Are you ready for the shaming?
There are so many rules it is hard to keep up. The banned list, the encouraged list, the shamed list.
And then once you meet the official criteria you have to bow to public pressure to keep up standards.
“Jennifer Goodyear has home made tofu pockets. I want home-made tofu pockets.”
“Why can’t you give us a paleo lunch like the Andrew twins get?”
“I was SO embarrassed to have tuna Mum. Tomorrow vegemite cruskits and NOTHING else.”
It’s a minefield this school thing, and the toughest part is something you have to face every single day.
School lunches.
Back to school next week and if you are anything like me you will be dreading the return to the morning dilemma of what to pack in those tupperwear boxes. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
It's exhausting, and a new study has shown that nine out of every ten parents feel the same way saying they find it tough to keep their children interested in the contents of their lunchboxes.
(Three out of three in my house.)
With two thirds of parents saying they actually feel pressured by other mothers and even teachers to come up with “fabulous” lunch goods.
Usually you read this studies with a degree of skepticism, but I can tell you this one is true.
It is perhaps a by-product of the Pintrest and Instagram obsessed culture we live in that the lunch box has become the new battleground in the Mummy Wars.
Snack shaming. Sandwich scoffing. Recess ridicule. It’s a thing.
In my eager days as a blissful kindergarten parent last year I remember casually praising the tuck-shop to a group of mothers in the playground while we tearily farewelled our black-shoed angels.
I was met with gasps of horror. “Well we might allow Jemina to use it once a term as a special treat,” said one.
“Oh but I just like baking too much in the morning before school,” crowed another.