I Wonder What My Kids Are Having For Lunch

180 days, August through June, I pack four lunches.  Sandwiches, quesadillas, bowls of rice - I try to pack a variety.  Some cookies or chips, a box of milk or juice, a bottle of water, a bag of grapes. I think I do pretty good for my own fast-food to-go operation.  Add to this the to-go dinners on sports practice and game nights.  So when summer comes - the folks are on their own.

I don't think I've made lunch since the last school bell. I do my part - I buy bread, sliced turkey, cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter and other random lunch fixin's.  And because of morning swim practices, I haven't really been on schedule to cook breakfast, either. But I do sometimes because I love a hot biscuit and a bowl of grits every now and then.  In general, however, I assume that at some point, my able bodied children will realize that they are hungry, amble from the couch all the way to the kitchen and fix themselves something to eat.

I used to feel guilty about not making them breakfast, lunch and dinner during the summer months. What if they whither away to nothing, go back to school all emaciated and CPS comes looking for me?  I've since decided that that's not even a close possibility.  I've determined that I am not abandoning my children, I'm teaching them to feed themselves.

Yes, there are some days that its about 5 o'clock where one of them realizes that they haven't eaten all day and hey, what is Mommy going to do about it?  But for the most part, someone hears their stomach grumble, remembers that someone has already done the hunting and gathering, and all they have to do is put it all on a couple slices of bread.

They seem to be surviving.  Next step - get them to make me something, too.

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