What do your children have in their lunchboxes?

[Kendodd]

Mine are age 4, 5 and 6 and they all have the same. Typically-

Sandwich, one piece of bread with ham or cheese or tuna and corn mayo or something.
Fruit, apple or banana, something like that.
Carrot sticks, cherries tomatos, cucumber, about half (or a bit over) a child's handful.
Sometimes a treat (depending how big a tuck I give them) small piece of cake, mini muffin, chocolate biscuit, something like that.
Water to drink.

They also take some tuck, a cereal bar or flapjack or something.

Usually all except the 4yo have something left when they come home.

I am aware that other parents seem to give children quite a lot more than I do. My eldest child has asked for more food, although she doesn't finish what so has 70% of the time.
One of the teaching assistants has also asked if I can give my youngest more food!

They are all with height and weight in proportion according to the red book.

They have a small snack after school, fruit or popcorn or two biscuits, something of that size.

They have cereal and apple juice for breakfast.

AIBU do I give them too little food? I don't think I do.

sounds like plenty. we give pretty much the same to DD (5) except for the treat as they are banned by the school. So she gets a yoghurt every day instead.

Sometimes I might put something else savoury in as well like a breadstick or Dairylea triangle or some nuts / seeds

If they are leaving food then they can't be that starving!

Sandwich - various fillings I rotate
Mini cheddars or Goodies carrot sticks
Fruit & veg
Yogurt
Bar

All gone everyday.

I don't send a snack in for playtime.

you could up the raw veggies a bit I suppose, just noticed you said half a child's handful, that doesn't sound like much. more bulk so that should quieten the TA, but still good heathy stuff

Mine are aged 7 and 8.

Sandwiches (2 slices of bread) or 2 mini pittas - usually ham or tuna
Fruit - melon, satsuma, grapes etc (The smell of banana makes me gag and apples seem to come home again!)
Yoghurt
Carton of fruit juice
+one other thing - could be cereal bar, jelly + fruit, couple of biscuits, mini dark chocolate bar (crisps on a Friday)
Oldest is 25th centile for height and weight, so no worries about overfeeding.

Sorry I forgot they get a small yogurt as well.

I could up the veg but it very often comes back uneaten anyway.

very similar, however the big difference is that mine have huge breakfasts. Cereal / actimel / 1/2 bagel or muffin or pancake or toast / maybe a boiled egg / some fruit / maybe a yoghurt
it astounds me how much they pack away first thing in teh morning (they are 3 and 5) but they're always starving.

Yuck! My mum used to give me carrot and cucumber sticks. No one else had them, everyone else had crisps! I used to chuck them.
But maybe a whole sandwich not just half a sandwich would be better.

I think a whole sandwich would be too much ? Maybe I'm wrong? I don't want to overfeed them either.

Crisps, Mars Bars, cakes, sweets, FRuit shoots and for savoury...you guessed it the MN fave Greggs sausage rolls.

I think a whole sandwich would be better too.

My two (8 and 5) typically have:

Sandwich (two slices) or wraps
Fruit or veg
Yoghurt
Crisps or cheddars
Smoothie

I'd always put a whole sandwich in, apart from anything else it cuts down on the need for all the other bits and pieces. If I gave my kids 1 skice of bread they'd want so much "other" stuff it would cost a fortune. Mine get their sandwiches, a piece of fruit, (some peppers/ cucumber if they want it), and one other thing - cereal bar or crisps or cheese string, or yoghurt or kitkat.

DS(8) typically has:
Sandwich (2 slices but smaller size loaf)
Crisps, cheese cubes or mini eggs etc
Small muffin, cookie etc
Piece of fruit- handful of strawberries, an apple, melon etc. but no banana
Pot of natural yoghurt with fruit in

Also a "healthy snack" for break time

DS who is in reception has

Sandwich (2 slices crusts cut off) either ham, cheese, spready cheese or jam.
If he has cheese sandwich he has mini sausages.
If he has ham sandwich he has babybel or cheesestring.
Cherry tomatoes.
Carrot sticks
Fruit bag
Crisps.
Tube yoghurt.

He usually eats it all.

Mine has a whole sandwich which is nearly always ham and cheese, crisps, a frube or similar yoghurt and a cereal bar or similar. She is 8. I gave up sending in fruit as it always came back untouched! But she alway has a big snack when she comes in - currently munching spinach and riccotta tortellini! And she will still have dinner too!

Just got back from school run.

5yo had-
sandwich (cheese) about 1/3 gone.
yogurt, eaten
apple, eaten
carrot sticks eaten
cucumber, not eaten
mini babybel, eaten

cereal bar for tuck also eaten.

6yo had-
sandwich (cheese) about 1/3 gone.
yogurt, eaten
apple, half eaten
carrot sticks not eaten
cucumber, half eaten
mini babybel, eaten

cereal bar for tuck also eaten.

4yo not in pre-school for lunch today.

6yo has complained before that she wants more food, meaning peperami, dairylea dunkers, hula hoops, stuff like that.

OP, that sounds all right to me, although maybe the 4 yo needs more, going on what the TA has said.

My DCs are 6 and 4 and their lunches usually have:

Sandwich (cheese/ham/tuna...)
2 x fruit portions (might be 'whole' items like banana/apple or small pot of grapes/ strawberries/cherries...)
1 x fromage frais
A couple of breadsticks, cheese straws or similar

Sometimes they get an extra 'treat' like a cereal bar, home made cake, some malt loaf or some crisps.

If I did give the 4yo more she would have a bigger meal than her older brother and sister!

They all had a biscuit after school. just one as it was a big boaster style one. They will have sausage (one) and mash (potato and sweet potato) with some veg for tea, followed by either fresh pineapple and natural yogurt or a choc ice.

Blimey mine(8,8 and 7) have always eaten waaay more than that,they'd laugh if I only gave them 1 sausage.All v healthy,skinny(1 underweight as he struggles to put weight on although he eats like a horse) etc.

Today they had 3 mini Quorn scotch eggs,a 1 piece of w/m bread sandwich(cream cheese,cheese),2 teeny muffins(treat from gma),Innocent juice water,carrots/pepper and cucumber,2X Frubes,nectarine/apple.

They have 3 choc digestives after school.

Tonight they're having feta,lamb and green bean casserole with couscous.No pudding.

DD1 is the only one currently on packed lunches/at school - she is 6y and tall but slim (approx 122cm/20.5kg).

She has:-

1 sandwich made from 2 slices of bread - usual fillings include garlic and herb philly ( funny child), g&h philly with wafer thin ham, slice of cheese, peanut butter,

1 small handful of grapes (6-8 usually), or sliced small apple (she won't eat any other fruit - I have tried!), or small handful of sultanas/raisins or occasionally a small carrot in sticks,

A cereal bar like a tracker or chewee or supermarket equivalent, or a penguin-a-like bar, or a mini cake or piece of malt loaf or a biscuit,

A frube (fromage frais tube),

She has crisps about once every few months as she's not that fussed but then she gets 1/2 - 1/3 of a packet (small packet not family sized Kettle Chips!) but that would be instead of the cereal bar type thing.

She only drinks water at school.

It's always eaten and she doesn't ask for more food in her lunch - she used to have a cheese string/few small pieces of cheese but she decided that was too much food so I stopped putting it in as she just wasn't eating everything then.

She eats more at dinner (similar sized meal to kendodds's childrens meals) and has a two course breakfast (cereal and sandwich/cereal bar and plain yogurt for e.g.).

Omfg - another aibu about childrens lunch boxes?!?!

Really don't worry about giving the 4 yo more than her siblings if she will eat it.... Surely this thread has just proved to you how different every child is with regards to their appetites? If you let them self regulate with healthy foods, a child is very unlikely to overeat. Perhaps so if you offer them sweet/ processed foods though.

As an example, my just turned 3 year or has eaten today;
Breakfast: large bowl porridge, blueberries and strawberries
Snack: piece toast and peanut butter
Lunch: full sandwich (2 slices) with tuna and sweetcorn and cucumber, 3 cherry tomatoes, 2 small tangerines and a banana
Snack: babybel, half bag of organix crisp things
Dinner: half a salmon fillet, very small baked potato, let's f veg

And she will have a snack before bed along the lines of toast/ banana and yoghurt etc. it seems like she never stops eating! And has had bigger dinner portions than me on occassion. she's 50th centile for weight, but 90th for height so actually a little underweight. Stop overthinking it, provide them with tons of healthy food and don't worry about how much gets eaten/ not eaten, or bother comparing it to their friends or each other, not worth the stress! :)

my ds is 4 and he has

sandwich-ham,cheese,chicken,or tuna,always with cucumber,on wholemeal.
some kinds of cheese snack and some kind of yogurt snack.
some fruit,like apple,grapes or a banana,something simple.
a drink,and something else like crisps,a muffin or a flapjack or some crackers.

He always eats it all,and is still starving when he comes out fo school and i take him a peanut butter sandwich and a banana when i go to get him and he still eats all of his dinner at 5!

He isnt big at all,he is quite lean like his dad and growing normally,he just has lots of energy and a big appetite.

If your kids are the same then they are getting enough,although if they asked for more i would give them more!

It might be that your 4 year old has a bigger appetite than her sister so I wouldn't hold back on giving her more to eat simply based on her age.

I also know that my dcs would have been fairly aghast at a sandwich made from one slice of bread.

I'd work out what regularly came back uneaten and perhaps up the quantities of what is eaten. Not that I'd necessarily bulk things up with hula hoops or other less nutritious items. But your portion sizes do come across as a little small.

A typical packed lunch for mine is:

• sandwiches (usually ham, salami, cheese, or tuna)
• a piece of fruit such as an apple, banana or satsuma
• a Babybel cheese or a yogurt
• a muffin, flapjack or bun

Once a week I'll put a pack of crisps in.

Oh, and they have water to drink as juices not allowed (school healthy eating policy apparently!)