How in the hell do you get your kid to eat lunch at school?

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We may have to get someone in the school to make sure he eats. He's in first grade, and granted, they only get 20 minutes to eat, but geez louise, you'd think he could eat more for lunch than a few raisins. We've tried to make his lunch as quick and simple as possible: forget the sandwich, we're just doing rolled up sliced turkey or ham, maybe some mini carrots, a carton of rice milk. And he still won't eat it. The kid can't keep going all day without any nutrition. (We're also gluten-free/casein-free.) Any magic bullets out there?

Have you asked him y he's not eating?

He always says something like he doesn't have enough time, but he can certainly eat two or three turkey slices in 20 minutes. And occasionally we'll get the "I don't like turkey" or "I don't like [fill in the blank]", which is always news to us. We've even tried Lara Bars, Luna Bars, Organic Food Bars (all of which he's loved in the past)...I'm talking simple here. I'm thinking that the lunch room may be one big distract-a-palooza for him. I don't know what else to try.

Maybe other kids are picking on him during lunchtime, and he's too busy worrying about the bullies to get a moment to eat. That used to happen to me, and I devised a coping strategy. I'd keep my lunch in my bag, have only one item out at a time, and hold it firmly in my hand. For instance, I'd eat the sandwich first, then the chips or vegetables, then the drink. (I didn't resort to eating my lunch in the bathroom, like I heard stories.) The energy bars seem like a good idea, since it's something he can hold in his hand and hide quickly in the pocket.

Try asking him if anyone is picking on him. If so, try talking to the teacher and see if he can eat lunch in the classroom, in the resource center, or in a quiet area somewhere.

There should be monitors in the lunch room to make sure kids aren't being harassed. I've had only unpleasant encounters with them, but they are there to ensure safety.
Geez, back in the 70's when I was in 1st grade, my class aide made eat cole slaw. It was the only thing I didn't touch on my tray. I hated cole slaw. She forced me to take a bite before excusing me. I barfed all over the tray. I was excused from the cafeteria.

My son is pretty much on the wheat only diet. I put in Stax potato chips, Goldfish (wholegrain), 2 pieces of dry bread, 1 Scottish shortbread cookie.

I gave on the sandwiches last year. I think the smell of sitting food just doesn't appeal. Maybe the lunchmeat smells funny after being packed? Have you tried crackers? waffles? peanuts?

My son doesn't drink anything at school besides water, either.

When my son was skipping lunches, I made sure he was getting calorie rich breakfast and afterschool snack. It happens. I rarely ate lunch at school. Especially the ones my mom packed. Mayonaise-drenched bologna on Wonderbread and koolaid [/puke]

I'm not a parent but I didn't like eating at school either, so maybe this will help you.

I didn't like eating at school for the following reasons:

1) I hated the foods my mother put in my lunch box. We could never find anything I liked that would keep in a lunch box.
2) I hated eating in the cafeteria. The combination of the cafeteria smell and eating would make me ill.
3) I felt like I didn't have enough time.
4) I didn't like using the school bathrooms, especially when other kids were in them. If I ate and drank anything I would never be able to hold it until I got home.


When I got to 6th grade I stopped eating breakfast and lunch on school days, I didn't eat anything until 2:45pm or sometimes 6pm. But it worked for me, I would use the 20-30 minutes to do my homework so I wouldn't have to do it at home. I'm still like that. I still go all day without eating. If I try to eat during the day, it just makes me sleepy, crabby, or ill.

mj1 gives some good information as to possible reasons why your child might not be eating at school.

I know that our son took a LONG time to eat his lunch, and therefore didn't always finish, because he was just slow at doing anything at school -- just way too much distraction for him to pay attention to something long enough to do it in a timely manner, such as writing, eating, coloring, etc.

If it helps at all, he's much better now. He eats like crazy (he's 11) and can see the point to finishing quickly -- he gets to go talk with his other nerdy friends about nerdy subjects at lunch. They all like each other so much that they eat pretty quickly.

Kris

Sorry, no ideas, but this was an issue for me too...Actually, most of the time all of the different smells in the lunchroom made me sick...sometimes I would go into the restroom the entire period so I wouldn't have to smell them...Needless to say, I hardly ever ate at school...It wasn't until I was in highschool, that I could go out into a courtyard that I could actually eat lunch...nothing big either...but in the lunchroom I couldn't do it.

my son had problems with the amount of noise in the cafeteria........way too loud to eat

One word: headphones!! !
I bought an I pod for my daughter and she listens to it in any stressful environment. She also listens to it during tests.

Ask if its possible to have him eat somewhere else. Most schools have an area for something similar to "Lunch detention" that could be used, be it a special room or the office. He may find it easier to eat in the quietness/lack of crowds. I knwo in eleentary school I couldn't eat anything, no matter how hungry, after someone did something such as burp and in 3nd rade it was popular for the boys to have burping contests at lunch

In middle school I gobbled my lunch as fast as possible because I wasn't comfortable eating in front of people (not sure if I had a reason as to why)

I had that problem as a kid in school too. I ate hot lunch and the food was very disgusting. Also cafeteria's are the grossest places on earth. I think the textures of the place really got to me. I can't eat on a hard picnic like bench on a gymnasium-like floor with loud accoustics. Not to mention i was a social outcast so I had to share a long section of the table by myself or sit next to kids i hated.

It's a very nerve wracking environment. To this day i cant eat in uncomfortable places with crappy seats and hard floors. This includes all fast food restuarants and all cafeterias with the acception of college ones because it was a restaurant atmosphere with carpet, comfy chairs, and small tables. Not to mention two tvs which allowed me to eat alone in peace as i could pretend i was paying attention to the TV and hence not be looked on as weird for not talking while eating. Why do people feel the need do that anyway?

As far as advice is concerned. If it's an environment thing you could try to convince you kid to drink stuff in class to get nutrients and stuff.

I remember that they served some pretty nasty stuff in the cafeteria. Some of it looked as though it had been regurgitated. Naturally, I didn't eat it. My mother's lunches, though, were excellent.

I remember one item that was particularly nasty called "chicken fried steak." Other nasties were coleslaw and Waldorf salad. (I called it "Waldbarf salad.")

I coped with bullies in the lunchroom too. One big guy tripped me.

When I was at school, I remember not eating my food most of the time. I used to get into trouble at school and at home over food until I developed a great method of disposing of it. I used to sit near the edge of the balcony (with the bin beneath and would scrunch my wrapper with the sandwiches in it and drop it in).

Coming home with no food always made mum and the teachers feel better and it didn't make any difference to me.

By secondary school, mum was ok with me not having lunch and didn't bother making it. I used to skip breakfast and lunch but would usually eat some of my tea. In my later teens I'd have toast when I got home from school, but not while I was in primary school.

It's not quite a "time" thing but it's to do with concentration on peers and just not feeling like eating. It never had anything to do with bullies. Even now I rarely eat lunch.

Unless your child is seriously undernourished (not eating at all for any meal), it would be best if you could cut him/her some slack. There's a great line in one of Dr Green's books about infants who won't eat... ...call me on day 20 if he's not eating at all.

Obviously you wouldn't wait 20 days really, but if a kid is eating, even "junk" food, he won't starve.