The Philippine Online Chronicles

If your children are getting the back-to-school jitters, putting some love into their lunch box is one way to ease worries and make them feel extra special. It doesn’t take much work, especially if you plan it out. Here are some ideas on how to give your child some lunch box loving.

Boost the lunch love with bento. Simply put, a bento is a meal in a box common in Japanese cuisine. A typical bento would consist of rice, fish or meat, and vegetables, all neatly and attractively packed into one container. An interesting style of bento is kyaraben or “character” bento, wherein food is creatively shaped into characters, animals, and other imaginative shapes. Attractive presentation makes food look more appealing and encourage children to eat, says a health reporter from BBC News. Get some bento ideas from Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento, and get inspired!

Have a weekly lunch box food theme. Sit down with your child and brainstorm on themes for the week. Brainstorming with your kids encourages them to think more creatively. Write down your ideas. For example, a French-themed week could mean you surprising your child with crepes on a Monday, gratin dauphinois (sliced potatoes and melted cheese) on a Tuesday. If your child suggests an outer space-themed week, be open! Go cut his sandwich into star-shaped goodies or serve up some mini pizza flying saucers. It not only makes his everyday lunch more interesting, you get to build your cooking skill too.

Serve him his favorite comfort food. Whether he likes hotdogs and rice, spaghetti or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, explore packing his favorite comfort food for lunch. There are some foods we associate with happiness. Picking the foods that make your child happy could make him feel less anxious as he starts school again.

Leave a love note. Adding a little handwritten note will make him feel extra special. Make sure it’s a big enough for him to see, but small enough for him to read in private. A note is a very simple way of expressing your affection, but one that will greatly boost his confidence. From “Thank you for cleaning up your room last night!” to “I love you very much, my son!,” put a smile on his face with positive messages. You can purchase cards or download them, but you can also create your own.

Get creative with his lunch bag. You can make lunchtime fun with food, but you can make it even more fun with how it’s brought to school! Grab a plain brown paper bag and decorate it as imaginatively as you can. Need inspiration? Head on over to Lunch Bag Art, a blog that features many different lunch bags a Dad designs for his kids.

Go shopping for his lunch box together. Involving your kids in buying his lunch box could persuade him to eat more heartily! Other than that, brandishing a lunch box he picked out himself can help make your child feel less anxious about school too.

Make eating fruit fun. Draw a smiley face on a banana. Skewer bite-sized pineapples, grapes and pears into toothpicks. Slice an apple very thinly, so he can eat them as chips.  Peeling fruits ahead of time will make eating them easier. Presenting them in artistic ways too can put a smile on their faces at lunch time.

Say bye-bye to the usual sliced bread. Does your child have bread fatigue? Jazz up lunch with tortillas. Introduce pita bread. Try toasted bagels. Why not make a tuna sandwich with focaccia? What if you made peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a pita instead?

Pack quick-to-eat lunches. Lunch time flies by fast, and you’d want to load up your kid on as much nutrition as he can during lunch hour. Quick and easy eats that are big on flavor will have kids more eager with their lunch meal, and it gives them more time to run around the playground too!

Don’t pack the same lunch everyday. If your kids open their lunch box and find the same old thing day by day, before you know it they will lose interest in their food. Build their excitement during the first week of school with a lunch you know they will look forward to everyday.

Brighten lunch with shapes and colors. Children are naturally interested in color, so go ahead and pack those luscious red strawberries as part of his lunchtime snack. Heighten the lunch box love with a variety of fun-shaped food.  Teddy-bear shaped sandwiches will be sure to excite them, and so will “octodogs” (octopus-shaped hotdogs)!

Pack a little game. A little fun treat like a small puzzle can provide him with some lunchtime entertainment. Try word puzzles. In a small card, write down a phrase and ask him to fill in the blanks. For example, “Jack and _____ went up the _____ to ____ a pail of ____.” Go for nursery rhymes, popular songs, or inspiring quotes like “Try and try until you _____.” If word puzzles aren’t his thing, print out some Spot the Difference activities.

Throw in a mixed snack. In a resealable bag, mix pretzels, small pieces of chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, and crackers. Switch up to contents of the mixed snack everyday.

Cookie cutter anything. Those fun-shaped cutters aren’t just for baked goods! Try heart-shaped cheese slices. Go for dinosaur-shaped sandwiches. How about some flower-shaped apple slices? Get inspired! The crazier, the better!

Let the kids help make their lunch. Kids will more likely eat something they helped prepare themselves. Bake some cookies with the children the day before, and pack this in their lunch box. Let them spread the mayonnaise in their sandwich before packing it in. Choose the activities you will let the little hands dabble in.

Dip it! Don’t kids love to eat with their fingers? Finger food and dip go well together. Put some peanut butter into a small container, and pack it in along with some bread sticks. Julienne some carrots and pack a small tub of yogurt in a cool, insulated bag.

Going back to school may make your children anxious. Help make them feel secure by putting more love into the lunch you prepare. Having your children be reminded of how much you care for them will mean the world to them and help them transition into school better, even if it’s as simple as a little note in the lunch box.

Photos: “Panda bento box” by Maki, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved / “Paper Towel Notes” by Liz, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved / “206 - Happy fruit” by Helen K, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved / “Cucumber Stars” by Robert Otani, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved / “Iced Rice Crispy Hearts” by Robert Fornal, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.

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Toni Tiu is a communications planner by profession and a writer at heart. She blogs about marriage, parenthood and home & living on Wifely Steps and random things in her other coves around the net. She enjoys playing video games with her husband and peekaboo with her baby boy.