Going to lunch with a class full of first time Kindergarten students was an eye opener for me. It was September of 2004 and I had not been in a school cafeteria setting since my own elementary school days many years ago. Once I reached middle school, I walked home for lunch every day, so to me it seemed like a brand new experience being in a school cafeteria again.
I met my daughter at her classroom on her first day of Kindergarten. We walked as a class with her teacher. Her teacher, Mrs. Neitzke was reminding the children of the school policies: no running in the hallways, to walk quietly, and no loud talking as other classes were in session. We walked in a single file line to the cafeteria with this new group of wide-eyed Kindergarten kids.
There was a buzz of excitement in the air. The children who had a bag lunch were carrying their shiny new lunch boxes and were told to follow Mrs. Neitzke to their lunchroom table. Each child who was taking hot lunch for the day followed Ms. Lunch Lady. They all had a nametag with their lunch number on it and were asked to punch in that number on the keypad with the help of Ms. Lunch Lady. Patiently, she helped hot lunch children enter their three-digit number. Then they were asked to take a tray and help themselves to their silverware.
I was not expecting those trays to be so heavy. I remember using them in college to slide down the hill after a snowfall, so if they were strong enough to hold my bottom down a hill; one would think it could hinder a Kindergarten student.
- Tip #1: Prepare your child that every day, somewhere in America a child drops his/her lunch by accident. It is loud. Everyone stares. Many people will laugh, and most likely the child who dropped it will cry. Unless, however you prepare your child that accidents happen. There’s no need to cry, try to smile and say “Opps!”, or better yet, laugh too—so the kids aren’t laughing at you but with you.
Silverware goes on the tray. Many times it is the first time a child actually has access to a butter knife; so, many kids were excited to be trusted with this huge honor. I observed two boys having a duel with their butter knives and it took less than a second for the sound of clanging silverware to draw the attention of Ms. Lunch Lady. She sternly reminded the boys that butter knifes are used to cut food only!
- Tip #2: Remind your child about how to handle and use butter knives safely.
Amazingly, there’s a milk carton color system to go along with all the milk options provided by the milk supplier. In our case, we had brown for chocolate, pink for skim fat free, blue for 2%, and red is strawberry.
My daughter was thrilled to be in charge of her milk choice every day. I reminded her that I would like her to rotate between white, chocolate and strawberry. She agreed. My daughter started saying that the she did not like her white milk at school, only at home. So, I decided to meet her for lunch to see how this could be true. I noticed she selected the pretty pink color carton. I grabbed the blue carton and while we were munching on our pizza and green beans, I asked if we could switch cartons. She said sure and I watched her take a tentative sip of my blue carton of 2% milk and then she sighed and drank the entire carton. She likes 2% in the blue carton over the skim fat free milk in the pink carton.
- Tip #3: As about your child’s lunch, the food and drinks itself. A simple change in the color of a milk carton could solve your problem.
Helpers help the children to the menu of the day items, and assist with carrying a heavy tray to the table. The teacher helps the children with bag lunches by opening fruit cups; yogurt tabs and opening milk cartons.
The teacher waits for the rest of her class to arrive and reminds the students that this is their opportunity to eat; and as soon as they are all finished eating, they will empty their lunches in the trash cans and deposit trays and silverware onto the conveyer belt.
The teacher introduces a team of older students waiting to help them along the way. She tells them that after they are done, they will go to the bathroom and wash their hands and then go outside for recess. She stresses that Kindergarten is so much fun, the children have to make sure they eat all of their food in order to have enough energy to play for the entire recess.
She explains that the Kindergarten class will be getting a small nutritious snack after lunch before they leave for the day, but she reminds the kids that a healthy lunch helps a growing body to function properly.
Many of the kids were too excited to really eat their food - including me! It was exciting watching them interact up and down the table. New kids meeting and becoming friends over lunch on their very first day of Kindergarten. It was loud and fun! I was so caught up in the excitement of the moment, that I was just as guilty as my daughter, who was too busy talking rather than eating.
- Tip #4: Reiterate the sound advice that my daughter’s teacher shares with your child because I, too, fell victim to the excitement and grossly under-ate!
At home, Heidi is rarely rushed to eat her food. At Kindergarten she would have to adjust to this new schedule. She would have to work hard to eat within 20 minutes and still hold multiple conversations with her school friends.
- Tip #5: If your child is coming home starving, you might want to make sure he/she is focusing on eating lunch at lunch time and not socializing too much.
Take it from me; it was hard for me not to get caught up in the excitement of “kid watching”. I was just as distracted as the rest of my new little friends.
Copyright 2008 – Stacey Kannenberg, Cedar Valley Publishing, Author of Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten! and Let’s Get Ready For First Grade!
What are some additional tips Kindergarteners should know? How’d you learn about them?
