Last day of term was always going to suck. Even at high school they have shared lunches, none of this “Choose two items and sit down on the mat and eat it”, it’s more like an all you can eat of cake, chocolate, chips and Mountain Dew before sending the kids off for two weeks with their parents.
Even before the last class of the day where said shared lunch was held, each classroom that Jacob went to was a battle of the sugar-free wills as he turned down treat after treat. Five different teachers offered fruit bursts, chocolate, favourites bars, by the time he got to film club last thing in the day there were a few ‘choice’ words arriving in my phone via text. Should I be happy my son feels comfortable enough to do his venting so openly to his mother? Not something I would have done as a youngster. But then no one ever took away my shared lunches just when I got old enough to pile that plate as high as I wanted without the teachers stepping in.
So, what did we do to prepare Jacob for the shared lunch battle today?
I quietly stressed and Jacob told me to harden up. Should have been the other way round but then Jacob’s a sensible kid like that.
I sent him packing with a full lunchbox, a big bag of plain popcorn and plain potato chips and told him to be sensible.
So these were the glorious foods in his lunchbox today.
(Totally trying to talk myself into believing this stuff is nice).
* Almonds with some of the choc coated walnuts we made yesterday.
* Mandarin (at least they are natural sugars)
* Egg savoury (made with egg, greek yoghurt, spinach & coriander, cooked up in muffin tins while pretending I know what I’m doing)
* Sandwich: Grain bread, chicken, cottage cheese, carrot, lettuce and some homemade chilli stuff that doesn’t have sugar added. Yep, we are still making him sandwiches. I know there is refined sugar in breads, it’s something we are choosing to keep at the moment.
And then came the shared lunch.
You’d have to have a will of iron to resist the kind of stuff high school kids bring to these things. They walk into the supermarket on the way to school and present the purchases on the table for lunch. The popcorn and chips were a good option to save being laughed at and he had some of each, but felt awful missing out on lamingtons, cakes, chocolates, glasses of sprite, mountain dew, numerous other choices of fizzy and orange drinks, crackers, pies, sausage rolls, brownies and biscuits.
Just being honest. Like I said, will of iron.
Last word from Jacob:
The good: Being able to swallow the mega-grenade type fish oil without gagging.
The bad: Lamingtons, cakes, chocolates, glasses of sprite, fanta, mountain dew, numerous other choices of fizzy and orange drinks, crackers, pies, sausage rolls, brownies and biscuits. You know how hard it is not to eat that crap while avoiding being classed as a weirdo by your friends?
Laters
My daughter has to deal with all this stuff too although her issue is gluten. It is tough at these times but she has learnt to cope. She is 11, has ASD and reads labels on everything to work out whether it is gluten free or not. At the end of the year, the whole Grade will go to Sizzler's for lunch and she won't be able to go as they have nothing gluten free she will eat. I think it will be hard for the next few years. Love reading about your journey. Take care
Posted by: Deb | July 12, 2013 at 08:59 PM
Well done Jacob - you will be the one with sustained energy when the others sugar fix runs out. Well done to you and your mum lol!
Posted by: Rachel | July 12, 2013 at 09:00 PM
Way to go Jacob!!! You are one tough kid (very wise too)!
Posted by: Susan Kopp | July 12, 2013 at 11:38 PM
You're doing great Jacob....my heart goes out to you though! Keep up the fantastic work.
Posted by: Dolly | July 13, 2013 at 02:34 AM
You have a great boy there Nic - keep up the good work! Love reading about the progress. Would love to whip my kids into shape (eating-wise), mine are just super-fussy - not un-lucky enough to be intolerant of anything. Keep chugging along, am sure it will all be worth it for his health!
Posted by: Neroli F | July 13, 2013 at 04:05 PM