Lunch, anyone?

I forgot to pack a lunch for Frank today.  Hello.  I'm shoving him out the door to walk to the bus stop.  We are usually on the cusp of missing the bus, so every second counts.

Frank:  "Ummm, Mom?  My backpack is empty."

Me:  "That's okay.  You don't have any homework or anything to take to school today."

Frank:  "Uhhh, what about my lunch?"

Yeah.  What about his lunch.  How do I forget things like that?  So I glanced at the lunch calendar that I keep around, and it said they were having teriyaki chicken, which seemed like maybe it could possibly be tolerable to the world's pickiest eater.

Me:  "Just eat school lunch today.  Out the door!  Let's go people..."  (I keep a little bit of money on his "account" there for just such emergencies.)

Then I spent the morning worrying about whether or not he would actually eat anything.  He discriminates against food for so many reasons.  It just seemed so likely he would get his little tray, take one look at it, and dump it in the trash.

So Elise and I decided we would go eat lunch with him.  It was really really fun.  For Elise's benefit, we got our own little tray of school lunch, too.  For the record, the teriyaki chicken is really not too bad.  The carrot cake was like a little bit of moist heaven covered with at least a half inch of super yummy frosting.  I could not believe how much frosting.  Frank was excited to show us the lunch room.  He showed me where to dump my tray, and told me about all the little rules.  Then we went out on the playground with him until they blew the whistle, and all the little kids lined up in a most efficient manner.   It always amazes me how well trained the children are.  It's like a little drill camp.  (Maybe it's not that way with the older grades?)  Anyway, makes me wonder if I should be a little more structured at home.  Maybe I need to find myself a whistle.  That would be awesome.  Do you think it would be possible to train your kid to drop everything, clean up every toy in the house, put pajamas on, brush teeth, and be ready for stories, all with one blow of a whistle?  Or, if a whistle seems too harsh, maybe it could be a little tune, like on Strange Brew, when they play those eight notes and they all try to kill each other.  I really should have started conditioning my children earlier.  And I should have studied more chemistry/pharmaceutical stuff so I could make chemicals to assist with their conditioning.  It's never too late, right?

I seem to have gotten a little off topic...

Anyway, the point is, it's fun to go eat lunch with your kid at school.  I highly recommend it.