My child has said they won’t eat: PB&J, any other type of sandwich, yogurt, cheese/ crackers, anything that comes in a thermos as it’s not warm enough at lunch, most fruit/ veggies.

I stopped sending lunch. If he is being difficult then he doesn’t have to eat. I’m not a short order cook. I’ve made lunches for several years now and I quit. If he’s hungry he can ask for help on packing one. School has complained but I ignore them. I’m over wasting hundreds of dollars a year. He can sit quietly at lunch while others eat.

No hot lunch at our school either.

Does the school give your child a choice of either eating lunch or playing?

Yeah, we kinda gave in and let them take stuff I would consider junk. I stock our cupboard with all sorts of crap - I really try to make it as healthy as possible to the extent that stuff exists in a single serving container and let them choose what to put in their lunch each day. The upside - they pack their own lunches and eat them! (2nd, 5th, and 7th graders):
They choose:
1 main: options I offer are pb&j, egg and sausage wraps, turkey sandwich
1 fruit thing: box of raisins, applesauce squeeze thing, peach cup
1 snack: pirates booty, pretzels, beef jerky, crackers
1 treat: 2 oreos, z bar, nutella sticks

My kid is like this because of ADHD meds. I send Fairlife cookies and cream milk. Not perfect but it does help if he drinks this at lunch. So I would second chocolate milk or fair life.

I wouldn't be punitive- send shelf stable chocolate milk, sunbutter sandwich, and healthy chips, apple, cookie. He will eat what he wants, and can finish the rest in the car. This way the food isn't wasted. Plus, if he only drinks the chocolate milk at school, that's a decent amount of protein and carbs.

He's not eating because he's got a ton of energy and wants to be playing- it has nothing to do with food. School probably needs to provide more PE or movement breaks. Kids, especially young kids, need to move and play.

How do you present the food? Is it all in different containers or have you tried a bento box?

Can you add a smidge of nutella to a peanut butter sandwich to make it more enticing?

Does your child like a hot lunch? My child wouldn't eat from a traditional thermos so I got a smaller rounder container from s'well because it was easier to eat out of and now she eats leftovers from that. It doesn't keep it piping hot but if I warm up the container with hot water it helps (she also has an early lunch time).

My DD is like this. We've started sending less food, but make sure it will fill her up: Nut butter sandwich (if allowed), high fat cheese, some sort of veggie. Maybe an apple. And that's it - no snacks, no cookies, no chips. If she's only going to eat a little bit, I'm not going to do my best to ensure that it won't be something that will make her hungry again in an hour. Usually, she'll eat the cheese, veggies, and maybe half the sandwich. She's still hungry after school, but less ravenous.

We also started giving her a high protein breakfast to help sustain her longer. It's a battle. Good luck.

When you see the temptation of the playground is too strong, are you telling me that kids can go directly to the playground at any time after they “finish” their lunch?

Or, is there a set lunch time And then a set recess time and he still not eating his lunch within the allotted lunch time?

I think peanut butter, an apple, and some white milk is balanced, not too much, and will hold him over. Over packing can sometimes lead to under eating bc they are overwhelmed with too many choices.

And don't worry about blood sugar. Your body is able to regulate your blood sugar just fine, even if you don't eat for several hours.

Can you involve some professionals? A psychologist, nutritionist?

I say this in the most gentle way possible since it seems like you are struggling.

Rewarding him with junk foods is not the answer.

Both of my DCs 10 & 8 years old are very picky and they pretty much each the same things each day.

DC1
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Apple slices
The wheat thins and cheese snack packs from the store
Animal Crackers
Dorritos
Fruit snacks
Grapes
Bottled water

DC2
Peanut Butter only Sandwich since he doesn't like Jelly
Granola Bars since he likes them and DC1 doesn't
Plus all of the same stuff above that DC1 eats

Both of my DCs are skinny so I'm going to try the chocolate milk idea that a couple people have posted about for DC2 since he likes chocolate milk.

I'm sorry you are going through this. My Stepchild now 15 was like this when she was younger. I didn't know her back then but learned this information from her parents. I want to share with you that they started rewarding her with junk food when she was younger for not eating her "real" food because they just wanted her to eat and now food is a challenging topic in our household because she doesn't want to eat what the rest of us eat and she literally will subsist off of chocolate pop tarts, Ramen noodles, donuts, soda, the newest latest unhealthy packaged desert from the store, etc. If you don't course correct now while your child is young it may get worse and even harder to correct once he is older.

Sending my love to you from one mama to another. ❤️ Parenting is hard.

I usually pack DC7 dinner left over with fruit for lunch, then a jam or sun butter sandwich and fruit for snack. They eat lunch at 10:45am (it’s very early) and if DC doesn’t want to eat, at least DC will eat the jam sandwich during the 12:30pm snack time.

Chocolate milk

Anonymous wrote:My DS is the same, all sandwiches/fruits/veggies come back home untouched, and he is so hungry at pick up
I’ve resorted to buying and packing snacks that were never part of our routine, because I just need him to eat, anything.
(I’m talking Cheetos, chocolate chip cookies etc) I still pack the healthy stuff as m option

Wtf? Your kid wastes his lunch everyday and you reward him with Cheetos??

He will eat the healthy stuff if you don’t let him eat junk food instead.

Anonymous wrote:Make him eat his lunch in the car. Rewarding your child with garbage when they haven't eaten their lunch seems counterproductive. He needs to learn the importance of eating his lunch, and if he's crashing, it's a great time to learn the importance of eating 3 meals a day.

This. When he whines he wants a snack, tell him he should have eaten his lunch and he can eat it now if he wants a snack.

He’s probably too distracted. Have a snack waiting in the car.