S. Indira Narayan is an educationist with more than 35 years of rich experience in the teaching field. She has held multiple portfolios. She has been associated with St. Ann’s High School, ICSE, ISC, Secunderabad, for over three decades, teaching English language and English literature for classes 10, 11 and 12. The last portfolio she held was as Academic Coordinator, St. Ann's High School, at Kompally Hyderabad, under the same management.
Indira Narayan has conducted numerous workshops for school teachers and continues to do so. She is also interested in writing and blogs regularly on http://vinplaksha.wordpress.com/
On regular school days, every mother is busy packing food for her children in the morning.; one for the small break and one for the lunch break. Small break ‘tiffin boxes’ usually have food like biscuits, fruit or some such light snack. What goes into the lunch box differs from parent to parent. It also depends on what the child prefers. Food which the child does not prefer, generally returns home much to the mother’s disappointment. When she packs the lunch, a mother usually feels that her child will like what she has packed. When food is regularly brought back or just half eaten the reason need not be one of preference.
The lunch breaks for many children, especially in the primary section, is a time to run around and play. The lunch packed is either pecked at or left in the box, to be eaten later. The so called ‘later’ will possibly be on the way home after the school gets over (in the school bus or in the private assigned transport). Showing an empty lunch box at home is important, isn’t it?
Once, during the lunch break I had to walk past primary children sitting and having their lunch. It is fascinating and somewhat upsetting to note the amount of ‘lunch’ mothers put in the lunch box. Not all containers were boxes; there were tiffin carriers too. Three tier ones, some containing salad, chapatti and curry; the quantity being manageable. In such cases, kids find time to eat what is packed and rush out to play. But what do you say to those three tiers packed with food, mostly rice and what’s worse, all of them with the same dish! Can a class 3 or class 4 student do justice to this, given about 40 minutes of lunch break? Even a high school student will not be able to complete it.
What a mother packs as lunch for her ward cannot be questioned- both quantity and quality. But what do say to this situation: A young mother accosting her child’s class teacher, saying that her child brings back a lunch box half eaten. If the teacher looks doubtfully, she is told that it is her duty to see that the child eats all the food (usually the three tier fully packed ones). “My child does not eat his food properly at home and so I pack more hoping that his class teacher would see that it was eaten. That is not happening. Why?” If some approach the teacher, some request her to do what they find difficult to accomplish for various reason; make their child eat. In schools where lunch is provided, I wonder how a mother can know if her child has eaten lunch properly?
Here is my question- is it fair on the part of the parents to pack a lunch box with food that they themselves will not be able to complete in the 40-minute duration? One has to be present during the lunch break to see the plight of some children stuffing food down; not really relishing it.
Packing school lunches can be a trying job. It requires planning and organising, at least on the day before. Don’t we train our children to pack their school bags before they go to bed at night? When children are small, parents look into these and keep everything from the school bag to the school uniform and shoes ready for the morning. Why not plan the lunch, making sure it is healthy, nutritive and just enough for a child to eat happily and still find time to play for a while? Not a daunting task, is it?