Am I too uptight about 6 yr DD's packed lunch?

[Toowittoowoo]

I need some advice before I deal with this situation so I don't either over-react or give in to fussiness! DD takes a packed lunch on 3 days of week (if she had school dinners then she would only eat a plain jacket potato, which I allow on the other 2 days).
Day 1 = ham sandwich, packet of popcorn/crisps/apple crisps, pot of cherry tomatoes, piece of fruit and water
Dat 2 = wholemeal bagel with grated cheese (sometime also a bit of salami), pot of cherry tomatoes, yoghurt, piece of fruit and water
Day 3 = I have totally run out of ideas. It used to be hummus, pitta bread with pepper and cucumber and a little pot of custard. But this is coming back uneaten and she is in a really bad mood!

She has turned down hummus, chicken, cheese, tuna (and anything that has mayo in it), pasta pesto etc., rice salad and hard boiled eggs. She claims that everyone else has ham sandwiches on white bread with chocolate and a packet of crisps and they think her lunch is weird. Dd's suggestions are salami, sausage, ham or just bread and butter.

I'm not quite sure what to do. She has a big bowl of porridge and a piece of fruit before school and a decent meal when she gets home (bit that isn't till 5.30 ish because of after school club). I hate seeing her so grumpy and hungry with an uneaten packed lunch.I have thought of giving her the bagel and cheese 2 days in a row but I worry that she'll decide not to eat that too!

What would you do? Basically do worry about the processed meat or not!?!

Ds has a bagel or brioche burger roll with a filling. He has them halved with half ham, half cheese, half jam in various combinations. He is a creature of habit so alongside the above he has a yoghurt, pot of strawberries and grapes and a small biscuit item.

Cheese or cream cheese and crackers?
Homemade pizza slice
Soup in a flask with bread
Hummus and grated carrot wrap
Fritata
To be honest I don't think I'd fret too much about this one, if the rest of her diet is ok 3 packed lunches a week in term time will make v little difference.

Christ. Between the ages of 5 and 9 DD would only have ham sandwiches. The only difference was whether she had it in a roll, sandwich or wrap. That was 5 days a week.

In years 5 and 6 she swapped between ham, tuna, PBJ and the odd school dinner.

Since starting high school she will only have tuna, so that's what she's getting 5 days a week.

Unclench. Ensure she has plenty of 'decent' food for dinner and stop worrying.

My 6 yo will only eat jam sandwiches. She has the same packed lunch one day a week and school dinners the other 4. She would happily have the same thing every day for packed lunch.

I bought a Yumbox which she loves to eat from. They are pricey but well worth it. She's had this 3 years and looks brand new.

Ds2 is 10 and every day he has a ham and cheese roll, some veg sticks and a crispy bar.
Much more important that they eat what's in there so I have stopped trying to make exciting changes. If she's happy with it then just stick with day 1 again.
It makes getting ready in the morning much quicker as well

I would give her ham - but I would make sure it was a fairly decent one rather than the value stuff

Does she not get a yoghurt or other calcium rich food on day 1?

Yep my dcs used to say the same thing. If you don't have a sandwich, you look weird. And yes most packed lunches look like what your dd is describing.

They still got send to school with weird and wonderful things (much weirder than yours!!). Move on one or two years from Y1 and teachers started to positively comment on their lunch ('oh that looks yummy' when out on a school trip for eg) which actually helped too.

I would have a chat with her and give her what you know she enjoys eating whilst remind her it's important to eat (and her responsibility to do so otherwise you et hungry, can't learn, in a bad mood etc...)

Cream cheese with chopped gherkins on a bagel, tortilla strips, pita bread with hummous/felafel/mint yoghurt dressing, pasta salad, couscous with veg...

Tiger sell boiled egg mounds in heart and car shaped. Would make egg salad or sandwich fun! (Well they do for my packed lunch!).

My 6 year old has a yumbox so gets an assortment of things. Always 1 compartment of fruit and one of veg, a treat, and then a ham, tuna or marmite sandwich (small) or wrap, or crackers with cheese and ham, or pasta salad, or a mini wagamamas with fish/chicken and sticky rice with crudités. She gets a squeeze yogurt pouch with it.

She never eats it at lunchtime but eats the rest after school 3:30/5:30 depending on afterschool club followed by dinner at 7-7:30pm.

Other things she has: olives/breadsticks/nuts/cold sausages/baby potatoes/mini croissant with ham/hot dog (good sausage in half a finger roll)/cold pizza

Only problem is that she can't start eating until half the staff have seen her lunchbox because they say it loos so gorgeous.

Other kids get chocolate spread on plastic bread with a chocolate bar and maybe some raisins if you're lucky, but that's not something DD enjoys.

DS ate jam sandwiches for what felt like years when going through his fussy phase. Then he widened out and had honey too! He is now 14 and will eat tuna, ham, chicken, cheese, etc, though is still partial to jam on occasion! In the grand scheme of things it isn't that important. Having said that, at the time it did worry me, DS was my PFB!

Dd2 has had a cheese and ham sandwich every day at school since she started - she is now in year 6. Occasionally she will have cheese and ham in a wrap instead of in a bread roll but that is being adventurous.
Our older child is not a fussy eater but Dd is very restricted in what she will eat.

Dd (6) has a ham sandwich every day at school (4 times as her school dinner and once in a packed lunch) . She eats ok otherwise. She usually gets some cheese, grapes and a biscuit with it.

I wouldn't worry.

Ds will have ham sandwich, ham bagel (white or brown) or cheese and tomato wrap. That's it for the mains. I supplement with mini-cheddars, yoyos, cherry tomatoes, pepper slices, cucumber slices, smoothies, cereal bars in various combinations.

Not everyone will be eating white bread processed meat and crisps. And even if they were, it wouldn't compel me to make a shitty pack lunch for my child. It's ok to be different. It's normal for people to be different You're presently establishing eating habits and developing her tastebuds, so aim high.

I wouldn't be giving routine set lunches. Make lunches varied
and experimental. Unless she's dropped off the percentile chart, you probably don't need to worry too much about calorie intake

Day 3, cheese and ham sandwich.

I used to allow crisps and chocolate only on school trip days (having the unfortunate side effect of ensuring that all the parent helpers judged me on those lunches alone, probably...).

Why does she need a different filling on day 3?

DD had half a baguette with cheese, lettuce and sliced turkey, a banana, bag of crisps and a cereal bar every day for years. Occasionally she'd branch out and have Brie/cranberry jam or mozzarella/tomato but she always went back to her comfort level. I had no problem with her having the same lunch - it worked out cheaper than school meals anyway and either of us could put it together in a couple of minutes.

Mix it up. Why do the same each week?

I have been there done that... we went for ham sarnie 5x a week. I always insisted on brown bread, though.

for yrs all 4 of my DC had 1/2 a ham sandwich,

• a selection (precise combo depended on kid and was exactly the same for that kid every day) of apple juice, Yoyo, mini-cheddars, tangerine, sausage roll, cheese strings, Pepperami, yogurt raisins. I'd be chuffed with the variety OP describes.

Could you compromise on giving her a ham sandwich (with decent quality ham) but with some fruit / vegetables to go with it, and maybe some form of treat item like a small chocolate bar?

I agree that cold pizza may go down quite well for a bit of variety. Or maybe a wrap on occasion?

I'd unclench for now and give her whatever she'll eat for lunch. She's having healthy lunches and you don't mention her being fussy at home so I am presuming she eats well generally? So having a the same lunch twice in a week will do her no harm at all.
Don't make it a big deal and every once in a while chuck something different in to make it interesting.