Starting school, help with lunch?

[noblegiraffe]

My DS is starting school in September and will have only just turned 4. He will be having packed lunches and I will make sure he can open his lunchbox and so on.

Is there usually someone on hand to help with trickier bits of lunch? Like peeling a banana? Or sticking a straw in a carton? Or should I be thinking of ways around this if he can't do it by September?

There are usually staff to help yes.

Can you work on those things in the meantime? Some children won't ask and go hungry instead. I have to admit my 2yr old can do those things so I would definitely give it a try.

Your 2 year old can peel a banana? Do you open it for him first? It hadn't occurred to me to open it and then put it in his lunchbox!

I'll work on the carton thing with him, it's not the box ones that are the problem, more the innocent/Capri sun ones where it's on the side.

Thanks!

Yes I just crack the top and she can do the rest. Sometimes if its a bit unripe she can do the whole thing as it's harder.

Don't bother with Capri suns - stick to standard square boxes (the stand better on the table) and just take the straw out of the plastic wrapper and leave him to stab it.

Same with satsumas- peel a bit and leave him to finish it

I think I'm realising I've been a bit helicoptery with him! I think we'll be having lots of picnics this summer. :)

There will be people to help but you'll need to remind your son to ask for help. Some children will just sit and staff don't always notice a problem.

Most children when they start school can undo a banana, a yoghurt etc with an occasional bit of support. Keep trying to aim for independence over the summer but don't panic if there are a few things he struggles with.

I just went for sending in stuff I knew they could do. so for fruit it would be grapes or strawberries etc in a pot or they just had their fruit at home. (they are funny with fruit, they like things like melon which would just be too messy to eat sitting on the floor with their fingers and I am not sending in forks etc)

if giving something which is wrapped up I often unwrapped and put in a pot to make it easier.
didn't do cartons, just water bottles although check they aren't too stiff to open when new.

gave up on those yoghurt or fruit tubes as often the end doesn't peel very well

so an average lunch in our family lunchboxes would be a sandwich or wrap with chicken/ham/cheese/lettuce or whatever in. cucumber sticks or cherry tomatoes and a little cake or biscuit or something. one child loves malt loaf so often has that as her 'desert'. sometimes they get some fruit to take in but we like to give them fruit for breakfast, fruit after dinner and they have fruit at breaktime so as long as they have cucumber/carrot/tomato or lettuce in their lunch I don't bother with the fruit then as well.
I have tried sending in other things like cold quiche, potatoes, chicken legs etc but it all ends up very messy as they don't get to sit on chairs at tables so I have refined it now to be easy to eat, means I don't have to keep washing uniform during the week and they are happy with a healthy lunch.

At DD's infants school they assign some children from Y2 as "lunchtime buddies" to help the Reception children with things like opening yogurt pots/crisps/anything tricky. Think quite a few schools do this.

Ha ha my dd is the neglected third child so she just has to get on with it or wait! :)

Our school pairs each reception child with a year 5 or 6 to help them at lunchtime - usually for the first 2 or 3 weeks at least.