Is your child coming back home with a full tiffin? Here’s how you can teach him how to finish it. You get up before sunrise to make your child’s favourite meal  - noodles, chole-poori, paratha, mini sandwiches or whatever they love to eat and lovingly pack their tiffin boxes. Maybe, you even put in a little note and see off your precious little bundles to school.

When they are back, there is no greater disappointment than seeing a full tiffin and your temper shoots up. You can’t help but shout at them and wonder what you are doing wrong. This above scenario has played in the life of most mothers of young children and all of us would like some solution to this problem. Here we help you address the problem and find a solution to it. Also read: 30 Tasty and Healthy Tiffin Ideas for Kids

Address the problem

#1. Appetite problem

It could be possible that your child is simply not hungry enough at their lunch hour. This could be because of the following reasons: a. Appetite problems for which you must seek the help of a doctor b. Have had a heavy breakfast and are not hungry by lunch. In this case, you need to plan their lunch boxes differently.

#2. Too much food

It could be that you are being over-ambitious and packing more lunch than your child is capable of eating. This is one of the most common reasons why kids come back home with a full tiffin. 

#3. Too much pressure

Maybe their teacher or school staff is pressuring them too much to finish their lunch which in turn makes them clam up. The more the pressure the child feels, the less motivation he has to finish his lunch. Also read: Tiffin Box Ideas For Kids

Help your child finish his/her lunch

#1. Teach independence

 This is the first and most vital step in getting your child to finish his lunch. A child who is eating by himself at home and finishing his meal is more likely to eat in school too. Teach your child to be independent - to do their own chores, pick their own toys and also eat by themselves. If your child is not capable of eating on his own at home, it is not possible for a few teachers and support staff at the school to monitor each child’s lunch and feed them by hand.

#2. Have a healthy conversation about food

When children do not finish their lunch and come home with a full tiffin, parents feel pressurized and in turn pressure the kids. When you put pressure on the kids, you are likely to turn them off even more. Use unfinished lunches as an opportunity to have a healthy discussion about food. Instead of battling, explain the importance of food - that it will help them grow stronger, win at sports and help them learn better at school.

#3. Involve the child in planning their lunch

 Young children love planning and preparing meals and tinkering in the kitchen. If they are given a say in what they eat, there are higher chances of them finishing their meals. You could give your children two to three options for each component of their lunch. For example, ask "Would you like to have an apple or a banana for your fruit?" or "Would you like parathas or poori-sabzi?”

#4. Do not give leftovers

Just the way we adults would not be interested in eating the same food for dinner and then lunch the next day, kids aren’t too excited by this idea either. Most kids view leftovers as a form of punishment. Refrain from packing leftovers and pack fresh lunch only. This is good for health too.

#5. Make a snack a part of lunch

Pack a main meal for lunch - roti sabzi, dal chawal, noodles or sandwich which is filling and in a small box pack a snack (fruit, a few biscuits, a slice of cheese) as a treat to eat after lunch. Explain that this treat is to be had after finishing lunch. This will make them look forward to finishing their lunch and not returning home with a full tiffin.

#6. Easy to open lunch boxes

 To us adults it might seem inconsequential but young kids might sometimes lack the dexterity to open their lunch boxes. It is important you take your kids along when you go lunch box shopping so you buy only what they can open. Also, practice opening and closing the boxes at home before school begins. You will be surprised to find that inability to open lunch boxes is a major reason why young kids come home with unopened, unfinished lunches. Also read: 5 quick easy and healthy tiffin box recipe ideas for moms

#7. Do not be overly ambitious

Lastly do not be over-ambitious and think that it is the school’s and teacher’s responsibility to make sure your child finishes his elaborate five-course lunch meal. Be realistic about your child’s capacity to eat and pack lunch accordingly. If he eats one roti at home, he will surely not be able to finish the salad, roti-sabzi followed by rice-dal in school. You will only discourage him and make him dislike lunchtimes. Pack lunch only according to his appetite which you know best. Kids learn more by observing than by being told what to do. In school, once your child sees his friends eat and finish their meals, he is also likely to start doing. Also, peer pressure is a great influencer among school-going kids; no child wants to appear weak or be left behind whether it is in sports or studying or eating. Be patient and wait for your child to settle in school and make friends. As my wise pediatrician once told me, your child is unlikely to go to college without having learned to eat by himself, so relax and take the pressure off yourself and him. Also read: 5 Tips to Packing Great Kids Lunches (and getting them to finish it!) Want to share your experience as a mom with other moms through words or images? Become a part of the Moms United community. Click here and we will get in touch with you

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