school lunches

You will notice I did not quote myself in today's story about school lunches. I was not the most conscientious lunch-packer. I was doing fine for awhile, and I remember the day one of my girls came home from school and asked if I could please not wrap a stack of saltines in tin foil and send it to school--it was embarassing. They sort of took over after that. Fortunately, though my attempts to get them to eat healthy were slow going, they did on their own decide that food packaging was evil. I recommend this as a strategy for parents; get your kids to recoil against Lunchables on their own. They usually grabbed a string cheese, an apple and a bag of pretzels on their way out the door. They are leaving home now as more or less perfect young women, but I can't really recommend that--a better mother would have chased them with sunflower seeds, green peppers and chicken noodle soup. I admire the resourcefulness of the moms who contributed to today's story. The shocking state of child obesity should be the wake-up call for all of us to clean up our at-home eating act.
I did have one great invention as a mom: a treat that seemed pretty special to them without actually being very indulgent: Polka-dot bread. This is a slice of whole-wheat bread, buttered, with five or six chocolate chips stuck in, pointed side down. It's very cute, and better for you than a cookie. It worked until they were about 7.