spinoff to school lunch...

My DS is going to K. It is the first time i need to pack both snack and lunch. Do you just pack one water bottle for the entire day? He only drinks water and milk at home. Are other kids going to have Juice/juiceboxes?
Is it typical to pack all healthy items for both snack and lunch, or do you give your child any "bad" snacks?
I just want him to feel like he has what everyone else has.

spinoff to school lunch...

Dd doesn't really like juice either. Last year in kindergarten I just sent one water bottle. They keep them in a bin at their table so they can drink whenever. After a few days I asked if she was bringing it to lunch and she said she usually forgot. I started sending a juice box so she'd at least have the option if she forgot her water. Most days it comes home unopened but some days she drinks it.
For snack I send a granola bar and an applesauce/ veggie pouch. From what I saw, kids had all different things from chips, to mini muffins, to granola bars, or fruit at snack time. No idea about lunch but I usually just sent fruit. I was sending a few teddy grahams as a treat but she wasn't eating them.

spinoff to school lunch...

I pack one big water bottle in her lunchbox that she drinks from throughout the day and during lunch. And I pack one of those small water bottles in her snack bag as a backup. My DD does not drink juice.

I try to pack healthy snacks, her teachers have even requested “healthy” snacks for the classroom, but my Dd has told me kids still bring in chips, mini muffins, cookies, etc... On Fridays, I’ll throw in a couple cookies or chips in her lumchbox as a special treat.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

I’d send my DD with a thermos full of water, so she drank that throughout the day and at snack, but she’d also forget to bring it to the cafeteria. So I’d pack a drink in her lunch box too. They say they encourage healthy snacks, and I did for the most part stick by that bc that’s what I try to do at home anyway, but DD would come home saying kids had Doritos or candy or whatever. I’d try to keep her classroom snack healthy always and throw her a cookie or something less healthy every once in awhile in her lunchbox.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

She brings a thermos and it lasts her all day. She isn't a huge water drinker, but we did get her the larger size thermos towards the end of last year because she said her thermos was too small/not enough water.

As far as a snack, i try to do "healthy" but occasionally she will ask for something not so healthy and I am fine with that once in a while too.

She does say some kids bring junk food every day for snacks.

Last year they instituted a fruit/vege Friday for the last 2 months of school.
Every Friday if the whole class brought a fruit or a vege for a snack they class got extra recess.
Well, they never ended up with extra recess- except maybe once. There were always repeat offenders bringing in something other than a fruit or vegetable on those days and ruining it for the whole class.
So yeah, healthy snakces were not always a priority.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Posted by NervousNell

She brings a thermos and it lasts her all day. She isn't a huge water drinker, but we did get her the larger size thermos towards the end of last year because she said her thermos was too small/not enough water.

As far as a snack, i try to do "healthy" but occasionally she will ask for something not so healthy and I am fine with that once in a while too.

She does say some kids bring junk food every day for snacks.

Last year they instituted a fruit/vege Friday for the last 2 months of school.
Every Friday if the whole class brought a fruit or a vege for a snack they class got extra recess.
Well, they never ended up with extra recess- except maybe once. There were always repeat offenders bringing in something other than a fruit or vegetable on those days and ruining it for the whole class.
So yeah, healthy snakces were not always a priority.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

In my experience from Kindergarten to now (going into 6th), many of the kids bring pre-packaged snacks, cookies, doritos, snack cakes, etc. I don't think it matters if the school says "healthy" snack, because the parents just pack whatever they want. I personally pack apples, carrots/dip, string cheese, pretzels, etc. Our schools have water bottle fillers that you set the bottle under, and they fill it up.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

I packed a little plastic bottle of water for snack and her thermos of water for lunch. I know it’s not environmentally friendly but when I tried to just do the one thermos for snack and lunch she said she didn’t always have her water for lunch. Who knows where it ended up? Plus I’m able to prepack her backpack with brown bag snack the night before this way. She likes room temperature water.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Posted by NervousNell

She brings a thermos and it lasts her all day. She isn't a huge water drinker, but we did get her the larger size thermos towards the end of last year because she said her thermos was too small/not enough water.

As far as a snack, i try to do "healthy" but occasionally she will ask for something not so healthy and I am fine with that once in a while too.

She does say some kids bring junk food every day for snacks.

Last year they instituted a fruit/vege Friday for the last 2 months of school.
Every Friday if the whole class brought a fruit or a vege for a snack they class got extra recess.
Well, they never ended up with extra recess- except maybe once. There were always repeat offenders bringing in something other than a fruit or vegetable on those days and ruining it for the whole class.
So yeah, healthy snakces were not always a priority.

spinoff to school lunch...

DD is in daycare. Her snacks are whatever fruit I have in the house, a stony field smoothie or cheese stick and a carb of some sort- annie's bunnies, veggie straws (I know, I know, they're glorified potato chips), the mini multigrain crackers from TJs.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Posted by LuckyStar

Posted by NervousNell

She brings a thermos and it lasts her all day. She isn't a huge water drinker, but we did get her the larger size thermos towards the end of last year because she said her thermos was too small/not enough water.

As far as a snack, i try to do "healthy" but occasionally she will ask for something not so healthy and I am fine with that once in a while too.

She does say some kids bring junk food every day for snacks.

Last year they instituted a fruit/vege Friday for the last 2 months of school.
Every Friday if the whole class brought a fruit or a vege for a snack they class got extra recess.
Well, they never ended up with extra recess- except maybe once. There were always repeat offenders bringing in something other than a fruit or vegetable on those days and ruining it for the whole class.
So yeah, healthy snakces were not always a priority.

Omg, those poor kids! They can't control what their parents send and everyone must have hated them

Message edited 9/4/2018 10:05:28 PM.

spinoff to school lunch...

DS just started 2nd. i usually pack him a juice box to drink during lunch, plus his water bottle for in the classroom (to drink with snack and after recess).
as far as snacks, i try to keep it healthy. BUT they have a very strict no nuts rule, since snacks are eaten in the classroom. so i usually play it safe and send in prepackaged snacks that don't contain peanuts or aren't processed in a factory with nuts ( like little bags of cheez it or goldfish or teddy grahms or pirate booty or popcorn). i also always send in some kind of fruit like cut up starwberries or an apple or a dole peach cup. not sure whether he eats the fruit at lunch or snack... but it gets eaten at some point LOL

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

In K, DD needed 2 separate drinks. I ended up giving juice boxes most of the time. Her bag always seemed so heavy already with workbooks. Plus, when I sent water for snack and during the day, she would forget to bring her bottle home. We're trying only water this year. Her first day was half a day and she took maybe 2 sips from her water bottle. Today, she asked for 2 bottles (snack and lunch). I gave her a full bottle for lunch and half for snack (just to make it lighter) and I'll see how that goes. She really doesn't drink much during the day. I wish I could find a nice 6 or 8 oz reusable water bottle.
Other children brought juice or milk and some brought water.
I try to give a snack that's sort of healthy and not messy. Most of DD's snack comes back home with her.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Posted by pumpkinmom

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by pumpkinmom

In K, DD needed 2 separate drinks. I ended up giving juice boxes most of the time. Her bag always seemed so heavy already with workbooks. Plus, when I sent water for snack and during the day, she would forget to bring her bottle home. We're trying only water this year. Her first day was half a day and she took maybe 2 sips from her water bottle. Today, she asked for 2 bottles (snack and lunch). I gave her a full bottle for lunch and half for snack (just to make it lighter) and I'll see how that goes. She really doesn't drink much during the day. I wish I could find a nice 6 or 8 oz reusable water bottle.
Other children brought juice or milk and some brought water.
I try to give a snack that's sort of healthy and not messy. Most of DD's snack comes back home with her.

This one is great

Thermos

They're big though. We used those last year (with characters). I switched this year to plastic 12 oz because they're a little lighter. DD complained about how heavy her bag was this morning and she only had 1 folder, her lunch and snack and 2:water bottles.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

Both of my dd schools only allow water for snacks in the classroom. I have the large potterybarnkids water bottles that I fill with 50% ice and the rest water. So it stays cold most of the day and they drink that for snack and can keep it at their tables. They get a milk for with their lunches.

Re: spinoff to school lunch...

DS is only allowed water for snacks. I give him a small bottle of Poland Springs. For lunch I send him a juice box (he drank the first day and not the second). He also has quarters in his lunchbox b/c they sell milk during lunch. Separately, I put a water bottle into his backpack. I haven't figured out if he drinks that, but he asks for it, so I send it.