I think, too, that we need to dispel the second part of this idea a little bit more though: "The goal becomes personally having the resources for the individually-packed lunches from home, not collectively raising the bar on school-provided lunch so that everyone can enjoy an appealing and nourishing lunch." The idea that all school lunches are not already appealing and nourishing isn't true. Many are! But we are told over and over that they are inferior to packed lunches so it's hard to believe anything else. In the two public school districts we've lived in, when my kids get school lunch, they eat a wider variety with more produce and different proteins and whole grains over the course of the week compared to when we pack from home. Because when we pack from home they want one of the same two things, and school lunch is always different each day. It's possible I didn't read the intent of that sentence correctly (because I think we feel similarly about this!) but wanted to mention that.
Reading this post reminded me of just how hard it is to have little kids! It’s an intense, exhausting time with such an extraordinary burden falling on mothers. I love love LOVE the idea of sharing caregiving/meal-making/house-cleaning tasks in a more communal way.
My kids are teenagers now (13 and 15) and oh it was a happy day when they started fixing their own breakfasts and packing their own lunches! They even cook dinner for the family now, too (and clean up after themselves… sometimes). It still feels a bit miraculous to me—when they were younger I always wanted to include them more in the kitchen but it was just so… messy… and cooking/dishes time was often the only time I had to myself, so I often felt I wasn’t doing a good job at getting them involved in cooking. But they found their way to the kitchen eventually.
So I guess I’m saying to parents of young kids, hang in there! And also, putting older kids to (age-appropriate) work can relieve some of the burden while helping them feel more capable and independent.
Okay, so I feel a little weird posting this because I feel like I've talked more than once in your comments about living in Minnesota and I swear that being Minnesotan isn't my whole personality ... but... Minnesota passed legislation this year that all school lunch is free for all kids in all the public k-12 schools and I'm super happy about that. At first I was just thinking about the stigma reduction around free and reduced lunch programs, but now about this actually being a small thing to make parent's (especially moms) lives easier too.
I think, too, that we need to dispel the second part of this idea a little bit more though: "The goal becomes personally having the resources for the individually-packed lunches from home, not collectively raising the bar on school-provided lunch so that everyone can enjoy an appealing and nourishing lunch." The idea that all school lunches are not already appealing and nourishing isn't true. Many are! But we are told over and over that they are inferior to packed lunches so it's hard to believe anything else. In the two public school districts we've lived in, when my kids get school lunch, they eat a wider variety with more produce and different proteins and whole grains over the course of the week compared to when we pack from home. Because when we pack from home they want one of the same two things, and school lunch is always different each day. It's possible I didn't read the intent of that sentence correctly (because I think we feel similarly about this!) but wanted to mention that.
Reading this post reminded me of just how hard it is to have little kids! It’s an intense, exhausting time with such an extraordinary burden falling on mothers. I love love LOVE the idea of sharing caregiving/meal-making/house-cleaning tasks in a more communal way.
My kids are teenagers now (13 and 15) and oh it was a happy day when they started fixing their own breakfasts and packing their own lunches! They even cook dinner for the family now, too (and clean up after themselves… sometimes). It still feels a bit miraculous to me—when they were younger I always wanted to include them more in the kitchen but it was just so… messy… and cooking/dishes time was often the only time I had to myself, so I often felt I wasn’t doing a good job at getting them involved in cooking. But they found their way to the kitchen eventually.
So I guess I’m saying to parents of young kids, hang in there! And also, putting older kids to (age-appropriate) work can relieve some of the burden while helping them feel more capable and independent.
Okay, so I feel a little weird posting this because I feel like I've talked more than once in your comments about living in Minnesota and I swear that being Minnesotan isn't my whole personality ... but... Minnesota passed legislation this year that all school lunch is free for all kids in all the public k-12 schools and I'm super happy about that. At first I was just thinking about the stigma reduction around free and reduced lunch programs, but now about this actually being a small thing to make parent's (especially moms) lives easier too.