Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Sources of Stress: Summer Camp & Toddler Lunch Ideas

In just two short weeks M (now 2.7 years old) will be attending summer camp at the same place where she will begin pre-school in the fall. We had decided that it was better for us to send her to "school" before the baby comes in August, so that she does not think we are replacing her and shipping her off three days a week to some strange place alone once the baby arrives.

Now M has been home with me for her entire life. We have attended classes every week with friends, but for the most part it is her and me all day long, every day. I knew that school would be somewhat of an adjustment, as she will have to follow someone else's orders and do as she is told, but she is so easy going (well, most of the time) that I thought she would be just fine. So to prepare her for summer camp at school we visited her school for the first time since our initial visit in January last week. I went into this visit with complete confidence that my daughter would take to being in a classroom of kids like she had been going all her life - and boy was I wrong. She did nothing but whine, threw a fit in front of the entire class, and screamed "I wanna go home now!" We were only there for 20 minutes of the two hours we had planned to be there, when the school director asked us to leave and come back this week (in the nicest way possible of course, as it wasn't doing us any good to stay in the state M was in). 


I, of course, being 8 months pregnant and hormonal, broke into tears as soon as we left as our visit was a total disaster. The school asked us to come back this week for a second visit - and thankfully this week's visit was the polar opposite of our first one. Yes there were some moments of whining and a few loud screams, but over all she had a great time with the kids at her new school. I was able to talk to one of her teachers, and she eased most of the fears I have about M starting school on her own in a few weeks - is it ok that she isn't fully potty trained? What if she throws a fit? What do I pack her for lunch? I left the school feeling 100 times better than I had the week before, as M told me "school is fun" when we got into the car after our visit. 


But now I am stressing over little things - like what to pack her for lunch every day? At home meal time can go one of two ways: I make her dinner, she eats the entire thing without batting an eye, no matter what it is or I make her dinner she takes one look at it and says "no thanks," requests something else, I make it and she says "no thanks" and ends up having a piece of cheese and an apple sauce for dinner. Most of the time she eats what I make, but I fear that meal time at school might be a disaster! What if I pack her something she doesn't want? And she throws a fit and doesn't eat it? And then is a cranky beast? 


This is such a silly thing to stress about, but because I am thinking about it so much I have been doing a little research via Pinterest on Toddler lunches. I also bought her some Bento box-type lunch boxes on Amazon, as well as some sandwich punches, and cookie cutters so that I can cut out veggies and fruits in fun shapes. I am totally going to be that mom who makes her kids lunches in to Sesame Street characters...just you wait!! 


Here are some of my favorite pins on Pinterest that are full of great ideas for toddler lunches! Just click on the photos to go for more details and follow me on Pinterest... 

















2 comments:

  1. We just pack a redo of last nights dinner with the occasional cheese stick or apple thrown in. Not to sound harsh but these pinterests make me feel inadequate.

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  2. I would also recommend getting a thermos. It opens a whole new set of possibilities - mac and cheese, hot dogs, nuggets...
    A tip another mom taught me: fill the thermos with hot to boiling water and close the top while you're preparing lunch. Dump out the water and wipe out then put whatever you've prepared in. It warms up the steel and helps the food stay warm longer!

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