Packing Lunch for Teenagers

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

Raising judgmental followers is the ultimate goal, right? Great job, mom! (Bonus points for the seeds of misogyny you have successfully planted.)

[Anonymous]

I’m with you, OP, that I like to pack lunches. It’s a caring thing to do and gives busy kids a few extra minutes in the morning. However, I’m no Bento mom and most of the time my DCs want to do it themselves anyway.
Musubi
Leftovers of all kinds
Salad: those bagged salads that come with toppings and dressing. One bag yields two lunches.
Marinated tofu sautéed with peppers; rice; edamame (obv this is on a day when I am graciously granted the opportunity to pack the lunch, or else it’s pulled together from leftovers in the fridge)
Sometimes I make a batch of chili intended to be had for lunches.
Burrito
Pasta

Fruit would be goood but it’s always a no-go in my kids’ lunches (“it gets warm and it’s gross”) and my kids don’t accept dairy items like yogurt or cheese (“it gets warm and it’s gross”). Usually I keep little snack-sized bags of baked chips, and one of those gets included regardless of whatever else lunch includes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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?

Yes. I draw amusing pictures on the notes, as well.

[Anonymous]

Did not mean to spell “good” with three Os. I was not being emphatic. 😅

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Yes. I draw amusing pictures on the notes, as well.

I have a friend who packed her kid’s lunch and included a daily haiku she wrote, every day until the kid graduated. The kid is now doing great at Bryn Mawr and is not helpless, lacking survival skills, or starving. My friend is a college professor and main breadwinner of the household. Normal people. I think it’s fine to pack your teen’s lunch as long as they also know how to pull together balanced meals for themselves and aren’t otherwise spoiled or helpless.

[Anonymous]

Mine often does pasta with rao’s sauce or pesto sauce in a thermos.

Beans rice and cheese with spices in a thermos.

Mix of snacks — protein bar, applesauce, chips

Sandwich

Cooks empanadas the night before and brings them cold or to reheat in school microwave

Quesadillas with bean cheese and scallions, fried in morning and sliced

Egg casserole is good next day cold

Cold pizza

Salad.

[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.

Being able to pack a lunch is an important as being able to write a history essay.

I never packed my lunch until I was in the work force and I won a prize in history and went to Yale. Happy?

This is a good post because I went to Yale but packed my own lunch every day from 4th grade on and frankly by the time I got to college I was really exhausted and burned out and had some weird eating issues going on. Having a mom who insisted that because I could, I should, meant that I basically raised myself since I was 9. I don’t recommend that.

I pack my kid’s lunch now. I know how tired I am doing it at the end of a long work week and I’m happy to lift that burden from her.

[Anonymous]

lol at connecting specific colleges—Yale, Bryn Mawr—with whether or not your mom packed your lunch. Never change, DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol at connecting specific colleges—Yale, Bryn Mawr—with whether or not your mom packed your lunch. Never change, DCUM.

You‘re not following, dear. Which college did you go to? I’m assuming it wasn’t Yale or Bryn Mawr…

[Anonymous]

I don’t get the hate for packing your kids’ a lunch. If your teen likes you to pack it and happily eats it, what’s the problem? If they’d prefer to pack their own, that’s fine too. Plenty of adults pack their spouses lunch for work. It’s an act of kindness and love. It in no way stunts independence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at connecting specific colleges—Yale, Bryn Mawr—with whether or not your mom packed your lunch. Never change, DCUM.

You‘re not following, dear. Which college did you go to? I’m assuming it wasn’t Yale or Bryn Mawr…

Just UVA, so you’ll have to pardon me. What am I not following? Both posters implied that they or someone they know is/was successful at their [name drop selective school] despite the fact that their moms packed their lunches through high school. What am I missing?

[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.

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.

Raising judgmental followers is the ultimate goal, right? Great job, mom! (Bonus points for the seeds of misogyny you have successfully planted.)

haha at least he packs his own lunch, and I don't baby him. And yes, a sahm is more likely to pack her kids lunch than not. My sister did the same. What else do they do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at connecting specific colleges—Yale, Bryn Mawr—with whether or not your mom packed your lunch. Never change, DCUM.

You‘re not following, dear. Which college did you go to? I’m assuming it wasn’t Yale or Bryn Mawr…

Just UVA, so you’ll have to pardon me. What am I not following? Both posters implied that they or someone they know is/was successful at their [name drop selective school] despite the fact that their moms packed their lunches through high school. What am I missing?

They were saying they still managed to go to good schools, even though their moms packed their lunches. Which you do seem to understand, which begs the question as to why you said they were “connecting specific colleges… with whether or not their moms packed their lunch”. Which is not what they were doing.

I honestly don’t understand what you don’t understand. “Connecting a specific college” would imply that they’re saying “I went to Yale *because* my mom packed my lunch” rather than “moms can pack lunches and kids can still be successful, here’s a sample data point”.

Clearly you wanted to get a dig in at these people, but you were wildly unsuccessful. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Raising judgmental followers is the ultimate goal, right? Great job, mom! (Bonus points for the seeds of misogyny you have successfully planted.)

haha at least he packs his own lunch, and I don't baby him. And yes, a sahm is more likely to pack her kids lunch than not. My sister did the same. What else do they do?

It’s healthier and more variety than if they pack it themselves. WTF do you care? Your post reeks of insecurity. You do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lol at connecting specific colleges—Yale, Bryn Mawr—with whether or not your mom packed your lunch. Never change, DCUM.

You‘re not following, dear. Which college did you go to? I’m assuming it wasn’t Yale or Bryn Mawr…

Just UVA, so you’ll have to pardon me. What am I not following? Both posters implied that they or someone they know is/was successful at their [name drop selective school] despite the fact that their moms packed their lunches through high school. What am I missing?

They were saying they still managed to go to good schools, even though their moms packed their lunches. Which you do seem to understand, which begs the question as to why you said they were “connecting specific colleges… with whether or not their moms packed their lunch”. Which is not what they were doing.

I honestly don’t understand what you don’t understand. “Connecting a specific college” would imply that they’re saying “I went to Yale *because* my mom packed my lunch” rather than “moms can pack lunches and kids can still be successful, here’s a sample data point”.

Clearly you wanted to get a dig in at these people, but you were wildly unsuccessful. Sorry.

I think it’s funny because I assume places like Yale, and maybe to a lesser extent, Bryn Mawr, are more likely to be FULL of kids whose mom made their lunches. Have you read the college forum here lately? Moms (and probably dads) are doing everything for their teenagers, even writing their essays and bragging about it, so that their kids can be “successful” at these elite schools.

It’s just to me because it’s not surprising at all. Of course their moms made their lunches!