Home Organization Tips

Packing lunches for school can be a daunting task. It can also be quite tedious.  I wouldn’t want to eat the same thing every single day – and neither do my kids. This, however, leaves me with the frustration of needing to create new and exciting lunches every day.  How is a mother to survive this task, especially with four young boys who all need their lunches packed each and every day?

The answer?  Teamwork.  In order to maintain my sanity, and to ensure that my kids actually eat something during the day, we make packing lunches a family affair.  Here’s how we do it.

1. Lists: At the beginning of the school year, I interview each child to find out what items he wants to take to school.  We discuss sandwiches, frozen foods, leftover dinner recipes, fruits, vegetables, crackers – the works!  Certainly, there will be days when I still have to guess about something, or ask a last-minute question, but the list gives me a good idea of the foods that each child will eat.  Once the list is compiled, I post it on the side of the refrigerator and use it as a reminder as I’m packing lunches.
2. Assistance: Next, I get the kids involved in their own lunch packing as early as humanly possible.  Each of my kids knows that he is responsible for placing all of the side items in his lunch bag.  This means that each evening, he needs to find a piece of fruit, some vegetables, and some pretzels or crackers and place them in his bag. By the time that each child is about four I request this of him.  When a child first starts to pack his lunch, we do a few practice runs together so that he is comfortable.  He needs to know where the baggies are kept, he needs to know how to open the bread drawer organizer, and he has to be taught how to retrieve things from the bottom cabinet Lazy Susan.  With these skills in mind, he’s ready to prepare his bag.
3. Checking Their Work: Before I go to bed each night, I check each child’s lunch bag to make sure that the proper items are in place and ready for the next day.  I try to do this before they go to bed, in case anyone needs to finish packing his lunch or add to what he placed there.  Sometimes, however, if I check late at night, I’ll simply add things in myself as necessary.
4. The Morning Rush:  The goal for the morning is to make a fresh sandwich, to throw this into each bag and to send the kids on their way.  We all have a million things to do in the morning.  By packing lunches in the evening, we save a great deal of time and frustration in the morning rush.  Since I want the boys’ sandwiches to be fresh, I wait to make these in the morning.  Everything else, however, is ready to go from the night before and already in the proper bag.
5. No Complaints Allowed: The best part of this system is that it is complaint-free.  Since we’ve already created an agreed-upon list of foods, and since the kids pack most of their bags by themselves, there is no room for complaining.  Certainly, we have to tweak our lists during the year, and I have to remind the kids that cake does not constitute a 10:00 am snack.  Overall, however, our system is pretty stress-free and smooth.  Hopefully, something similar can work for you as well!

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 by Romi
Filed under: organizing tips, Household Management