I can’t even write this post. It’s not quite August and I’m supposed to get my kids ready to go back to school. Didn’t we just finish?
I’m tired and I hate shopping so I’m online looking for solutions to the dreaded lunchbox. I love paper napkins because I can write notes to my kids:
I love you
Remember to be a good friend today
Did you tell your teacher that you like it when….?
But paper napkins are horrid for the environment. I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you all the reasons why. I tried sending my kids to school with cloth napkins and it was great for my daughter, my son, however lost them all. I’m fairly certain he never wiped his fingers on them anyhow.
Back in April Jennifer Lance wrote about Fabkins, napkins with your kids in mind. My son assures me he’d never lose one of the ball napkins. Okay, I’m game.
What about the rest of lunch? Bento box anyone? For the bigger kids (teens) I might be temped to splurge on a Neiman’s Bento Box. *swoon* Too bad I married for love and not money….
The best guide to a green lunch (no I don’t mean Green Eggs and Ham) is at Waste Free Lunch. Kelli Best-Oliver highlights some of their best ideas in her post last year.
Truthfully it’s all in vain if the kids aren’t on board. That’s why I’m going to take a cue from my mother and decorate the heck out of some napkins for the kids. Maybe if they say Jane and Alexander on them they won’t get lost? Surely they’d be found.
When I was in Japan, many years ago, I bought a bento box for my sister as a gift. I wish now I had bought several of them. They would sure come in handy when packing my kids’ lunch, and where much cheaper. I also bought her a fancy napkin that in Japan they tie on the outside of the box. Thanks for the great idea about dressing up some cloth napkins, I may just have to try it.
…or instead of buying all of these new items, use items you already have around the house – old purses (for girls), tupperware, visit second-hand stores for cloth napkins…it’s hard to get excited about “be a green parent” articles, blog entries, and websites that just tell us to go buy something b/c it is green…even the Waste Free Lunch website tries to sell us on how much less it costs to pack a lunch, saying that cloth napkins, lunch bag, reusable containers and thermoses don’t cost anything while tabulating the cost of paper/disposable versions…but there is an initial layout, so that argument doesn’t hold my attention. If the economics were the issue, the real “green” lunch would be the school lunch – it’s cheap, it uses a central infrastructure (dishes/trays etc. at the school), and with pressure from parents and other interested parties, can be made from healthy, local and organic foods.
To be green is to set an example “kids – we have plenty of containers, bags, thermoses, etc. here in the house – we don’t NEED a BRAND NEW thing just because we’re a target market for some company’s advertaising budget – green company or not!”
c’mon people – is this “go media” site for green people or the vehicle for green corporations?