Snack Time! - 10 things the Parents Learned in the First Week of Kindergarten

Last week was the first week of junior kindergarten for the minions.  All things considered, for such a huge change in their lives, they are doing great.  I'm sure they learned a lot, but I'm convinced that maybe, just maybe, the parents learned more this past week.  You be the judge.

10 Things the Parents Learned in the First Week of Jr. Kindergarten

1. There is a fine balance between the size of the backpack, the size of the lunch bag and the size of the child.  If any of these ratios are slightly off, there will chaos including: left behind lunch bags, smushed class calendars or complaints that your child simply expects others to carry their bag for them, like they're royalty (or in that famous shopping bag scene in Pretty Woman).
2. Apparently, touching numerous garbage cans and then sticking your hands in your mouth is an awesome game to play on the walk from before and after care to school.  Thankfully our child care providers assure us that it is now understood that this isn't acceptable behaviour.  There has also been a newly developed appreciation for saying the word "disgusting" in our household this week, coincidence? Thankfully garbage day is only once a week!
3. Stories about a child's day at school can sound surprisingly similar to the movie Kung Fu Panda and The Lion King.  I'm pretty sure that someone's "bad" uncle didn't show up on the playground and steal a red ball from the entire kindergarten class.  Even if he did show up, I think we'd have been notified and he'd be in police custody by now.
4. The teachers have assured us via email that all children have been wonderful at school and are saving up all of the grouch for the evenings.  Thanks for that.
5. I previously thought there was nothing more disgusting than the remnants of pudding in an opened reusable container in a lunch bag....(litterless lunch has become the bane of my existence)
6. That is until I discovered what a banana peel can do to the insides of a lunch bag (seriously, it's like a banana crapped everywhere).
7. Neither of my children will accept a spork as a multi-functional form of cutlery and keep telling me how "silly" I am for packing your a fork with apple sauce.  
8. The homework is for the parents.  I spent over an hour and a half on paperwork and forms on the first night of school.
9. It will rain, a lot, but only during the fifteen minute time period when school children are walking to and from school.  The rest of the time they will refuse to wear their rain coats, attempt to fit them into their backpacks, but sadly the coats just won't fit because of all of the other random objects from the house that have been jammed into said backpack for no particular reason.
10. Uncertainty surrounding whether or not one of my children has become a sarcastic genius in recent weeks because they've either come up with a clever pun for their teacher's name, or simply can't pronounce it.

What did you learn as a parent during the first week of school?

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On Top of Spaghetti

Yesterday was the first day of school and everything went surprisingly well.  The minions returned home tired, but in good spirits, despite getting caught in a torrential downpour on their walk from kindergarten to after-school-care.  Today we packed umbrellas along with raincoats in preparation for another rainy walk.

I have been stressing about the transition to school, likely more than either child.  Will they make friends quickly?  Was it the correct decision to put them in separate classes this year?  And, how do I deal with packed lunches and snacks when currently I'm scoring about a 60% on the adult front for sack lunches?  Clearly I need to step up my game, and I'm trying, but mostly failing so far.

When we attended kindergarten orientation back in the spring I learned that the expectation is that we provide a litter-free lunch (and two snacks) for the kids.  For years we've been reliant on daycare providing all of the nourishment that the kids need 8AM-530PM.   Now we've been left on our own and can't provide any litter trail without getting what I assume is a finger wag from educational providers about our inability to provide our children with some semblance of nourishment.

We researched packed lunches and learned that kids are more likely to eat their lunches if they are involved in selecting the foods and helping to pack them.  I asked Molly what her favourite item was to eat at daycare...her response: Ice Cream.  Helpful, right?  Next I went out and bought what I thought was a ton of containers, reusable cloth bags and juice boxes.  When we went grocery shopping this past weekend, we selected favourite meats, crackers, cheeses, fruits and veggies together.  The night before kindergarten Molly helped me whip up a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip muffins for snack and we packed everything up together.

Spider Man says, "EAT YOUR LUNCH!"

Yesterday afternoon when I picked up the kids I discovered two things.  1) I had not prepared for the fact that Molly's lunch bag, with everything in it would immediately disappear into a black hole, ravaging me of a good portion of litter-less lunch supplies and 2) Jack's refusal to eat EVERYTHING we packed (together) for his lunch and snacks.  He had maybe 2 pieces of meat and drank all of his apple juice and took a bite or two of cucumber, but that was it....all day long.  Molly claims she ate all of her food yesterday, but I won't know for sure until tonight, hopefully.

Last night, after filling out six forms for each child I returned to the land of lunches.  I took some of their "feedback" into consideration.

Today I have three goals for the children: 1) Molly returning home with two lunch bags 2) That I won't get in trouble from school authorities over the apple core and two banana peels my kids will (hopefully) be producing at lunch and snack and 3) That Jack actually eat some of the food I packed.  Okay, I guess I also hope they have fun today.

What do your kids eat for lunch? Does it count as a litter-free lunch if your children refuse to eat anything you send them to school with and return with bags filled with warm apple sauce that you end up throwing out at home?

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