Grrr....
This has been an ongoing thing since the beginning of the year. She is in 1st grade and takes cold lunches about 85% of the time. The problem is right after lunch they go to recess so the school has them put the lunch bags/boxes in these big buckets that are returned to the classroom at some point in the day. She seems to forget A LOT to put the lunch bag in her back pack.
I could go to brown bag lunches and I did at one point, but it seems so wasteful. Plus I feel leary of putting lunch meat in a brown bag without an icey thing to keep it cool. I have a backup lunch box (her old one) that she uses sometimes but will forget that too and then both of them will be stuck at school!
I don't know what I can do to make her remember. Maybe there is no help for this, but just thought I would see if anyone had any ideas. (FYI: she is picked up by either a grandparent or a classmates dad - so I can't really expect them to remind her every day.)
I don't think the teacher reminds them....
I think I'm going to try the note taped on her backpack and see if it helps.
My dad has told me not to worry about the lunch meat either....so maybe I will have to go back to brown bags. I used to poor milk in a container instead of purchasing juice boxes or prepackaged milk...boy did I quickly change that idea after she forgot it at school for the whole Christmas break!!!
Simple - she gets nothing but a peanut butter sandwich and an apple if she forgets to bring it home. Yeah, in the brown paper bag too.
When she gets sick of these TWO items, she'll bring her lunch box home.
Dawn
my boys did this, so I got rid of their lunch boxes, and bought those brown paper sacks that they can just throw away. You can get 100 of them for less than 1.50 at Walmart. Way less stressful.
If you want to brown bag it, I do this for a "cold pack."
Take a paper towel (or two) and fold it into a small rectangle. Then wet the paper towel all over and put it in a plastic bag. Freeze the paper towel in the plastic bag. Voila! Cold pack to put next to the sandwich, and by lunch time it will be thawed and your daughter can use the wet paper towel to clean her hands when she's done eating.
I agree about the waste, I hate to waste. So try pinning a note to her bag :)
can you tape a note on her backpack that says "Lunch Bag"?
You could do a reward chart for when she remembers it. For every 5 days she brings it home, a special desert or extra tv/game time, a family game night....
Good luck! My 13 year old would forget his lunch box all the time. Last year I did't even get him one and did the bags cause he would have to use one half the time anyway. Lunch meat should be fine in a bag till lunch time. People do it all the time and I know I took lunch meat to school long before they made those nice little ice packs to put in your lunch.
I would go one step further lol. don't buy the paper bags use the bags from jewel, target, walmart etc. she will be embarrassed about those lol
Well, young kids often forget things at school, even their homework or folders.
I would think that the Grandparent can remind her, before they actually leave the school, to make sure she has it in her backpack.
When/if Grandma picks up my kids, I do tell her to make sure my kids have their water bottles/lunch bag. And she does. She herself, is one who likes to make sure that the kids have everything they need to take home, before driving off and leaving the school.
Or maybe, attach a "reminder" to your daughter's backpack so that she remembers. Simply say "Lunchbox?" on the tag or paper reminder etc.
At my kids school, the Teacher will also "remind" kids to put things in their backpack... they have a certain time of day in which the Teacher goes over what will be going home that day. This is the "routine" for the younger grade levels. Kindergarten and 1st grade. Most classrooms do have a daily "routine" of things and they know what goes home or for homework each day.
I got so sick of this same issue. Buy them nice bags send them once and never see them again. Now I use brown paper bags. Now worries no hassles on the forgetting them! Sometimes if I'm out they have to take their lunches in a Wal-Mart bag...they always gripe. I'm ashamed to say a little part of me enjoys this since they've lost so many lunch bags. Maybe a couple of times of Wal-mart plastic bags as her carriers will remind her since she'll be mortified at having her lunch in a plastic bag! good luck!
If the other children going to retrieve their lunch bags/boxes doesn't remind her to do the same I don't know what would...I would just use whatever bag you have handy if you don't want to buy brown bags. Tell her she gets one cool lunch bag a year and the next one she'll get will be for 2nd grade, maybe that will give her an incentive to remember?
At our house (I have 2 kids) they each have there own lunch box and then we have 1 back-up. I just keep saying in the morning "Have a great day, bring home your lunch box!".
It is an ongoing problem.
M
Updated
At our house (I have 2 kids) they each have there own lunch box and then we have 1 back-up. I just keep saying in the morning "Have a great day, bring home your lunch box!".
It is an ongoing problem.
M
This is really typical. Part of the problem is not her -- it's the system of collecting all the lunchboxes then expecting first-graders to find their own and put it with their backpack later to take home. My daughter is in fifth grade and still doesn't always get her lunchbox back, or leaves it on the playground (they have recess directly after lunch and must carry their lunchboxes with them) or in the library (on library day they go there right after the playground AND lunch). So kids are, I think, too often expected to haul their lunchboxes all over the place and remember them at each stop, and/or remember to get them from some big box later on. Older kids like her generally remember them but first graders are new to all this.
I would ask the teacher what the "pack up" procedure is at the end of each day --most teachers have one. It should include reminding all the kids to get their lunchboxes/bags.
Frankly, and some moms wont' like this, get more lunchboxes. Yes, they will end up at school. But it helps us that my daughter has about four of them (we also use them for family outings, take them on vacation, etc. so it's not like they just sit there for school lunch use). Mostly there is always one, and usually more, available for her lunch, or my own.
I would not send anything like lunch meats without a cold pack. Two hours is the maximum time to leave any unrefrigerated food without a cold pack or refrigeration (according to food safety experts -- we had to research food safety recently for a school project.). You could just go with foods that never need cold, such as peanut butter; packaged crackers with cheese spread (not "real" cheese) on them,and so on.
Start next school year fresh with some system of reminders and rewards, maybe. But it's more important that she remember to bring home her homework -- that is another battle you will have soon as homework increases.
Either do one or the other... let her pick the perfect lunch box that she will love and possibly cherish enough to not leave it at school, OR brown bag it.
After replacing several lunch boxes for my boys, I found it cheaper to brown bag and let them buy their milk at school or just eat what the cafeteria offered.
Kids are kids, they forget their jackets too, it's a costly time from kindergarten through about the 3rd grade, they seem to get a bit more conscious by age 9... at least that's the way I remember it.
Why can't u . Tell them to make sure she has her lunch bag before leaving school or call school n have her teacher remind her daily she needs do,done to remind her for about a month or she won't remember it's just how little ones r. They need routine n reminders daily u reminding her in morning doesn't do much at 3when she's tired
I didn't read all the prior responses but what about trying rewards? Like if she brings home her lunch bag every day, then on Friday she will get a special treat in her lunch? Like a sticker, sweet note from mom, favorite snack, etc. Otherwise, use plastic grocery bags, they can be recycled. Good luck!
Have her carry her lunch in her backpack.
