Apparently the other mothers were putting little "love notes" in the lunch boxes, boosting their kids self esteem with simple phrases like "Have a GREAT day, sweetie. Mommy loves you", and "See you later lovebug. xxx". How the heck was I to know? I was raised with English "school dinners"; the whole event was more like a prolonged torture session.
And last week I came across the perfect thing for would-be loving parents who just don't have the time for it all.
Lunch Mail. Here look -
So you pop one of these cards into the lunch bag. They're about 1.5 times 1 inch big.
On the back, they look like tiny postcards, so you can write your own personal self-esteem-boosting message.
And then - the front opens out for yet more inspirational verbiage:
("Isn't it great how everyone in the world smiles in the same language").
My neighbour was throwing these out so I grabbed them. The Queenager is going to get one in every package I send to her at college. Whether she wants one or not!
I know my daughter would roll her eyes at this..I asked her recently if she missed me when she's at school..(she's 7 by the way )Her response was, 'of course not, I'm too busy..'..
ReplyDeleteA nice idea, but just not how we do things ..
ha ha ha! Love it and I bet it makes her smile (or roll her eyes!). I can safely say that I won't be putting those in my kid's lunch bags. I can barely find the creativity to make them something other than a cheese sandwich.
ReplyDeleteCoddle, coddle, coddle. Once in a great while is fine but not every day. What are we supposed to do, be their cheerleader every day of their lives? They have to learn to cheer themselves on.
ReplyDeleteHow retchingly funny. It hasn't been such a long time since smiley faces were invented; where will it end.
ReplyDeleteThis made me guffaw loudly. They say be careful what you wish for - and now the Queenager will rue the day. I love it! I think it's tragic that there is pressure to add love/inspirational notes to your child's lunchbox. What IS that? My father says we're raising a generation of coddled mediocrity. Sometimes I think he's right.
ReplyDeleteThank u for the laugh!!! Chortling out loud here in Dubai! It just wouldn't cross my mind in a million years to put a love note in the lunchbox, that's hilarious! Come to think of it, I think one of my American friends here mentioned it ages ago....now I know what she was talking about! Maybe I'll try it, tho I'm pretty sure it would come back all mushed up with the sandwich crusts and egg shell!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of it either - but let's just say it doesn't surprise me in the least....
ReplyDeleteIm not at all surprised! Kind of sweet, every now and then if you know the child is down or something, but daily? sheesh!
ReplyDeleteAnd I like your style--I'd be doing just the same as you to the Queenager! Very funny!
When I showed the Little Guy (age 8) he said he liked them. Eek. I asked him if he wanted one in his lunch and he said "yes", so I did. He came back at the end of that day and declared them "Embarrassing". I guess they didn't go down to well with the guys at school!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun reading about the "love notes". Did you know you can even write surprise messages on the peel of a banana? Would the kids appreciate that?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Pam. My creativity with school lunches ended with adding a pickle to the cheese sandwich. My mother wrapped my egg sarnies for school in the store bough bread wrapper, 'Mother's Pride'. Now that's LOVE! :-)
ReplyDeleteBanana peel writing. Wow - never thought of that.
ReplyDeleteClippy - your mother was very trendy - that's the height of recycling these days. I use the loaf bag and used wax cereal bags.
Apparently there are a lot of mollycoddled kids out there. I wish I had such a cheerleader around all the time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that sounds about right...sigh. Those same children show up in the high-school classroom years later and expect to get As just for sitting through the class without falling asleep or hitting their neighbors. I am all for expressing love to my children, and I think the idea of tucking a note into a child's lunchbox who might have been going through a rough time or who was anxious about a test might actually be a good idea. But when you start pre-printing 'encouraging' notes...I guess that's where they lose all significance, right?
ReplyDeleteMs C - Yes, the whole pre-printed thing, to me is just a little bit sad really.
ReplyDeleteDo these parents also stick "kick me" signs on their children's backs?
ReplyDeleteFirst I sneered. Then I laughed. And laughed. And then I realized that the transition from American to British is complete.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap! You mean I was supposed to make their lunch and insert a note instead of insisting they make their own lunch for school?
ReplyDeleteHILARIOUS. This is so corny - did you make these up?
ReplyDeleteMy son's always had school dinners because I can't be bothered to make sandwiches (and anyway, it's really hard to make healthy packed lunches with stuff that he'll actually eat).
ReplyDeleteHowever, those notes are a gem. Especially great for sending to uni students, or cool sixth formers (is that 'high school' in the US? Something like that) with cringey messages like 'You're Mummy's little lovebug' or something equally vom-inducing. Excellent!
Great idea - at last, an alternative teen punishment to grounding, loss of cell phone, deactivation of Facebook, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe nearest thing in the Muggle world, in fact, to Mrs Weasley's Howler at breakfast time.
ah thats lovely do you have to do this everyday??
ReplyDeleteAwww that is so precious!
ReplyDelete