Is this the time of year that I return to feeling inadequate as a mother? Are my kids smart enough? Are they athletic enough? (Um, not really, they inherited that from me, see other post, but I am trying to help them be more athletic) Are they nice enough? Is their report good enough? Are they artistic enough? Do kids like them enough? Am I doing enough? And now I want to add into this equation, Are they eating good enough?
It is well known that school lunches are not healthy. I have paid for it anyway. It is easy and I have 5 kids, so easy is good. But as we are eating healthier at home, I am starting to wonder. My kids are good at always stopping at the salad bar, loading up on some favs and gobbling it all up. But what about the main entree? I had thought, well this is their only chance to eat pizza, lasagna, mucho nacho, and chili cheese fritos. When I asked my son his favorite lunch at school the last one was his answer. OK, maybe I am going to seriously think about making home lunches.
Aaaaahhhhhhhh! Are you kidding me? I hate the extra work in the morning. I hate the thought of having to make it any fancier than a PB sandwich, carrots, an apple and change for milk. But this isn't really good enough. I mean who wants to eat the same boring meal everyday? Yes, that is why there is some fancy term out there for well balanced and pretty lunches. It is called Bento. I just learned this today. Will my kids be sitting next to someone with this kind of lunch and wonder why their Mom doesn't make them something nice like that. Doesn't she love them enough?
Click on this link, scroll down a little and you will see what I mean. http://www.simplymodernm
om.com/
Ok, I admit I do have a heart & dino sandwich cutter, but they don't work well. And I do have a box with 101 cookie cutters, I am not sure if they will be any better. But what do I do with all of the scraps? Does that become my lunch? Mmmmm, crusts for 9 months. I feel myself gaining weight now, realizing I would jump at every chance to eat something with flavor. Do people really make their kids such well balanced fancy meals? Can I do it?
Do your kids eat home lunch? What do you do?
And do you ever feel like it is enough? Whatever IT is.
I am going to try to let go of that this year, but it always seems to plague me. I never knew the stress of being a parent could be so much. But I also had no idea of the blessings. Just try to hold on to those Carina. Hold on to those.
Uh, in rereading this post. I am now concerned that people will think I don't see the talents and gifts of my children. I do. They are wonderful, but there is this stupid beast that comes out when you become a parent. It starts when they are young and someone asks you how much your child weighs, how tall they are, what their motor skills are and you find out there are benchmarks and percentiles. And suddenly this competition to have the best child comes out. I hate that beast. PLEASE GO AWAY!!!
(sorry for using a few of the no-no words in my post, but now you see how strongly I wish it would go away)
