6Th Grade Lunch Time

No, you're not being overprotective.
Help her "find a way" to work around this problem.
Send her w/protein bars, string cheese, those new peanut butter cups &
some crackers etc. to tide her over until lunch. She can eaet these
things in between classes etc.

you are not overprotective, just concerned, and that's ok. Give her a nice full breakfast in the A.M. and a healthy snack bar or baby carrots, to eat between classes. If she's not a breakfast eater, give her the snack bar and a piece of fruit for in between classes. I too thought it was late for my daughter, compared to her previous lunch times, but they get used to it and I would also pack her a full lunch. Sandwich, chips, a veggie like carrot sticks, cucumber or celery with lemon juice. Whatever herfavorites are.

They're in Middle School - they should be responsible for their own snacks. Send a protein bar or something like that in with her that she can eat between classes. Other than that, yeah, unfortunately, it's completely normal to stagger the lunch hours between grades and someone is going to end up eating late. In your case, it's the 6th graders. Our school has the same issue. And then, last year, my 8th grader had a super EARLY lunch at 10:50 or something like that, when he wasn't even hungry yet - by the time school ended at 3:05, he was STARVING! Guess someone's going to get screwed and it seems like it ain't the 7th graders...

Is she in elementary school or middle school? If it's elementary, give her a snack to eat during recess. If it's middle school, she can eat a snack while walking from one class to another. Try to give her something filling so it holds her until 1:00 lunch. She will probably adjust after a couple of weeks and get used to the later lunchtime. Make sure her breakfast is filling, too.

Something like a protein bar is very filling and can be eaten quickly on the way from one class to another. They make some for kids if she is on the smaller side and doesn't need everything they pack into the full size bars. An apple is also a great snack, especially if paired with string cheese.

I don't think that overprotective is the word you're looking for. Are you expecting too much might be a better term.

That happened with my kids, except their classes started right after 7:00 am. I sent quicky-type snacks that they'd cram into their mouths between classes. I did get a comment about it from the school, and I simply told them that he couldn't think and concentrate when his stomach was screaming at him. I ignored the comments that they weren't supposed to be eating, blah, blah, blah, and I told my son to be more discreet.

If your child is able to eat more for breakfast, give her more. Some kids just can't eat a lot early in the morning. And send some snacks with her and tell her to be discreet.

Dawn

Last year my daughter's THIRD grade class ate at 12:45 and I heard the same complaint 'I'm STARVING by lunch.' I brought my concerns to the principal and became a broken record all year about the lunch times. (He was actually a new principal to the school so he didn't know how or why that lunch schedule was established.)

I learned from the head of food service that each (elementary) school set their own schedules so it was not a mandated time. I gave the principal time to get established and then followed up and asked what he was doing about the lunch schedule.

To his credit he did look into it and moved all of the lunch times up this year so that the last lunch begins at 12:15.

I really do appreciate his effort since it meant rearranging the cafeteria workers' schedules.

I don't think you are being overprotective. I think it is asking a lot of kids to wait so long in-between meals. In addition I do not think "starving" the children is creating an environment conducive for learning.

ETA - My daughter did not eat 'junk' breakfasts and I did try to increase her protein but that was not enough to hold her the almost 6 hours between meals (7 AM - 12:45).

Yep, some campus do not have enough space for all of the kids to be in the cafeteria..

I bet at back to school night they will address this, if not bring it up, by asking, can the kids have healthy snacks during passing times in the hallways.. or ask how the previous students handled this late lunch.

I really encourage your DAUGHTER to ask about this during advisory, or ask her favorite teachers.. This is the time, the students need to speak up for themselves..

S.H. Recess in middle school? No I do not think so.. They have 6 classes and lunch..

It would bother me. Call the school and get clarification on food rules. Ask about times your daughter can eat between the start of class at 8:15 and 1pm. Making any person wait 5 hours between access to food, seems a little crazy.

I had to eat between classes. Once I passed out, they believed I needed to eat - particularly with the onset of puberty.

It she were in college, yeah, over protective. This may just be a case of helping her manage this challenge.

Same with our school. My 5th grader is in a 5/6 combo class, so she eats with the 6th graders at 12:45ish. They DO have recess in the morning, and so I pack her something portable, like grapes, an apple, crackers, that tube of yogurt stuff - something she can grab and go. This is week 3 of school for us, and after the first few days of near-starvation before lunchtime, she learned to grab food on the way to morning recess to tide herself over until lunch.

I feel even sorrier for the little ones. The first graders at our school start eating lunch at 10:30 or some absurdly early hour, and then have to make it all the way to 2:30! Poor kids.

The latest lunch time at my kids elementary is 1:40! That is the time my oldest DD had when she was in 5th grade. We have a serious lack of cafeteria space. It was awful that year, but at least they were allowed to have snacks anytime they wanted to, as long as they were healthy. And our school didn't start until 9:00. I would definitely push for the kids being allowed to have snack. They should be able to handle kids eating an apple or some carrot while they are reading or something.

Yes, this would be frustrating. I agree, we always need to pick out battles, and I would not let this one go to far. But I would ask about it. Of course giving a substantial breakfast helps, but if it's too big of a breakfast then she'll be sleepy until it digests! And if she's like my DD, she may not be a huge breakfast person and is just not that hungry in the morning.

My DD has had some late lunches, but they always allow one or two snacks during the day to mitigate this. I would at least ask the teacher if it's possible to allow a snack. If it's not, just make sure her breakfast has as much staying power as possible.

I can relate. My lunch was at 12:45 in 6th grade. (8:00 school start.) I would get shaky and very lightheaded by then. (Forget being able to focus.) I kept snacks in my locker and took bites during passing periods. I don't know what your daughter's schedule is like, but we had 6 periods a day in school. I had several passing periods before lunch, and the snacking really helped. If her day isn't like that, you can contact the school and ask about their snacking or food policy.

IMHO, that is wayyyy too long for kids to go without eating. School starts at 8:15 so you have to assume that kids probably ate sometime around 7:30 - 7:45 or so.

At my GD's school, they have snack just before their morning recess. With the snack time in there, they have the ability to eat every couple of hours (breakfast at home, morning snack at school, lunch at school, snack when they get home). And even with all of that, my GD is ALWAYS hungry at dinner time!

If she has a good breakfast, and a piece of fruit between classes, she will be fine. Things are changing and she's growing up. This is one of the LITTLE things you can let go of at this time. If you can't fasten your seatbelt Mom, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Blessings....

Our schools allow a healthy snack to be brought in and eaten, since they have a later lunch as well. I'd check w the teacher/principal to see if that's possible.

Thats a really late lunch, especially starting @ 8:15

Have her eat a protein filled breakfast.
Watch the carbs and sugar in the morning - they set you up for a roller coaster ride all day..
A pop tart or sugar filled cereal are the worst.
A tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat for breakfast at 6am keeps me un-hungry till noon.
Try it!

Does the school frown on snacks in the backpack? Get her prepackaged peanut butter and crackers or tuna and crackers, sliced carrots or fruit to eat between classes. If you get pocket sized snacks she can eat quckly while taking a bathroom break or between classes to ease the pangs til lunch and teachers or students don't have to know.

A quick snack in the backpack during a bathroom break? I didn't take lunch 9-12th grade and that was how I ate. Not ideal, but it's what I did. It will keep hunger away.

It stinks and I can tell you that she is going to always find that the "good" stuff will almost always be gone. It is often the last group that ends up with a skimpy salad or an dried up sandwich that was made at 7am. I think that if this ends up being the issue that you'll need to make sure you advocate for her whole class. They will all suffer due to this type of thing.

In my experience we had to have a substantial snack ready and on the table for the kids when they walked in the door. They would fall upon it and eat ravenously.

I often made oatmeal peanut butter bars. They had the oatmeal in them to sustain them from the complex carbohydrates then the protein in the peanut butter was substantial enough that it made the mood swings and crankiness almost a thing of the past...they we started giving the older kids half a Midol when they came in too.

Let her take a snack in her backpack and she can eat it between her 10am and 11am classes, that way she has a couple of hours until lunch and will be hungry again.

Good grief.
1:00pm?????
This sounds really, messed up.
Even for an adult, eating at 1:00, can really be late... and even me, I am STARVING by 1:00pm, even if I had a GOOD breakfast.

Call the school, or go there yourself and speak to the Principal.

Some kids, get HYPOGLYCEMIC... if they do not eat, for a certain period of time... or, they get HUNGRY, and can't concentrate or get irritable and their attentions spans and behavior is affected, by not eating in a reasonable amount of time.
For, example.

Don't the kids, get recess???
At recess, can't the kids have snacks?
At my kids' school, the kids bring their own snacks, and at recess, they can eat it. It is up to the parents & their responsibility, to send their kids to school, with DAILY water (in a water bottle), and snacks for their kids. AND as well, snacks for their child... IF their child is in after-school care- because kids in after school care are not picked up by their parents until about 5:00pm, or later. A kid, cannot go that long without a snack... from lunch time to evening.

At my kids school, the latest lunch per grade is, 12:15.

You said that at school "they do not get a snack or anything before that..."
BUT... can't the kids bring their OWN snacks? And if so, when do they get to have it? Again, at my kids' school, it is at Recess periods, that they can have their snacks.

Do you know for a fact that the time for her class is 1pm? Check her schedule and the bell schedule with lunch assignments and make sure she is right. Make sure you get the WHOLE story from the school before you start making waves.

The middle school here has 3 lunch periods, a, b, c, with A starting at 11, b, 11:30 and c, noon. It is not just 6th grade..the lunches have everyone divided.

Most kids I know have some sort of snack with them. My daughter is a grazer and she carries a paper sack in her tote with easy to get to and nutricious snacks and water. Her "scheduled" lunch as a Senior is 12:42.

I'm a regular sub at the elementary level and the latest lunch there is 12:45 4th grade.

This is something she will have to figure out and adjust. It is a part of growing up. Get a good healthy filling breakfast and take snacks.