Boogers on the Wall

I love my boys, but if they keep bringing home 95 percent of their homemade lunches, I’m going to have to knowingly let them starve.

I don’t know what else to do.

I thought I was being a nice mom. I was letting them skip the “nasty” school lunches by taking a made-with-love sandwich instead. They get to choose which days they won’t be able to gag down the school’s food and I pack them something amazing. (We have a system on how we choose what days they get to take a home lunch you can read about that here.)

But I don’t think I’m going to do it anymore. Well, let’s be honest, I don’t really know what I’m going to do.

I’m not a morning person. It’s a serious struggle for me to get up and get everyone ready to go to school. We hardly have time to eat breakfast. So on those mornings when we have planned for my boys to take a home lunch it’s particularly rough.

I am scrambling to snatch up a Go-gurt, drink, sandwich and – if they’re lucky – a small treat. If they are really lucky they get a hand-scribbled “I love you” note on top.  I chuck it all into their lunch boxes and we barely make it to school before the late bell.

So imagine my surprise when last week I hustled like crazy to pack something for them to eat and it came home – nearly untouched. Again.

Here is a picture of my kindergarter’s lunch. AFTER he “ate” it:

Here is a picture of the second grader’s. He did one or two bites better:

Seriously? I think my 5-year-old took one bite of his sandwich. One bite!

And this isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s becoming more and more common at our house. Don’t they realize there are starving children all over the world who would LOVE to eat my sandwiches?

What am I supposed to do? I am sick of wasting my time and energy on these uneaten lunches.

Do I make them eat whatever the school is serving knowing very well that they won’t? At least the homemade sandwiches have a chance of getting eaten.

But I hate paying $1.75 a person for a meal that I know will get wasted.

Do I keep packing the homemade meals when they aren’t eating them?

Maybe I’ll start saving them and they can eat them for dinner. If they don’t get eaten for dinner, maybe they’ll be ready for them by breakfast.

I’m going to stop giving them snacks after school on the days they don’t finish their food. Maybe I can starve them into eating.

Oh, and who knows why they don’t just ditch the sandwiches in the cafeteria garbage. They would still be hungry after school, and I would have my suspicions on why, but at least I would be somewhat oblivious.