Happy Earth Day 2013

Today is Earth Day, a day when we think about our world, the environment, and our effect on it.  I do my best to be 'green' - recycling where I can, buying in bulk to reduce packaging, walking everywhere that I can etc, but I'm sure there are plenty more things I could do to improve my 'carbon footprint'.  One area I do think I manage to be fairly green about is my lunch packing.  Bento is the ultimate answer to avoiding excess packaging and plastic rubbish going into landfill.  It may be a small thing, but it adds up over time.  Since I have been packing lunches for Small Child I am proud to have avoided using clingfilm, tinfoil & ziplock bags, whilst keeping his lunches fresh and healthy.  I'm doing my little bit for the environment and teaching my child good habits for the future, and I think I'm allowed to be a tiny bit proud of that!

On a separate note, I recently found out that Small Child, whilst eating pretty much every bit of his lunches, had a bit of an issue with them.  It would seem that he was eating very very slowly (not really a surprise to me, as the poor boy takes after his Mum in that respect) and as a result was missing out on a large part of his playtime after lunch.

I was a bit unsure what to do about it.  On the one hand I admit that his lunches have been pretty big for a 5 year old, but he's never been much of an eater (in the evenings he tends to eat a very small portion for his dinner and claims to be utterly full after it), so I had been delighted that he had been eating everything I sent in for him.  I always do my best to give him a balance of foods from every food group, so I know that if he's eaten all of his lunch then he has had a really good variety of foods and therefore nutrients.  I sat down and had a chat with him, and he got quite upset at the idea of less lunch, so we decided on a compromise - I would make him a smaller lunch, and provide a snack box for after school, in case he was hungry.  We've been doing this for a few days now, and so far it seems to be working out OK.  We even saw a bit of sun last week (what a novelty!) so we were able to take a few trips to the park after school and Small Child was happy to have his snack on hand to sustain him!

Back to Earth Day! I'm never very awake on a Monday morning, and we had a very busy weekend, so I kept it simple today.  In his Earth Day lunch Small Child had an English Muffin, split and filled with organic houmous and slices of cucumber.  I decorated it with cheese arrows in an attempt to make the recycling sign, and was delighted when Small Child recognised the symbol and told me all about the importance of recycling.  On the side he had a silicone cup full of red grapes, decorated with little animal picks, and another silicone cup full of carrot disks cut into 'sun' shapes.For his snack box, Small Child had silicone cup full of oddities (baked mini savoury crackers), and a plum, sliced into wedges and topped with a couple more animal picks.

Everything got eaten, and Small Child was delighted to tell me that today he got 'more playtime than ever' because he was able to eat his lunch quickly.  I hope you had a lovely Earth Day, did you do anything to join in?

Grace