To expect dd age 12 to eat a school meal at lunchtime?

[trinni]

I work at school and eat a cooked meal as a perk of the job. Ds also enjoys his hot school meal - no complaints from him. Dd however, refuses to have a meal at lunchtime, preferring to eat a sandwich or a pasta pot, which she buys but is allowed to eat outside apparently.

Her motive for not eating at school is she would rather spend time outside with her friend (who eats very little) and is a HUGE influence on dd.

A packed lunch defeats the object really and is labour intensive. She has even offered to cook for herself in the evening but I predict chaos if that were to happen.

So, I feel I must cook a hot meal in the evening to feed dd who hasn't had much. Otherwise, we could have a light meal and it would certainly make life easier for me.

I have suggested she complies for 3 days out of 5 - but no! She says I can't make her. I have taken away her laptop for the time being and she is sulking in the bath!

AIBU? WWYD Please?

Thank you Fabby. Did you read the whole thread?

I agree with the others, let her sort her own lunches out if she's adamant she won't have school dinners. You might find that she tires quite quickly of having to sort it out the night before.
Also agree with the making stuff in batch. I always do this with things like bolonese sauce, chilli, etc. And the just freeze into portions, ready for when I can't be faffed to cook when my boyfriend isn't around and it's just for me.
You never know, she might turn out to be really good at cooking, and you'll have someone else to help do dinners!!