Just finished Stephen Covey’s classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Whether we have to make school lunches for our kids (no cafeteria) or we choose to in order to send healthier options, it is a fact that we will make about 180 lunches per child this year. Instead of looking at this as a chore, you can choose to see it as an opportunity to provide nourishment, experiment with new foods, and have fun.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Is your goal to make sure they eat something? Challenge them with healthier choices? Keep them nut, gluten, and/or dairy-free? When you know then End, the shopping, planning, deciding what to pack, etc. is easy.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Plan! See our weekly lunch planner which can be downloaded for free. With a plan and a shopping list for the weekend, your weekday mornings will be much simpler. Some prep the night before will save you time too. I will often fill the water bottles and lay out the lunch bag, napkin, and containers the night before.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Win-win allows you to balance what your kids want to eat with what you want them to eat. With smaller portion and lots of variety, I’ll bet you can include enough to make everyone happy. This way nobody loses. I love this habit.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
Ask them! I thought I was a lunch packing expert until my son told me I send too much food (I didn’t want him to go hungry). He doesn’t like wasting food and it bothered him to have too much in his lunchbox. I learned that the ice cubes I put in his milk cup were making the milk too watery for his taste. I learned that he would eat more vegetables if I included a dip. All good stuff to know.
Habit 6: Synergize
Teamwork. Combine your strengths to create lunches greater than either of you could achieve on your own. If you can plan lunches with your child and have them help with shopping and prep, the results will be more successful than what either of you could accomplish on your own.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
This is about renewal for you for the long-term and it is different for everyone. If you need a break, find something already prepared that you can send or sign up for pizza day at school. If you need new ideas, look online or at the lunch table at school for suggestions. Over time you can teach your child to prepare their own lunch or assign the job to an older sibling. Take care of yourself!
