School lunches can be traumatic especially for younger children and those who have just started school. Below are 5 practical tips that I discovered during my school days as a teacher – all designed to help school lunchtimes run smoothly for your little ones….
Follow these five easy steps to make school lunchtimes more enjoyable for your children
1. Get the lunch box design right
When choosing a school lunch box or bag take a good look at the design. Ask yourself: will your child be able to open the lunch bag by themselves? If not then choose a different design. Zip and velcro opening lunch bags are best. Bags with clasps are not right. Clasps are too stiff and too tight for little fingers.
2. Make your child’s lunch bag instantly recognisable
First point here is to look for a lunch box or bag with a name label already on it. All you then have to do is write your child’s name on the label and the bag becomes recognisable and different from all the others with a similar design. If the lunch box doesn’t have a label or if you want to make it stand out even more, attach a keyring or a piece of coloured ribbon to your child’s lunch box so that they can easily pick their lunch bag out from the others.
3. Get a good drinks bottle.
Make sure that you buy a drinks bottle that doesn’t leak. The cheaper bottles often leak after a few weeks leaving soggy sandwiches and biscuits in the lunch box. Spending a few pence more on a good quality bottle with a lid that works will be well worth it in the end and there are plenty of matching lunch boxes and bottles available.
4. Don’t put too much food into the lunch box
As many young children are slow eaters, don’t put too much food in their lunch box. Why? because lunchtimes at school can be quite short and children don’t like sitting on their own to finish their lunch while their friends are outside playing. You need to give them enough to eat so that they don’t go hungry, but not too much so that they spend all playtime at the table eating their food.
5. Make lunches appetising
Find out what your child likes best and mostly stick to those types of things. However, if you are stuck for what to put into the lunch box, don’t be afraid to be creative – take a look at funky lunch for some really cool ideas!
The above 5 tips will most definitely make your child’s lunchtime experience a more enjoyable one, but there are many other practical things to consider when it comes to buying a kids lunch box. A full report can be found on our dedicated Kids Lunch Box page.
Written by Lisa Bradburn
Lisa is the managing director of what2buy4kids. Lisa’s wish is to make your job of finding a gift for the children in your life easier, or help you to take some of the time and frustration out of the search for that special gift for kids.
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