{"id":7623,"date":"2014-05-02T15:41:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T13:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/responsive.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents\/?p=7623"},"modified":"2022-06-22T12:46:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T10:46:29","slug":"lunch-box-poitics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/lifestyle\/food-lunchbox-ideas\/lunch-box-poitics\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunch box politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/i>Isobel hasn\u2019t even started Grade 1 yet where we\u2019ll have to pack lunch and snacks for her school day but we\u2019ve already experienced our first incident of snack box politics.<\/p>\n

I had heard of this curious thing happening but I never thought I would experience it myself since I am the proud mum of an unfussy eater. Aside from tomatoes, Isobel happily eats everything so I was shocked to discover not one, but two old bananas in Isobel\u2019s school bag last week! She had stashed her uneaten fruit and some other snacks at the bottom of her school bag and when I asked her, confused, why she had not eaten her snacks, a defiant frown appeared on her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cMama, all the other children at school get sweets in their snack box. I\u2019m the only one who brings healthy snacks. I want sweets!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her school has rules and have asked parents not to pack sweets into snack boxes but I understand that it\u2019s not possible to police every snack box in a group of 15+ whilst you have a bunch of little ones chatting away. I realised that it\u2019s up to hubby and me to teach Isobel one of her first anti-peer pressure lessons. After all, just because everyone is getting something\/doing something\/wearing something, doesn\u2019t mean she must do it and if we let it go now, what happens in 5 years, 10 years\u2026?<\/p>\n

I swear, this child of mine loves fruit, nuts, rice crackers, carrot and celery sticks, cheese and biltong and yogurt for snacks and it\u2019s never been a problem before. And before you ask, we do give our children sweets and treats regularly, so they\u2019re not like those deprived type of children who get hysterical and gobble up every sweet\/cake in sight when they go to a kiddies party and then throw up (you know the type I\u2019m talking about).<\/p>\n

After much stamping of little feet, a little bit of cheekiness and continued assertions of \u201cI WILL not eat those snacks!\u201d, hubby and I agreed that it was time for some drastic action. Before she went to bed, I asked her: \u201cWould you like your usual healthy snacks or would you like no snacks tomorrow?\u201d Her answer, \u201cI. WANT. SWEETS!\u201d<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t send a snack box the next day.<\/p>\n

I felt so guilty but she gets a good breakfast and lunch and a light dinner at school if she is picked up after 4.30pm so I knew she had more than enough to eat and I knew we needed to do it. That evening I asked her again, \u201cWould you like your usual healthy snacks or would you like no snacks tomorrow?\u201d, and she answered very quickly with a mischievous smile on her face: \u201cMama, I want my healthy snacks. And pleeeease don\u2019t forget to pack an apple for me tomorrow. I love apples!\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here <\/a>to find a list of articles with great lunchbox ideas<\/p>\n

This article was originally written for Jozikids by Sholain Govender- Bateman <\/em>in 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

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