Does Your Lunchbox Make You Special?!

One of my least favorite things to do is pack lunches for my girls to take to school.  They have never had cafeteria school lunch (well, one of them snuck a chocolate milk and had to do a bunch of chores to pay for it. eyyy.)  At first, my reason was because it was much cheaper.  Now, after reading up on health, I am glad they take their own lunches. I’m ok with occasional processed food, but EVERY day for lunch?  Nope, can’t do it.  I have to admit, I do A LOT of peanut butter and jam.  A LOT.  I grew up on the stuff and to this day love it!  I make ours with yummy homemade bread and jam, but they are still getting sick of it, so I have been trying to get a bit more creative by packing some hot food in a thermos.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these  Funtainer Food Jar by Thermos. You fill them up with hot water from the faucet, let them sit a few minutes to warm, dump out the water and fill them with hot food.  My girls say they are still nice and toasty warm at lunchtime, and they get so excited to open their lunchbox and see a thermos instead of another peanut butter and jam sandwich. 
So on to the title of this blog post. 
The girls hang their lunch bags up every day on a hook in the pantry when they get home from school.  My youngest daughters hook happens to be right above the trash can, and this morning her lunch bag was missing.  I asked her about it, and she insisted that she hung it up.  I believed her because it is a great habit of hers and she always remembers. After staring at the empty hook for a minute, and then looking down at my empty trash can with a brand new bag in it (thanks to my wonderful husband who takes the trash out every morning) it dawned on me what must have happened.   I asked the girls if any of them had seen the lunch bag in the trash, AND CAN YOU BELIEVE I GOT A YES!!   AND CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY DIDN’T REACH IN TO GET IT AND HANG IT BACK UP??!!  

My husband left for work by this time and I was NOT about to go dig in our trash bins (we’ll let him do that when he gets home, poor guy) so I went to look for an old lunch bag. As I triumphantly pulled out the extra Scooby Do lunch bag, my youngest (the one with the missing lunch bag) crumbled like her world was coming to and end.  “Mom!!”  (sob, sob) “I’m too old for a Scooby Do lunch box!!”(sob, sniff, sob, her six year old head in hands)  Knowing the school bell would be ringing soon, I knew we had to do this conversation quickly.  Me- “Honey, why are you special?”  6 yr old-(sniff, sniff) “because God made me”  Me-“Would you still be special if you went to school with an ugly, torn, stinky lunch bag?” 6 yr. old (sniff and slight chuckle at me plugging my nose which changed my voice when I said the word stinky) “yes.” Me-“are you still special with a Scooby lunch box?” 6 yr old-(big sigh, arms crossed, pouty downward pointed eyebrows) “yes.”  Me- (with a tickle to try and erase the pouty eyebrows) “well, its a good thing a lunchbox doesn’t make you special” 6 yr old-(arms still crossed, too stubborn to give in to the tickle) Me-(quick, very strategic change of subject) “hey, I think it might be sprinkling, that means you get to carry your very own umbrella!!”

Thank goodness, the change of subject worked and off to school she went, smiling and waving,  Scooby lunch bag in hand and still feeling special.
*if you are wondering about the lunch bag in the picture, I have a girl that is really into black and pirates of the caribbean.  Girls don’t HAVE to like pink, ya know.  I think she knows that it is not her lunch box that makes her special.:)

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