Here is a lunch chosen, made, and photographed entirely by Little shmoo himself! He's been an enthusiastic kitchen helper lately (his favorite job is frying veggie burgers and delivering them to the table with much fanfare on a "waiter's tray" he made from the Lego bin lid). I wanted to encourage him while he's interested. He chose tater tots (which involved turning on the oven and wearing an oven mitt, very cool!), a tropical fruit cup, four little teddy grahams, and a vegan turkey sandwich on wheat with vegan mayo. Yes, that's a whole package of turkey slices there, minus one slice he ate while making the sandwich! Verdict: He was proud of his lunch and ate everything but the crusts. I know it's not as pretty or interesting as some of the other lunches, but I like that he got a little lesson in how to take care of himself. 5 stars.
I love to see what the little folks make for themselves! My daughter, who's 6, made her lunch last week when she woke a little earlier and we had more time. She chose some leftover vegan mac n' cheese, dates, soy crisps, and black olives. Not exactly what I would have made, but a helluva lot better than most kids would choose! Little Shmoo did a very nice job for himself, too! I've been following the lunchbox for weeks now--I love it and I'm recommending it to all my friends.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great lunch. He still had a much better lunch than all of his classmates I bet.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid and I made my own lunches it was usually two bags of cheetos and two ding dongs. I can't even imagine that now.
Tell shmoo that he's made the best looking lunch I've seen here, ever! It looks so good, I think I'll have the same thing for my lunch tomorrow. The only thing different is that I'll put some lettuce on my sandwich. I like the crunch. And, I have to take mine in a paper bag because I don't have a cool lunchbox like shmoo does.
ReplyDeleteI think he did a fabulous job. Congratulations!
adorable! he is going to be such a smart, self-sufficient young man when he grows up. :-)
ReplyDeleteGo Shmoo! You rock, dude. Love your idea for using the Lego bin lid...we have extras laying around, and now I know what to do with them. Make trays! Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteLittle Shmoo has done so well! It looks great! We are still all following his lunches each day and miss them on weekends :(
ReplyDeletei find it so funny that the lunch he made is the most "normal" lunch ever seen on this blog. maybe kids like simple lunches that are similar to what other kids at school have. just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that shmoo like "normal" and "exotic" lunches alike. in my opinion, you're doing him a favor nutritionally and socially by giving him such varied lunches every day. (Letting him pick and prepare is a great lesson in and of itself!)
ReplyDeleteI remember my brother had a friend over for dinner once when he was about, oh, 13 years old. We were all sitting down at the table and our guest asked, "Hey, what are the little green trees?"
He had never seen broccoli before! At 13!
I keep surfing here during work. I'm fasting for ramadan right now, so that's probably a big mistake, since this stuff all looks so good :-)I made the Polenta fries for iftar (fast breaking) the other night though, everybody loved them.
ReplyDeleteDawwud
Anonymous--so we should just strive to make our children as "normal" as possible? I think Jennifer does an excellent job of both giving her son new experiences in food and letting him make his own choices as well. I, for one, am going out of my way to make certain my daughter is not like all the other kids--maybe when she's older, she won't have the "normal" heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity. Just a thought!
ReplyDeletemonica - my point was just that in general humans have a need to fit in and that not everyone wants to 'dance to the beat of their own drummer' or whatever when they're in the third grade. maybe jennifer's son does... but i personally just found it a bit ironic that the lunch he picked to make himself (a sandwich, teddy grahams, fruit cup) was probably quite similar to what a lot of other kids have in the lunch room at school. growing up and being a kid and facing peer pressure and being "different" is hard and when i have a child, i am going to be sensitive to that and not go out of my way to force my baggage on him/her. yes, i may like an exotic lunch. but i am an adult. maybe my kid would want a sandwich. that's fine.
ReplyDeletei find it funny that anonymous obviously reads this blog and is afraid to show his/her real name.
ReplyDeletealso, anonymous, Jennifer rates the lunches as to whether Little Schmoo likes/eats them!
Personally, i wish i had more variety in my lunches when i was younger, and had been exposed to more different types of foods.
Also, remember that this is what her son could make himself...i don't really see him whipping up some spanakopita on his own.
Oh my - if only having a different lunch than everyone else at school would be the worst "problem" little shmoo is going to face in life.
ReplyDeleteIf a child can't learn to stand up and be different with a little thing like a lunch, how can he grow into a man who is willing to go against the crowd when morals dictate that it is the right thing to do?
No matter what we do we can't live our lives being exactly like everyone else. And if we did, what an incredibly boring place this would be.
What we need to be doing is teaching our children that it ok to be individuals. Maybe then our defition of what is normal or cool might change.
Somewhow, I think little shmoo is going to be just fine.
I think anonymous missed the part about Schmoo making his own lunch. I doubt he's going to make polenta himself. It's a simple lunch because a 7 year old made it!
ReplyDeleteI love this site! Makes me hungry :)
ReplyDeleteAs a first time parent, I'll be taking a special interest in the food my daughter will eat. At least Schmoo is making the lunch himself and putting into it he would like to eat. Whats nice about it is most kids I know wouldn't even come close to putting the healthy foods that Jennifer and Schmoo put in theirs.
ReplyDeleteWith all the crappy food that school cafeterias serve, this site is an inspiration to say the least
I see your point, anonymous, but things like injera bread with split-pea stew, sushi rolls, sweet-potato soup, and spanakopita ARE normal for my daughter. She loves it that her food is more interesting and healthy than the school lunches. She gives a little to her best friend every day! And the food is always eaten. Believe me, if I detected a desire to be like the other kids or if she wasn't eating the lunches, I would try to make her lunches as ordinary as possible while still being healthy and veg. I bet Jennifer would do the same
ReplyDeleteHaving worked as a lunchtime helper in schools over here in Scotland I feel Shmoos lunches are a shining example nutritionally. I've seen children come to school with sweets (candy) in their lunch boxes and nothing else. That was considered perfectly normal as was highly processed junk. Not a 'normality' I would want to emulate!
ReplyDeleteEncouraging children to eat a wide variety of different foods like shown here is fabulous in my opinion. So many kids seem to be very stuck in a rut with their eating and suffer the consequences to their health.
Go Shmoos :)
Thank you everyone! I think it's important to note that Little shmoo has a lot of input in what goes into his lunches. Some of his special favorites have been sushi, injera, and others that might seem very "different". He even asked to make his own sushi, but we're starting simple with a sandwich and working up to that!
ReplyDeleteI have been in the classroom and seen a lot of the "normal" lunches (cold leftover fast food still in the Taco Bell bag, "lunchable" nachos, one slice of cold pepperoni pizza and nothing else, etc. etc.). If that's normal, I don't want my son to get too normal!
hi! as a child who grew up eating "crazy veg" lunches, I am SO glad my mother did that for me. Eating a variety of foods at a young age has made me value and appreciate food to a level that I don't think other people my age have. I have such a passion for food that I would not have gained without my mother there, having me try all sorts of things. So, kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you, anonymous! What an inspiring story!
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that my son is willing to try almost any food at least once, and he often ends up liking things that surprise me. Maybe parents are selling kids short when they assume they want nothing but goldfish crackers and chicken nuggets.
personally, i had all kinds of "abnormal" lunches when i was little. i've been o/l veg my whole life, and i'm indian, so i always had something weird and funky in my lunchbox. and all my friends would beg me for pieces of my lunch. it got so bad that my mom would start sending me to school with 3 times as much food just so i could feed them and still eat for myself!
ReplyDeletethat being said, there is something nice about bringing a "normal" lunch in too every once in a while. every so often, bringing a PBJ with a granola bar and chocolate milk suited me just fine. i'd say i'm still like that now. sometimes i want to make vegetable rice with curry, other times i feel like making spaghetti. so yeah. anonymous, i don't think there's anything wrong with what you said, but clearly shmoo enjoys both his "normal" and "exotic" lunches, which is pretty awesome. :)
Someone, somewhere said variety is the spice of life. Kids learn how to eat from their parents, and if they are exposed to a variety of foods, they will eat a variety of foods. My kids eat Indian, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, but still enjoy some baked french fries and Boca Chik'n nuggets. I mean, what is "normal" anyway? And it seems to me the "normal" American diet is killing off those who enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that being said, when I was a kid I BEGGED my mom daily to buy some store-bought cereal and bread so I could be like the other kids. *sigh* Well, everything in moderation, I guess.