Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Child not eating lunch at school

Do any of you have this issue? DS6 is in all day K and they barely have 20 minutes for lunch. I think the 20 minutes includes getting settled in the lunchroom and either getting the lunch or buying a milk so it's probably 15 minutes if he's lucky. DS is a picky eater so we usually do a sack lunch so I have a good idea of what he eats. I inspect his lunch bag when he gets home. A mouse could eat more than he has eaten. He never complains about the food I give him and he approves all the food I put in his lunch - he says he ran out of time. He has started complaining that they don't give him enough time and that the school needs to change their schedule. He asked if first graders get more time.

I did have the teacher show him the clock and how much time he has for lunch. That worked for a few days but has worn off. He is very skinny to begin with. The strange thing is that he isn't starving when he comes home from school at 4:15. I will sometimes give him supper at 5 though if he says he's hungry since snacks will just ruin his supper. They do have an afternoon snack which is some prepackaged processed snack provided by parents (they have to be prepackaged so that usually means something like goldfish or pretzels or cookies if it is someone's birthday).

It just bothers me that he is gone for 8 hours and he is barely getting any nutrition at all. I have worked so hard to give my kids healthy food at home and that seems to be going out the window at school.