School lunches

Patricia - posted on 11/27/2012

That is great. It really depends on the school and where you are. In California where I taught they got 30 minutes and they had to jam to eat and no visiting and same here in Alabama it is tougher and earlier lunch times.

Sherri - posted on 11/27/2012

@Patricia my kids still get an 1hr for lunch and my kids do get to sit and enjoy eating and visiting w/their friends. Especially now that they are in HS for the oldest 2.

Patricia - posted on 11/27/2012

Pretty soon they will doing away with lunch alltogether!! I have heard this more and more. It is sad. I remember as a kid getting a full hour for lunch. Getting to sit and enjoy eating and visiting with friends from the other grades.

Jenna - posted on 01/04/2012

I don't want anyone to take offense, but 10 minutes is enough time to eat a regular sized lunch. My boys usually scarf down a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a side (like animal crackers or a muffin) and a dessert (a cookie), and a milk in that amount of time at home, so I would expect they could do it at school too. I send my kids with cold lunch and always have. And it is sandwiches every day for them and they can just get used to it. I had a sandwich every day in my lunch growing up and I was always a perfectly healthy kid. My kids have a 45 minute lunch period and they have the first 30 minutes of it in the cafeteria. After 30 minutes, they have to go outside whether or not they are done eating so the next group can come in. They overlap the grades by 15 minutes. My 3rd grader has lunch at 11:45 and my 1st grade goes at 12:00. My 3rd grader tells me that he never sees his brother at lunch because he is already outside at recess, but then the 1st grader joins him at recess at about 12:15 and they have about 15 minutes to play together. The kids just have to learn they can't have a leisurely lunch--they are there to eat, not to socialize at that time.

Sherri - posted on 01/02/2012

@Jill it has nothing with them being secretive at all. It is a disruption to the children and their learning if parents just came and went as they pleased during the kids school day. Trust me I know exactly what my kids schools are like. I am in constant contact with them and my kids teachers and they all know me by sight.

Nelly - posted on 01/02/2012

My 2 older children r in high school they have 30min 4 lunch and they eat in the cafeteria they bring their lunch 2 school i still find it important 2 monitor what they eat my 2 younger children come home 4 lunch i pick them up and drop them off

Jill - posted on 01/01/2012

Lauren and Sherri, that's TERRIBLE that you can't visit your child during the school day. My DD school allows parents to visit at lunch any day, as long as we sign in at the office. schools shouldn't be secret like that and parents have a right to know what their child's school is like.

Crystal, that does seem like quite a rushed lunch. not very fair for kids who tend to eat slower. perhaps an in-person visit to the principal would be in order to find out why the lunch time is set up that way. in the meantime, i'd recommend packing lunch. keep us posted. good luck!

Kelly - posted on 09/19/2011

My son gets 25 minutes for lunch. They time it out so a class comes every 5 minutes throughout the day, and there is room for up to 10 classes to be seated, so if a class runs late, other classes don't have to wait.
It takes about 5 minutes for J to get through the food line on days he buys lunch, but most days he takes his own lunch because he does not like the options (and neither do I--lots of processed garbage).

Crystal, I send a lot of hot foods to school for my son. You can buy a little Thermos for $13 that will keep warm food warm for up to 5 hours. I fill it with Mac&Cheese, homemade soups, steamed veggies, oatmeal, all kinds of left overs, and anything else I think he might like.
It will also keep cold food cold for 7 hours, so I can send milk with cereal, yogurt, apple sauce, fruit salad, etc.

Janna - posted on 09/18/2011

My son gets 30 min for lunch, buy it is well organized enough that the whole lunch time is spent on lunch. I am allowed to go in his class whenever I wish and come eat lunch with him whenever also. I just have to check in at the office. I am sure there would be a problem if I wanted to just hang around in his classroom, and I don't. But I would have a problem with them not letting me go there for lunch whenever I wanted! My son takes his lunch every day because he is picky and it's easier that way.

Kimberly - posted on 09/18/2011

My son gets 20 minutes to eat and 20 minutes recess. I pack his lunch everyday since he does not like the food in the cafeteria. I use a thermos to keep his food warm. His lunchbox has two compartments so I can keep his juice cold in one and hot in the other. Also, give it time, the staff in the cafeteria should get faster after the first month or so.

Sherri - posted on 09/18/2011

@Lauren same here we are not allowed in the school during the school day unless you have an actual reason to be there. You can't just decide you want to have lunch with your child one day, that would never be allowed.

Rae - posted on 09/18/2011

My children ( I have 2 boys ages 10 & 11) get lunch VERY late. Neither eat until 12:45pm and 1pm. Since they have to leave to catch the bus by 7:30am I decided to have them always bring a snack w/ them to school along with a bottle of water. I know that in our school it is Pre-K through 8th grade. By the time lunch comes for my boys, the lunchroom is frequently OUT of a portion of food. But after reading the post that Crystal left I do believe that I will go to their school and test out the school's lunch time and see if I will need to be doing more "cold" lunches from home

Sapphire - posted on 09/18/2011

My son has 30 minutes for lunch, but I really like how they rotate their lunch. Yes, it is rushed, but they do recess first for 15 minutes. The kids that buy lunch are pulled off the playground a few minutes early to get through the lunch line, then they all eat in the cafeteria. It is rushed, but even more so at teh high school where I teach with 30 minute lunches and 1800 kids spread across 2 lunch sessions!

Mel - posted on 09/18/2011

in our school, the children have an hour for lunch, they have a rota, the younger ones go first, mine take packed lunch now but it seems pretty well organised and ks1 have 12 - 1 ks2 have 12 20 - 1 20

Martha - posted on 09/18/2011

It's 30min lunch/recess (in a cafeteria) break for my P4 child. It has been this way since he started school. He often goes to school with a lunch box but we find he often doesn't eat them. They all rather play, unfortunately. There is no structured time for lunch time only. When given a choice, kids will choose play every time.

Lauren - posted on 09/17/2011

My children's schools are extremely strict about letting in visitors, parents or not. I can't even walk him to class in the morning because parents aren't supposed to enter the building unless we go to the office & sign in & get a special pass. I'm absolutely clueless as to what goes on inside, maybe this type of thing is why...

Cynthia - posted on 09/17/2011

I live in Ireland and here we bring our own lunchs to school. It is eaten in the classroom or outside if the weather is good. We don't have cafeterIas or lunchrooms which means you just take your lunch out of your bag and start eating. No standing in line and all the time of your lunch to eat.

Angel - posted on 09/17/2011

my son standing in line in the cafe and then get his Lunch and they only have a little time to eat it too.

Stephanie - posted on 09/17/2011

Yes, lunch is rushed in my childs school too. They do have a lunchroom. But, there are lots of kids and so it takes awhile to get through the line.

Charleen - posted on 09/16/2011

Same here. My kids get 10 minutes to eat. They eat in the cafeteria but they cycle them through by grade. My kids rarely have enough time to choke down 1/2 a sandwich and their fruit. It made me really upset at first but I keep talking to people and it is unfortunately the norm now.

Sherri - posted on 09/15/2011

Well I wish you luck. Let us know what comes of it.

Crystal - posted on 09/15/2011

Well the reason I got the idea of the microwave was because my cousin's son's school in Oregon has 3 she said. And as far as monitoring, I don't see that as a problem. They had 3 teachers in the gym (where they pick up their food) re-directing the kids who were walking the wrong way to their class. there is plenty of supervision.

Sherri - posted on 09/15/2011

That probably wouldn't be any quicker though Crystal can you imagine every kid trying to heat lunches with one microwave. That would take their entire lunch period with zero time to eat. Plus who is going to monitor them all so they don't burn themselves on hot food??

Crystal - posted on 09/15/2011

Looking back I can recall not having a cafeteria in Elementary school, but we had recess AFTER lunch so if we went over the designated lunch time, we were able to finish up and just got less recess time. But my son's school has recess BEFORE lunch! so all their "down time" is in the morning. We'll see what the school has to say about my email...thinking about going to the PTA about putting in microwaves so the kids can heat/reheat home made foods. Otherwise its sandwiches everyday if he does cold lunch. :(

Sherri - posted on 09/15/2011

Same way except they eat in the cafeteria they have learned how to be quick eaters. They usually have about 15mins to actually eat. May sound harsh but we get free lunches so I will not be doing cold lunch they have learned how to eat quickly or go hungry.

Tamara - posted on 09/15/2011

at our kids school they go to get their lunches one class at a time then they have time to eat. when they are done they are to clean up then go outside.

The older two are in high school and its a mad house so they both just take their lunches so they don't have to deal with it.