1. There is a lunch, but no drink.
2. There is a drink carton, but no straw.
3. There is a yoghurt, but no spoon.
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4. There is a pasta salad, but no fork.
5. There are snacks, but no sandwich (thumbs up from the littles quite possibly, but not from the teachers).
6. There is a sandwich and a drink… but nothing else.
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7. There is a *whispers –full sized chocolate bar!!!
8. There is a drink, an apple and a banana (wtf!?)
9. There are whole grapes, and these are gleefully rolling around the lunchbox.
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10. There is fruit cut and Tupperwared away, but the sandwich is now flat as a pancake and wedged into a thin gap between Tupperware and drink. Nice.
11. There is hot soup in a flask. It’s summer.
12. There is hot soup in a flask. It’s summer. And there’s no spoon.
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13. The cooler lunchbox is half filled with an (unnecessary) ice pack, whilst the other half contains a hugely scaled down lunch – they will be hungry!
14. There is a full lunch, hooray, but no napkins.
15. There is enough lunch to feed the whole class.
16. There is enough lunch to feed a mouse.
17. The lunchbox has been squished inside a rucksack, to make it easier (and heavier?!?) for them to carry around all day.
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*If in doubt, always get the alpha parent to double check school lunchboxes before sending unsuspecting offspring off to school with them.
** I see you laughing there Alpha parent…but don’t forget, even the most organised of us can get it wrong sometimes.
Have you had any school lunchbox disasters?
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Yes to so many of these 🙂 Though my daughter’s aren’t at school yet I often forget cutlery needed for my lunch!
Lol love this I don’t know if I would even allow the beta parent to pack a lunchbox!!!
Ha, not heard of this before. My kids are older now and I try to get them to pack their lunch boxes. Not working yet though, I am still always helping them.
Ha ha I’ve got all this to come! I can imagine the horror of the full sized chocolate bar!
I’m really glad I don’t have to navigate packed lunches, we’re signed up to school dinners. What are alpha and beta parents though?
I’m definitely Alpha parent when it comes to the school lunch box. God only knows what our son would open up to find if Beta was left to do it! If I’m ever away, Beta parent is left with strict instructions and a reminder text the night before and early the next morning!
Hahaa I love this!! I definitely started out as a beta parent when it came to lunch boxes but now his first year of school is almost done I think I’ve just about got it nailed! The forgetting the spoon and squashing the sandwich thing?! That’s totally still me!xx
This has made my morning! Although I haven’t started packing lunchboxes for school yet of course, I do pack a lunch bag for Little A for my Mums home and I have missed so many things! Luckily, Mum always has back ups! #DreamTeam
Haha this is so funny. I’m so pleased the lunch box days are behind me. Old banana skins *shudder* xx
What on earth would possess Alpha Parent to even allow Beta Parent NEAR the lunchbox???? A glorious fail! My Beta Parent doesn’t even know where the lunchboxes are kept. #coolmumclub
I forgot to pick up the whole lunch box the other day = no lunch! #dreamteam
It wasn’t the lunch packing that was the problem. It was the Tubblet’s habit of helpfully packing everything back into the lunch box afterwards. Which meant the remainder of the yogurt would leak into the box which was a pig to clean
This made me laugh so hard!! My kid isn’t in school yet but I was raised by a beta parent and already have the lunch box fear haha! #dreamteam
My mummy is chuckling away to herself, she likes to think of herself as an Alpha lunchbox packer, however has made some of the rookie errors described! #DreamTeam
Hahaha! Love this…no ones perfect right?!
Thankfully school meals prevail – entertaining a discussion of who’s Alpha vs Beta parent would not be a good idea!
This post made me smile and do any of us ever meet the standard set by media or school when it comes to lunches. Now you have made me want a huge chocolate bar by the way #DreamTeam
‘Beta Parent’ hahaha oh I love it Annette. X
#dreamteam
Oh dear I’m the beta parent in our house – the pressure is unbearable very funny #dreamteam
I once had a kid bring a frozen bag of peas. That is is. #dreamteam
My 20 yr old daughter packed my 10yr olds lunch recently when I was away and as we were out of bread that morning, rather than pop to the shop so that a sandwich could be made she decided to give a chocolate waffle instead – god knows what the school thought of that! #dreamteam
This is why hubby usually packed the boys’ lunches rather than me!
Hey – we all make mistakes! Too funny! 😀
Brilliant post! Had me laughing, this is why my kids now pack their own lunches so i can just blame them if it is stuffed up! #DreamTeam
Very funny and so easily done! Especially the forgotten spoon, why are spoons so forgettable?!
while I haven’t made these mistakes yet (I think), i guarantee i will one day, especially if you ask my wife #dreamteam
We have yet to reach the age of packed lunches #DreamTeam
That’s so funny. I have not launched into the world of packed lunches yet but I am being pestered by the boys so am bound to give in! #DreamTeam
Making school lunches are the one thing that I cannot get excited about!
#dreamteam
This cracks me up! And the teachers can always tell when the beta parent has taken over a task for the alpha! #DreamTeam
So funny. Great read. #DreamTeam
haha … I love this! I’m a Beta parent. In fact, I’m a beta spouse, and human too.
#dreamteaim
This is very funny! Our oldest has hot lunches so we’ve avoided the packing lunches conundrum so far apart from the odd school trip! #DreamTeam
I have had to make 2 packed lunches in the past fortnight due to sports days. I HATE it! I always end up in a panic and try to fit in too much then the lunchbox won’t close and I try to work out how to keep the contents cool etc! #dreamteam
This is hysterical! I despise lunch making… and I really try very hard to please. When I see it all back, wasted and in the sink, I want to cry… Your scenarios are genius! #dreamteam xoxo
Annette, my mum (who would have been the lunchbox alpha) never had this problem. For two reasons. Number one: My dad (who would have been the lunchbox beta) would never in a million years have packed anyone’s school lunchbox! 😀 Number two: She encouraged getting the hot lunch at school and any kid who wanted to take a lunch instead of having the school lunch was on their own! 😀 I distinctly remember packing my own lunchbox when I was seven–I always had the same thing, a sandwich (usually egg mayonnaise), an apple or carrot, a cookie. #blogcrush
Haha yes to all of these! I am a lunchtime supervisor at my daughter’s nursery and we see these all of these on a regular basis. It’s also surprising how many times the child arrives with yesterday’s rubbish and no new dinner, or a yoghurt that has exploded everywhere.
And someone else obviously enjoyed this post too because they chose to add it to the BlogCrush linky for you. Hurray! Feel free to pop over and grab ANOTHER (!) “I’ve been featured” blog badge 🙂 #blogcrush
Oh wow!! It’s lovely to be #blogcrush ed again. Thank you x