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Today, My Kid Will Eat

2011 October 21
by WWGD

Image of So Young lunchboxes, via Babble.com

Yesterday, I learned a very important lesson in motherhood which I will share with you now.

Take out your notebook and pen.

If you forget to make your 4 year old daughter a lunch for school and you think it’s fine because you will order it for her from the organic, overpriced but worth every penny lunch service they make available to forgetful moms like me, but then you forget to do that too and head on your merry way for the day thinking nothing is wrong and come noon, your daughter is left watching all the kids gather their food and has to go up to the teacher and say “I have no lunch,” then that teacher WILL scrape together leftover snacks from god knows where and feed your kid. Crackers, an apple sauce and a cheese stick, to be exact.

She will not starve.

But let me tell you…

You will feel like the most awful, incompetent, scatterbrained mother on the planet. You will look at your kid in utter confusion at pick up when you go to take home her lunchbox and she kindly reminds you that you forgot it. You will be red-faced and mortified as you go to the teacher to apologize, assuring her it won’t happen again and feeling flushed as you wonder if she is going to call child protective services. You will rack your brain to remember what it was exactly you were thinking about when you cruised right by the organic lunch service sign-up sheet and straight out the door without actually signing it. There was nothing on my mind. There was everything on my mind. Work deadlines, Thanksgiving menus, Kai’s first birthday theme (yes, it’s still two months away) – but apparently not Little D and her lunch.

You will bring her home and shower her with extra love, give her milk and cookies for a snack and continue apologizing profusely because how could you have possibly left her to starve at school and deal with the embarrassment of going to tell the teacher she was sandwich-less.

And the next day, your kid will eat. You will be scatter-brained in the morning. Deadlines, Thanksgiving and birthdays will still be on your brain. You will be running late, there will be traffic, and you will still have sleep in your eyes.

But your kid will eat.

Because today is Friday.

And it’s pizza day at school.

3 Responses
  1. October 21, 2011

    Oh man! First of all, you can’t be the first mama to forget lunch. Secondly, drop-off and pick-up are freakin’ chaotic and everyone is losing their mind during this time. Third, the school should have a handful of pre-made lunches for this exact scenario because you know this has to happen on a daily basis or maybe they should order a handful of extra lunches from the organic service. Don’t beat yourself up! You are an amazing mama and such an amazing role model for your kids and your other mama friends!

  2. October 21, 2011

    It sounds like it was harder on you than it was on her! This happened to me several times at school, and it was always SUCH an adventure to have to cobble together lunch. Sometimes I even got Skittles! And the Cheese on Wheat crackers that my mom said were poison! And one time, I even got to share the teacher’s lunch…to eat IN the teachers’ lounge, with my absolute favorite I-have-a-crush-on-you teacher, and we talked about Madeleine L’Engle books and I saw a nun smoking a cigarette! I was alllllmost popular for the rest of the day after that.

    Give yourself a break, is what I mean. 🙂

  3. Karsha permalink
    October 21, 2011

    Oh hun! Broke my heart to read this. We’ve all been there. And think about it this way – Devyn’s fruit and cheese platter was probably yummier than anything you could have cooked her. 🙂

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