Back-to-School Rituals

Oh my, Anton’s profile in the top picture looks exactly like his USG “portrait” way back when!?
(I hope this doesn’t sound creepy, I just have been following your adventures for too many years now, haha.)

My daughter is 4 and I never thought of putting a note in her lunchbox but then again, we have a kind of one-of-a-kind situation at home because her dad is a teacher at the same school she goes to, so even if she misses us, one of us is never far away! Otherwise, I’m in Europe too, and my daughter’s school is trying out the little-waste policy – the kids who bring their lunches almost all have them in reusable bento boxes or in paper bags, and if something comes in a plastic bag, we’re encouraged to reuse them as much as possible! I think that from that perspective, even Ziploc bags are not such a terrible idea, as long as the kids are encouraged to bring them back home…but then again, I don’t know if they think about that, haha!

On my first day of elementary school the teacher gave each one of us a notebook that had messages from family members and friends, wishing us luck on starting school. I remember seeing messages from everyone, drawings by my cousins, it really represents the spirit of being raised by a literal village of people who love you and were included into such a big milestone for a child. They still do it every year at my school it’s called “my first notebook”, whenever I see the school Facebook page posting stories about the first day of 1st grade it takes me back to this sweet memory.

Wow, thank you so much for featuring our shark backpack Joanna and for those of you convinced that this was a sponsored post – I assure you it was not ! We were delighted to discover this post through an email sent to us by a friend!
As for lunch notes – I am obsessed with ensuring my kids eat the fruits and veggies I pack them, so I will put little notes on them like “Please eat me. I am very very yummy” and “I will help you brain figure out that math question”. At the very least it gets a smile.
xoxo
Catherine from SoYoung

My mom used to play practical jokes on us in our lunch box. She’d put a post-it in our PB&J – which are impossible to bite through. Or she’d put plastic spiders in our goldfish baggie. Or she’d dye our milk green and put it in our thermos like regular milk. She didn’t do it that often but It was a fun surprise that made my siblings and I laugh every time.

I am another Canadian surprised about the acceptance of peanut butter. But it is a low cost protein and it’s not as surprising as maternity leave measured in weeks not months, or lack of universal healthcare in the richest country in the world… or as cool as American entrepreneurialism & innovation.

Another big trend in Canada (and I’m not judging, just sharing) is the zero waste lunch. I too use baggies for wet stuff and find reusable containers too bulky for everything… but I try to use compostable paper sandwich bags for dry items like crackers.

I would like to hear what everyone packs their lunch in. I recently upgraded to thermos branded thermoses and it was worth it. But I’d love a thermos that goes in the dishwasher or microwave!! ? Does it exist?

I’ve learned so much from the comments about great lunch recipes, I wanted to share anything that may be helpful. Thanks to all of cupofjo’s awesome readers!

A smart mom-friend I know uses kid-friendly art books (for example by Ed Emberly) for step-by-step doodles to create on lunchtime napkins. If you’re thinking, like me, that you’d NEVER have time to indulge in this, she also shared that sometimes she’d create these during wait-times: in long lines, on hold, in meetings, basically totally appropriate places to take notes. But she was drawing notes for her kids (even for weekends when she’d be away).

If your child likes “Dog Man” by Dav Pilkey, a secret weapon I’ve been using are his instructions at the end of his books; he shows you how to draw the characters in easy steps. For a non-artist like me, it works! And my boys look forward to opening lunches for the latest art reveal. (Other favorites to draw include Gum Girl by Rhode Montijo and Snoopy!)

My mother in law packed a lunch for my husband every day from elementary through junior high. It consisted of a balongna sandwich with mayo that she’d always cut it in half and take a single bite out of the corner. I’ve always thought of this as such a sweet display of affection and imagined my husband opening his lunch box and being reminded of her.

I can’t get over how good Toby looks in those red pants. Those would definitely make the cut in his capsule wardrobe.

Agree that sponsored posts are rather obvious from the get go. They used to bother me more, but hey, happy to support this website, so I will check them out.

And gosh, free tuition. That is a nice company! Are they hiring? :)

Things like this are cute, but it always kills me how much waste they generate considering our world’s current climate change status. Same goes for companies such as Blue Apron. The use SO much plastic!

One thing we do with lunches is to make them the night before – an unexpected bonus has been that it encourages my husband and I to take our lunches to work and save money. If we are making a lunch box for our daughter it’s just as easy to make the same lunch for us to take to work.

The school asks us to avoid nuts but we usually pack a salad or ham sandwich, fruit and rice crackers.

I was stoked to see lil Toby with a skate board- perhaps look into Penny Boards, smaller and easier for a kid to learn on and maneuver!

We love Boxed too. :) Also, can you share what type of skateboard that is? I have two boys around Toby’s age and they’ve asked for their first skateboards for their upcoming birthday. Thank you!!

I love lunch bag notes. As a kid, my step dad would always write notes with my lunch… a classic was “KEEP ON TRUCKIN” scrawled in marker on the banana. Embarrassing but always nice to have a loving reminder in the middle of your day.

Please tell me where you got that shark back pack! My little guy is currently going through an intense shark phase and that bag would just about make 2018 for him.