for example is pancake with syrup for breakfast, grahm crackers for snack, and then hamburger on white bun for lunch. Then in their hand book they claim they have a "no candy policy" well damn, what do they think breakfast, snack, and lunch is comprised of? Sugar and white flower = no good!

I have some good ideas for breakfast and snack but am wondering if you guys can give me some more good menu ideas.

So far for breakfast I have:
hard boiled egg,
french toast w/whole wheat
bacon strips
sausage
Lucky Charms (sigh, my hubby bought this for her but at least it is made with whole grain oats)

Snack:
plain yogurt with different kinds of fruit and splenda
fruits (strawberries, peaches, plums, grapes)
raisins
crackers with peanut butter (sugar free)

Lunch:
basically what the school is providing only with a few modifications for health's sake,
ham and turkey slices (nitrates free)
cheese cubes
broiled chicken breast cut up with soy sauce for dipping
veges with butter
sandwiches (pb and all fruit jelly, ham and cheese, turkey, etc.)

What do you guys think?

Man, I just read over this and I wish MY mother would have thought of all this stuff when I was a kid. I wouldn't have the problems I have now, I guess that's the point isn't it, getting healthy so that we can make sure our kids don't have to deal with this problem as adults.

[yelah22]

Re: Help my kid is starting school

Wow! I am so inspired by your deep commitment to instill good eating habits in your daughter! I mean I have worried about a lot of things when it comes to thinking about my girls going to pre-school and/or kindergarten but I didn't even get in to thinking about thier menus. My girls also have pretty good eating habits but that's because I make their food...if they got to choose or were served something unhealthy they would just eat it. What do they do about things that need to be kept cold or heated up? I'd love to hear from experienced Moms of preschoolers some tips/ideas for packing lunches. As for some other menu ideas...we roast a turkey breast once a week or so and the girls eat the turkey meat for lunch or dinner a couple times a week. They like it better than nuggets! Umm....they also love mini whole wheat bagels with cream cheese...whole wheat toast with apricot jelly...oatmeal....soup (messy)...You could also use the whole wheat bagels to make mini pizzas. That's all from the top of my head. Good luck!

[lbrowne]

Re: Help my kid is starting school

I wouldn't worry about matching up their menus with healthier versions of the same. That would set hers out as being "different" instead of just better.

I would suggest packing her a lunch like she'd have at home. Don't worry about what's going on at school. At some point in time she might rather have the school lunches and you may need to consider giving on that instead of starting a battle with her over food. Sad, yeah... but you'll need to pick your battles and there will be many other things to deal with like 'party' days when the kids have an overload of junk and sugar. <grrr>

With your menu, I'd just try to stay away from all sweeteners, including splenda. You can take plain yogurt and add your own fruit to it. Or, have her help you add the fruit in and help make her own lunch once in a while! Kids love things they've done themselves, and helping put the food together or put it in containers will probably help her want that more than the school food anyway.

Special small plastic containers for her foods can make them seem more special also. A wide mouth thermos, pre-heated with hot water, can hold hot foods until lunch time.

Congrats on doing so well with feeding your daughter good foods! Don't stress about the other stuff she'll eat growing up. It'll happen, but concentrate on making the experience good without the disposable junk trappings and she'll prefer the good stuff.

ps - you might be the only one at your school, but Berkley parents are into this! Check this link for some more tips. I couldn't get the original page to come up, so that's from Google's cache.

~ Linda

[not2late]

Re: Help my kid is starting school

Kudos to you for being committed to providing real food for your daughter.

If you allow your daughter whole grain bread, you can make chicken or turkey "nuggets" for her by tossing a piece of the bread into a blender or food processor. Mixing those crumbs with parmesan cheese and using that as a breading. You can bake these nuggets. Making bread crumbs out of fresh bread, rather than dry, means you use less bread. I read in a cook book that 1 slice of fresh bread made into crumbs yeilds about a cup of crumbs, but a slice of dried bread yeilds only 1/4 cup.

I don't know if you live in a cooler climate, but if your daughter likes soups, you can purchase a widemouth thermos jar and fill that with a good soup or stew or even something like a baked apple.

[Lisa M]

Re: Help my kid is starting school

Yea for you helping keep your daughter's meals as healthy as you can for these first few years. That takes a lot of effort and planning

Sounds like you've got a lot of great ideas for meals planned out for her. I would say easy to get into containers and if she could use a wide mouth thermos for soups, tuna or egg salads. My girls take their lunches, this will be the first year my youngest will be taking her's going to 1st grade, so it's pretty easy to monitor what they like. But in all fairness, kids tastebuds will change but you can set the limits too.

Best wishes

[not2late]

Re: Help my kid is starting school

Yoly, I was in Walmart the other day and in the summer clearance aisle they had a little thermos jar in the shape of a crayon---it was less than $5.00. When I saw it I thought that might be something you can use for your daughter to carry oatmeal, cut fruit, etc.