#TakeBackSchoolLunch

I can’t believe the day has come where I have been planning out Jack’s first school lunches and I will have a JK’er come September, I might cry! As scary as it is to let go of all control over your child, I know that this is going to be such a wonderful experience for Jack. If you would have asked me a year ago if Jack was ready for school, I would have said no and that I was planning to keep him home for 2 of the 5 days. Now that we are inching closer and closer to the beginning of school, Jack has really matured and I can tell from our conversations about school that he really needs this educational structure and experience- he’s ready!

As much as I wish I was the mom that could sit down each day with my children and teach them the letters of the alphabet or how to count too 100, I know this type of learning is something Jack will most likely enjoy more surrounded by other children his age and a teacher that isn’t his mom. Truth be told, sometimes I feel pressured that I should be teaching Jack his numbers or letters and so on, but then I think why? Isn’t that what school’s for? Is my child going to fall behind because I wasn’t teaching him to count too xxx before JK? I don’t think so. It’s OK, I mean my 4th grader will probably be better at math then me anyways! But right now, Jack has a whole future of school to learn those important things, and after-all, that is why we send our children to school. I love spending those first few years of my boys’ life by taking them to the park to explore, to learn about animals, how to grow vegetables or to cook a mighty meal, and so on. These are the things that we enjoy doing together which carry on questions and conversations, sometimes the beginning of a growing passion or the way our child’s character becomes defined. It’s all ok. As parents we are the teachers of life, we don’t have to be the school teacher too. We are there to cheer and encourage, to help them when they are struggling, to push them and to reward them, to teach them right from wrong and that every mistake can be turned into a learning experience.

Now lets #TakeBackSchoolLunch and I will be sharing a few ways to get creative with your child’s school lunch!

Jack loves to watch me cook and prepare food which is great and hopefully by the time he is 6, he’ll be packing his own lunches ;) ;). With Wayfair, I’m giving a little spin on Take Back School Lunch! Instead of lunches being average for our children, let’s make them their lunches fun and exciting, colourful and organized!

My boys love to eat an assortment of food and by giving them a variety of foods, they can “choose” which food they want to eat first. Jack loves sandwiches and what I love about sandwiches is that they an easy way to sneak in the veggies… you know, chop them up super-duper small so that they can’t find or taste them, it seems to always work!

Here are a few helpful tips and tricks to make lunches fun + easy.

Food with Shapes — One of Jacks favourite sandwiches’ is a tuna sandwich filled with cheese and cucumber, he always gobbles it right up. By cutting the sandwich into 4 pieces and cutting off the crust (yes I’m that mom and my kid is that kid) it’s much easier for him to hold and eat without falling apart. And to take that sandwich to a level 10 of awesomeness, I use cookie cutters to indent shapes into the bread! Cookie cutters are also great for cutting out cheese, fruit or veggies into fun shapes that just boost food into another level of fun.

Food Kabobs — Simply layer food groups together onto a wooden kabob stick and VOLIA, your kid thinks it’s the coolest thing, I swear! Below, I made two different variations, a fruit kabob and a meat, cheese, veggie kabob. I pair the kabobs with other foods to create a balanced meal. This method of preparing food is even fun for me, I love thinking up new food kabob concoctions and the kids love pulling them off the sticks.

The container used here is the Sistema Klip It Lunch Cube To Go Food Container.

Add stickers — Jack loves stickers and I know that once he opens his lunch and discovers there are stickers, he’s going to be the happiest kid at the lunch table. I think stickers are perfect because they don’t distract your child from eating, yet they are something fun to look at and enjoy during lunch time.

An Organized Food Storage Container — To help keep an organized lunch without having to go through a million ziplock bags by the end of the school year, using a compact food container is not only environment friendly but strategically laid out for lunches. These storage containers by Bento are perfect for little ones; the main container lid holds two ice packs to keep your child’s meal fresh and cool for meal time while the whole kit comes enclosed in an insulated chiller bag in awesome prints your child will love!