Very slow eating lunch

[hurryupplease]

My youngest dd has just started in reception. Everything is going well except that she is being incredibly slow eating her lunch. This means she doesn't have time for a play. Has anyone got experience of this or any ideas on stuff i could give her that is really quick to eat. Thank you in anticipation! By the way, she can be slow at home as well, but a bit of chivying normally speeds her up. I appreciate they haven't got the resourses to have someone doing this at school though and she needs to just get on with it.

My dd was the same - the first week they had school dinners in reception we were supposed to pick them up straight after they'd finished lunch at 12:30. My dd was last one out every day - usally managing to take a full hour. Whilst her class teacher was impressed she was eating it all she was also clearly irritated because she was missing her own lunch break. She did the same at nursery - would not get down until she had finished no matter what the rest of the children were up to. However in school peer pressure to come out to play and hurry up got to her quite quickly and now I think she finishes in time to at least have some lunch time play! Not sure she always get to eat as much as she needs though so always have a snack ready for walk home from school.

I have that probelm with DD1. Her teacher told me that she was so slow one days she didn't have hardly any play time. She asked me to move her to packed lunch for that reason. I said " no way, she'll learn to eat faster is she loses play time everyday" She was very fussy eater, but she learned to try new food and to eat quick. I don't think she lost too may play times though

My son now in Y1 still is an incredibly slow eater. He has a few bites and then daydreams. He always has to finish his lunch after school.

my dd is slow too and doesnt eat much at all as too eager to play - just make less lunch - they have breakfast, fruit in morning then finish by 3.30 so its no big deal if they dont eat much during lunch imo.

Hi I'm a dinner lady - well mid day supervisor- all our kids have packed lunch... You would be surprised how quickly they will learn to eat quicker.... Probably by Christmas there will be no problems.

One problem is usually parents giving the child too much. Some of the reception kids start with a sandwich, a cheese string, some grapes, a satsuma, a biscuit , a stick/small pot of yoghurt and some fruit flakes as well as a drink (even worse if its a smoothie - they are FULL UP!). Bearing in mind they probably had their milk only an hour before, you can see why it is slow going.

My kids are year 5 and 6 and have a wrap with meat (no crusts to negotiate, some fruit - apple chopped in half (easier to eat quickly) or grapes and a biscuit. Also a drink. They wolf it down in 10 min to get 40 min full play/gossip time.

So I would say - give 3 small things maximum - they are full from their milk and too much choice is bewildering.

I would avoid anything that is difficult to open, including petit filous, difficult juice packs etc. My next focus would be little but nutritious. So brown bread with chicken or cheese or something like that. No sweets/crisps. I would also include a little fruit, maybe a few grapes/strawberries or other fruit in cubes (so she doesn't need to spend time peeling a banana for example) or if she prefers a few carrot sticks/cucumber sticks or something like that. For the time being I would give her an extra water bottle for lunch, so she has a drink which is quick.

DS did this in Yr R. so I made his lunch smaller.

Thank you for your ideas and making me feel this is pretty normal. I am thinking of going down the very small lunch route. She does have a really good breakfast, then snack so a tiny lunch should be fine if i take a snack when i pick her up.

DS2 is now in Y2 and is still flipping slow. I now only give him a sandwich, a drink and sometimes one other thing. I used to give him fruit, but it always came home uneated, so I stopped bothering. I'd rather give it to him at home where I can force encourage him, and it doesn;t get bruised in the bottom of his lunch box. I used to give him a yoghurt, but again he NEVER ate it, and then it's all horrid and warm by the end of the day. So now it's just the bare minumum or it's a total waste of food.

He still usually comes out of school starving with most of his lunch left over. He eats it on the way home.

He is incredibly slow eating at home too.

The other thing that bugs me about lunches is that the OTHER kids put them off eating things they actually like. My DS1 in Y4 is loves tuna, onion and red pepper sandwiches, and used to beg me to make them until his some of the kids told him they were wierd. (You know the ones I mean - the kids that only eat white bread nutella sarnies) . He also always ate the fruit I gave him until some little shit darling made faces when he actually ate an apple ( shock horror) . - Probabaly the same Nuttella eater!

Check what else they are giving her.

In reception DD was having a selection of chopped up fruit/milk or water given to her am and breadsticks/pita etc with more milk or water in the pm.

I had a 4 things max rule in her lunchbox - one small sandwich no crusts (quicker to eat), pot of grapes/blueberries/ready peeled satsuma, pot of cucumber/carrot sticks and a babybel/cheesestring plus water. I use those tommee tipee weaning pots - easy to get in. Whole fruit just got bashed and left.

Yr 1 no snacks are given so she is eating more at lunch.

wow dxiechick- DS would just play and fiddle for ages if I gave him that many different things and pots to mess about with. His lunch box has 3 sections ( bento box) part one has his drinks botle, part 2 has a round of sandwich. Part 3 has a couple of slices of cucumber or half an apple and about 3 crisps.