O Rly?

[gwendally]

We got a call from Small Boy's school yesterday. I was with a client and Eldest Son took the call and later gave me the message. I've been reprimanded for sending too little food in Small Boy's lunch.

Comments

Leter, part 2

[gwendally]

Does it give him calcium?
Does it give him protein?
Does it give him fiber?
Does it give him phytonutrients?
Does it give him healthy fats (from nuts or fish?)

If it doesn't serve at least one of those five purposes, and preferably more than one, then it's a waste of his tiny appetite.

He is under the watchful care of the pediatrician he's had since birth, Dr. F. We've tested him for cystic fibrosis (which killed his aunt) and for celiac disease (which an uncle has) but his version of intestinal weirdness is just all his. We find that getting plenty of fluids, exercise and fiber are important for his overall health. You may notice that he walks to school each day, through rain or snow. We outfit him with solid winter gear and I walk with him to school each day, even though it's a mile walk each way. He also does gymnastics and swimming lessons each week at the Y. Ironically, he may now be one of the healthiest children in your school.

But, just to throw another wrench in the works, [Smallboy] has viral-triggered asthma. He is just now getting old enough to use a metered dose inhaler if he needs one, but up to this point I've been managing his infrequent (once a year or so) asthmatic episodes with a nebulizer at home. He's our third child and we're used to this by now. We find that good hand-washing regimens are important for preventing viruses that trigger it. As a result, one of our family rules is that everyone wash their hands as soon as they come in the door from school/work. We also wash hands before eating.

I'd love to see the school make more of an issue of washing hands before lunch. I've been thinking of sending [Smallboy] to school with hand sanitizer in his lunch box. I'd appreciate it if you helped make that culturally okay with the other kids.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to this. I appreciate your concern for his well-being. It is naturally of deep concern to us as well. You should know that [Smallboy] is not manipulative; if he says his tummy hurts or he is having trouble breathing, please believe him and contact us immediately.

You have my permission to share this information with who-ever you think may benefit from knowing it, but we appreciate discretion about things that could be perceived as making a middle-school-aged kid weird. He has no desire to stand out!

In general, email is the best way to reach us, and I'm copying my husband ([Smallboy]'s father) on this as well. Please feel free to contact us on any issues that you see as they come up.

Sincerely,

His parents (with phone numbers)

Re: Leter, part 2

[_luaineach]

I applaud the push for hand sanitizer. At Jet's school it is required - each child to have their own bottle and -- now that it is flu season -- to sanitize before leaving their desk and/or upon coming back to their desk (they switch rooms for almost every subject and so it's a parade of kids using the same desks/chairs every 40 minutes or so).

I can understand their concern. Small Boy seems pretty far on the small end. Jet is 10 (as of October 21) and is 55" and 75# and he clocks in at pretty much just under 50% (both on the charts and when I look at him with his peer group at school). Jet is really lean and muscular so he, too, looks much thinner than his robust health would warrant to the unknowing eye so I can imagine a child more than 10 pounds under that catching the eye of administration and then a small-portioned lunch catching that eye further. In the back of my mind I've been waiting two years now to get the same sort of letter and/or call and/or comment because:

Jet is the same way about lunch in that he won't just chow stuff down (he does eat MUCH bigger portions for dinner) -- yesterday I packed him two slices of swiss cheese rolled in a whole wheat tortilla and two clementines. He ate one clementine and one bite of tortilla. :/ He seems to suffer no ill effects for his little lunch appetite other than wanting something to eat immediately upon getting home from school (and I send him a snack for after school on the two days he stays for extra curriculurs, which he eats just fine).

Interestingly, the best power lunches I pack (and that he'll get the most down) are cottage cheese and homemade high-protein yogurt. There's the down side to rarely eating bread: jet is not a sandwich kid and would rarely eat one even if I *did* offer him one. Given that there is no way to heat up a lunch at school (only to keep cold things cold via his pack), choices are much more limited. At his previous school they had a microwave and Jet would chow as much leftover chili, or steak, or ribs, or chicken legs, or stew or [you get the idea] as I could send him.

Huh. I think he's just not a fan of traditional lunch foods.

ETA: great letter, btw. I meant to say that first, but got sucked away by my thoughts of parenting a lean, healthy, happy, non-picky eater (Jet will try anything) who just doesn't eat a lot at school lunch.

Re: Leter, part 2

[thatgirljj]

Have you considered making a pasta salad of sorts? My son does well with that at school, just some chopped up meat, veggies, beans and pasta dressed with pesto or BBQ sauce. And both ribs and chicken legs are pretty awesome cold.

Re: Leter, part 2

[gwendally]

I like the idea of the pasta salad dressed with pesto. He loves pesto. It has to be something he can eat cold, though. Last week I tried to send him hot food in a thermos and it failed and he wouldn't eat it. (Which may have started this complaint, actually. Apparently the complaint came from OTHER kids that Small Boy didn't have enough to eat. Which is only true if you factor in that he wasn't WILLING to eat a failed lunch attempt.)

He would not eat either ribs or chicken legs. The act of tearing meat from a bone is nothing either he or his sister will tolerate. I braise meats to death in chilis and stroganoffs and soups and BBQ to get him to ingest them. We get free range meat and it tends to be tougher than factory meat, too. He absolutely hates chewy meat.

Re: Leter, part 2

[thatgirljj]

Ah... I was originally responding to _luaineach who's son liked chicken and ribs served hot. I can understand the meat/bone issue, I had that too as a kid, especially with chicken.

Re: Leter, part 2

[seidhr]

One thing I really like is pasta with pesto and roasted sweet potato. I roast the sweet potato then slip of its skin and cube it. Then toss it with the pesto and pasta. It's good both hot and cold (I've taken it cold to school for lunch myself). Sweet potatoes are soft and don't need a lot of chewing, so perhaps he'd eat a one cup portion or something? Plus it gets lots of vitamins in there.

Re: Leter, part 2

[_luaineach]

Hmmm.. a pasta salad with chicken in it might work. I'll give that a try.

and I'm with you on the ribs and chicken legs being good cold; I think I actually PREFER them cold, at least for sure ribs. I'm not sure WHAT Jet's issue is with that (if there even is a real issue and it's not just a control thing).

With a nod to the comment below me (or maybe it will be above now), Jet doesn't have ANY issue with meat off the bone thing: We were at a backyard party for his 4th birthday and he was playing in the yard in the dark with other kids while the rest of us are sitting around and I think I see, out of the corner of my eye, him put something up to his mouth but when I look over, he's got nothing in his hands and is running around yelling and playing. This happens twice. On the third time, I actually catch him gnawing the meat off a T bone which had recently been thrown, along with many others as scraps from our dinner, in the yard for the dogs. He was picking it up, gnawing on it, throwing it down to run around and play, coming back and picking it up to gnaw some more, throwing it down...

We have, since that night, been calling him Our Little Genghis Khan Baby. :)

He eats his beef medium rare (as do I) and likes himself some good bone gnawing!

As for the lunch at school thing, I think also part of it is he's just not hungry enough for it to override socializing. They eat lunch at 11:40ish -- today Jet had about a 5"x5" square of fritta loaded with cheese and onions and brocolli and ham (and probably close to two eggs, in his portion) which he finished at 7:30. We have a 'high protein breakfast' rule and so I think he's just still *full*, you know?