Packing Lunch for Teenagers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Actually there is something wrong with this. You forget that the goal is raise your children to adulthood. Little things like planning out lunches, doing their own laundry, taking responsibility for cleaning up after themselves are all part of that. I guarantee your children are sorely lacking in independence if their mom is crowd sourcing how to make their everyday lunches extra special.

Your parents didn’t teach you social skills, kindness, or how to pull your gigantic head out of your own @$$.

Better make sure the kids know they’re still in the will; otherwise they’ll have no reason to continue to pretend they don’t hate you.

You’re absolutely ridiculous. DP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s time to stop packing your kids’ lunches.

No it’s not. I pack my hs kids lunch.

My teenager would be embarrassed to have a lunch packed by mom.

Same. Packing lunch is long overdue for a teenager. Teach him how to cook some basic meals and then let him make dinner for the family. There’s a mom in the college forum whose kid moves into an apartment with no meal plan and she’s worried what he will eat since he doesn’t know how to cook.

My kid knows basic meals. They don’t have time between sports, activities and homework and I have to make other lunches at the same time. Why wouldn’t you? Most college kids don’t have time to cook.

If your kid doesn’t have time to slap a sandwich together in the morning, the you might want to scale back on their load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Actually there is something wrong with this. You forget that the goal is raise your children to adulthood. Little things like planning out lunches, doing their own laundry, taking responsibility for cleaning up after themselves are all part of that. I guarantee your children are sorely lacking in independence if their mom is crowd sourcing how to make their everyday lunches extra special.

Your parents didn’t teach you social skills, kindness, or how to pull your gigantic head out of your own @$$.

Better make sure the kids know they’re still in the will; otherwise they’ll have no reason to continue to pretend they don’t hate you.

It’s downright depressing that kids taking responsibility for feeding and themselves (not even contributing to household chores!) is considered abusive and hateful.

SMH

It’s downright depressing how dumb hateful jerks on the internet are. You are *clearly* abusive and hateful, but one can reach that conclusion NOT because your kids pack their own lunch, but because of the way you responded to OP.

I hope that clears it up for you. (I’m guessing your parents made you feed yourself because they were busy doing your schoolwork and college applications for you.)

What a slavering pack of defensive helicopter moms you are. They’re teenagers. Land it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Actually there is something wrong with this. You forget that the goal is raise your children to adulthood. Little things like planning out lunches, doing their own laundry, taking responsibility for cleaning up after themselves are all part of that. I guarantee your children are sorely lacking in independence if their mom is crowd sourcing how to make their everyday lunches extra special.

What the heck do you all think is so hard about packing lunch that a kid needs years of practice?

You tell me. Apparently your kid can’t do it.

My husband drives the kids to school. That does not mean I am incapable of doing it. It just means it is not currently on my list of responsibilities. My kid walks that dog in the am. I make his lunch (not OP). We could reverse that any day but the current scheme works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Yes, actually there is. Try raising competent near-adults. The rest of the world will thank you.

P.S. Don’t do their laundry either. You’re welcome.

I am the PP who leaves her son alone for at least two nights every month, and sometimes, up to five days at a time. I can assure you he is competent and independent and I like making his lunches when I can. And he can do all his own cooking and packing when I can't/won't.

You have only one piece of a picture. You have no clue the overall structure of any one kid's life, so no basis for judging any parent for making lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s time to stop packing your kids’ lunches.

No it’s not. I pack my hs kids lunch.

Yes, it is. You should stop doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe some of you still pack lunch for your teens? Don’t you want them to be independent adults someday?

My teen not only packs his own lunch, he also does his own grocery shopping using his own money he has earned from his job (but only for the foods that he can’t grow himself in our yard - don’t worry, he pays us rent for both the land and his room).

He also does his own laundry, cooks all of his own meals, and cleans his room and all common areas immediately after he uses them. He is not old enough to drive yet so we charge him the standard government mileage rate for wear and tear on our vehicles, plus an hourly rate when we drive him to/from places like school, sports, the grocery store, and the coal mine.

Most of you sound like you’re raising helpless snowflakes, to be honest. Do your teens even know how hunt and forage? Start a fire? Build a shelter? If not, you’re a failure as a parent.

You actually thought this was clever while you were typing it.

Incredible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Yes, actually there is. Try raising competent near-adults. The rest of the world will thank you.

P.S. Don’t do their laundry either. You’re welcome.

I am the PP who leaves her son alone for at least two nights every month, and sometimes, up to five days at a time. I can assure you he is competent and independent and I like making his lunches when I can. And he can do all his own cooking and packing when I can't/won't.

You have only one piece of a picture. You have no clue the overall structure of any one kid's life, so no basis for judging any parent for making lunches.

Don’t bother responding to these types of women. They’re just completely lazy and incompetent, and trying to justify their lack of love and care for their own kids as deliberate parenting choices to “build character” or whatever other BS they come up with.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with a kid packing his lunch or doing his laundry. But there’s also nothing wrong with his parents doing those things. The women on this thread patting themselves on the back for their refusal to even consider fulfilling the most basic of parental responsibilities are ultimately just insecure because deep down they know they’re $h!tty mothers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Actually there is something wrong with this. You forget that the goal is raise your children to adulthood. Little things like planning out lunches, doing their own laundry, taking responsibility for cleaning up after themselves are all part of that. I guarantee your children are sorely lacking in independence if their mom is crowd sourcing how to make their everyday lunches extra special.

Your parents didn’t teach you social skills, kindness, or how to pull your gigantic head out of your own @$$.

Better make sure the kids know they’re still in the will; otherwise they’ll have no reason to continue to pretend they don’t hate you.

It’s downright depressing that kids taking responsibility for feeding and themselves (not even contributing to household chores!) is considered abusive and hateful.

SMH

It’s downright depressing how dumb hateful jerks on the internet are. You are *clearly* abusive and hateful, but one can reach that conclusion NOT because your kids pack their own lunch, but because of the way you responded to OP.

I hope that clears it up for you. (I’m guessing your parents made you feed yourself because they were busy doing your schoolwork and college applications for you.)

DP. Maybe time to take a little break from the internet. You don’t sound ok.

Np

Classic mean girl comment
Don't kick people when they're down

?? PP is the one calling people abusive and hateful over a lunch packing thread.

LOL did you even read that female dog’s comment to OP?

Yeah, I just reread it and I don’t have any problem with it. Maybe the eyeroll emoji was unnecessary, but I agree with that poster otherwise.

You two can eyeroll together while you sit around drinking wine as your kids parent themselves. Pretty typical behavior for this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe some of you still pack lunch for your teens? Don’t you want them to be independent adults someday?

My teen not only packs his own lunch, he also does his own grocery shopping using his own money he has earned from his job (but only for the foods that he can’t grow himself in our yard - don’t worry, he pays us rent for both the land and his room).

He also does his own laundry, cooks all of his own meals, and cleans his room and all common areas immediately after he uses them. He is not old enough to drive yet so we charge him the standard government mileage rate for wear and tear on our vehicles, plus an hourly rate when we drive him to/from places like school, sports, the grocery store, and the coal mine.

Most of you sound like you’re raising helpless snowflakes, to be honest. Do your teens even know how hunt and forage? Start a fire? Build a shelter? If not, you’re a failure as a parent.

You actually thought this was clever while you were typing it.

Incredible.

What do you mean? I am completely serious. Are you telling me you haven’t taught your children extremely basic survival skills? You think letting them slap some premade peanut butter on some premade bread and calling it independence is a flex?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Yes, actually there is. Try raising competent near-adults. The rest of the world will thank you.

P.S. Don’t do their laundry either. You’re welcome.

I am the PP who leaves her son alone for at least two nights every month, and sometimes, up to five days at a time. I can assure you he is competent and independent and I like making his lunches when I can. And he can do all his own cooking and packing when I can't/won't.

You have only one piece of a picture. You have no clue the overall structure of any one kid's life, so no basis for judging any parent for making lunches.

Don’t bother responding to these types of women. They’re just completely lazy and incompetent, and trying to justify their lack of love and care for their own kids as deliberate parenting choices to “build character” or whatever other BS they come up with.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with a kid packing his lunch or doing his laundry. But there’s also nothing wrong with his parents doing those things. The women on this thread patting themselves on the back for their refusal to even consider fulfilling the most basic of parental responsibilities are ultimately just insecure because deep down they know they’re $h!tty mothers.

Packing a lunch is so incredibly far from a “basic parental responsibility” when we’re talking about teenagers. Providing the food? Sure. Packing it, because they’re so incredibly busy and exhausted from their resume building? Nope.

The sh*tty parents are the ones thwarting their teens’ age-appropriate autonomy because they still like to feel needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Actually there is something wrong with this. You forget that the goal is raise your children to adulthood. Little things like planning out lunches, doing their own laundry, taking responsibility for cleaning up after themselves are all part of that. I guarantee your children are sorely lacking in independence if their mom is crowd sourcing how to make their everyday lunches extra special.

Your parents didn’t teach you social skills, kindness, or how to pull your gigantic head out of your own @$$.

Better make sure the kids know they’re still in the will; otherwise they’ll have no reason to continue to pretend they don’t hate you.

It’s downright depressing that kids taking responsibility for feeding and themselves (not even contributing to household chores!) is considered abusive and hateful.

SMH

It’s downright depressing how dumb hateful jerks on the internet are. You are *clearly* abusive and hateful, but one can reach that conclusion NOT because your kids pack their own lunch, but because of the way you responded to OP.

I hope that clears it up for you. (I’m guessing your parents made you feed yourself because they were busy doing your schoolwork and college applications for you.)

DP. Maybe time to take a little break from the internet. You don’t sound ok.

Np

Classic mean girl comment
Don't kick people when they're down

?? PP is the one calling people abusive and hateful over a lunch packing thread.

LOL did you even read that female dog’s comment to OP?

Yeah, I just reread it and I don’t have any problem with it. Maybe the eyeroll emoji was unnecessary, but I agree with that poster otherwise.

You two can eyeroll together while you sit around drinking wine as your kids parent themselves. Pretty typical behavior for this area.

Do you still cut the crusts off and leave little notes for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s time to stop packing your kids’ lunches.

No it’s not. I pack my hs kids lunch.

My teenager would be embarrassed to have a lunch packed by mom.

haha. My kid has a friend whose mom still packs their lunch (older HSers). The friend hates that the mom keeps doing this, and told the mom that none of his friends mom's pack their lunches. I don't pack DC's lunches, but I do make sure there is something in the fridge for them to pack.

When DC told me this I laughed, but I said that the mom is a sahm and this is her way of taking care of her kids. DC told me they thought the mom needed to get a job or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify: what do your kids pack? I want to have options for them.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with packing for your kid. It’s a really nice thing to do if you have a hardworking teen. Mine are way busier than I am, so I sometimes like to do this for them.

Yes, actually there is. Try raising competent near-adults. The rest of the world will thank you.

P.S. Don’t do their laundry either. You’re welcome.

I am the PP who leaves her son alone for at least two nights every month, and sometimes, up to five days at a time. I can assure you he is competent and independent and I like making his lunches when I can. And he can do all his own cooking and packing when I can't/won't.

You have only one piece of a picture. You have no clue the overall structure of any one kid's life, so no basis for judging any parent for making lunches.

Don’t bother responding to these types of women. They’re just completely lazy and incompetent, and trying to justify their lack of love and care for their own kids as deliberate parenting choices to “build character” or whatever other BS they come up with.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with a kid packing his lunch or doing his laundry. But there’s also nothing wrong with his parents doing those things. The women on this thread patting themselves on the back for their refusal to even consider fulfilling the most basic of parental responsibilities are ultimately just insecure because deep down they know they’re $h!tty mothers.

It's not "refusing" to pack their lunch. It's about teaching the kids to take care of themselves BEFORE they go off to college.

Honestly, I don't understand how parents expect their kids to become self sufficient when they go off to college if they are doing everything for them right up until they leave.

I have a kid in college now, and I see a lot of FB posts from parents asking about stuff like laundry and meal service, I guess because the kids were never taught to do laundry or figure out what to eat themselves.

DH learned to cook before he left for college. He said he ate well compared to his friends. DS now in college also cooks. Learned a bit at home, and I also shared some easy recipes I have with them. DS also watches some tiktok videos from some guy for cooking ideas. He's home for winter break and made dinner for us. It's not like he's not busy. He's a dual STEM major, and works PT for a software company, and has a GF.

[Anonymous]

My kids said it was very uncool to pack and bring lunch, and that phase lasted into this year (senior year) Now ds makes things like rice and chicken and broccoli or similar and brings in a thermos, but not all the time. Dd usually brings a power bar and fruit and then makes herself a proper lunch when she gets home.