Lunch notes

Up until now, the kids have always had free school lunches.  The silver lining in 15 years of schooling.

So now the kids are packers.  Or as they say here, "cold lunch."  I always called it packers, but anyways. 

Having to bring their lunches to school is great, but just something to add to my random trips to the school for forgotten items.  Homework, a signed permission slip, now lunch.  When you're a stay home mom, it's what you're good for.  Running forgotten items to school so your child can be less responsible. 

Yeah, I got it.

And it's not the younger girls that forget things, it's the older boys.  The girls are made of maturity, properness, cleanliness, responsibility.  The boys?  It's comical.

So to "teach them to not forget their lunches" I would do what they see as the worst thing ever.  I write heart-felt feelings, on the front of their lunch bag.  In marker.

"You are my world!"
"You're so handsome, I know all the girls just think you're hot!"
"You can achieve anything you want because you're awesome!"

Stuff like that.  Yes, I do believe it, but normally I'm not one to trumpet those kinds of things.  Unless I'm trying to teach my kids to be more responsible.

The boys would come home from school and beg me to stop writing on their lunch bags.  "It's sooo embarrassing!"  "Well, I do love you and I want you to know those things.  And I wouldn't write them if I didn't have to bring your lunch to you!"

The girl's ears apparently perked.

"What are you talking about?"

So guess who started "forgetting" their lunches?

I sensed that the girls LIKED the idea.  They have actual lunch bags, so I can't write on the outside of their lunches.  I delivered a couple of forgotten lunches to the girls with notes put inside their lunch bags. 

And then it happened.  Getting ready for school one morning, Angela handed me a pen and a stack of paper and said, "here Mom, for our notes."  It wasn't a demand, it wasn't joking, it wasn't even asking.  It was a simple statement.

Oh my gosh!  The innocence of it!  The preciousness of it!  The NECESSITY of it!

So every day, I write 5 notes, sometimes 6 (yes, Matt gets them every once in a while too!)  The boys at first would actually pack their lunches and smash them into their backpacks before I could slip their notes in them, but I persisted and now, they actually wait for me to write them and THEN smash their lunches into their backpacks.

The kids love the notes.  And I'm glad this idea evolved.  My greatest blessings go to school every day, get lambasted with who knows what (OK, I KNOW with what).  I think reading a "love note" from me is a great way to lift them, to remind them of how important they are, to lift their spirits, to put a spring in their step, to help them deal with peer pressure, or strengthen them against temptation.  It's nice to hear great things about yourself, especially from your parents. 

I do have to keep Addi's simple.  Her reading isn't up to par with her siblings.  The other day my note to her was, "I love your laugh.  Always keep laughing!"  When I picked her up she said, "Mom, your note was weird and made my friends laugh."
 "Oh really?"
"You said you love my lunch.  Always keep lunching.  That was really weird."  When I told her what I had REALLY written, she belted out her awesome belly laugh.  The girl laughs all the time.  Especially at herself.

I found out my daughters save their notes. 

I wish I had done this long ago, but that's OK.  Never too late to start a good habit.