The recess is an everyday routine for them when these boys not only share their food but also engage in conversation on everything that matters to them.[break]
While at their first bite, the talk is on the latest episode of wrestling on TV, and the conversation will have reached to anything from homework to that pretty girl in the next class till the last share.
“All of us unpack our lunch and share whatever we have,” shares Adit, a grade eight student at Gyandeep Secondary Boarding School in Sanepa.
His mom packs him anything from aloo puri to sandwiches, and sometimes for a special treat he has chicken fried rice in his tiffin box.
“I like the fact that Mom packs my lunch,” he smiles, adding she makes tasty meals and once in while allows me to eat from the canteen.”
His mom Mayawati Malla makes it a point to cook fresh meals everyday because she says she is concerned about her son’s heath.
“A lot of kids these days don’t carry their lunch packs, it’s almost a dying trend now,” shares Mayawati who works at the same school.
She blames the introduction of a large variety of junk foods in the market as the biggest reason.
As we adapt to modern style of living, the food industry continues to market junk foods to children.
From instant noodles to chips and crackers of various kinds, there seems to be something for everyone.
Add to these the colorful packaging and the gift schemes they lure the kids to and reinforce their desires.
Now who wouldn’t choose a packet of potato chips instead of homemade potato curry?
Ranjeeta Pokhrel, a teacher at Olympia World School, agrees that carrying a lunch box is not the ‘in’ thing among kids these days.
While some indulge in colorful packets available in the market, some join their school mess, also a growing trend.
Her school is among those providing the kids with the facility of both breakfast and lunch, and she says, “there are a very few kids who haven’t signed up for the
program.”
She explains how lunch box isn’t simply a food container but also a status symbol, from the design and color of the box to the items it contains you are judged on the basis of everything. But when the kids are fed at school, everyone has the same plate and the same provisions.
There are, however, a few students at Olympia World School, Babar Mahal, who pack lunch from home. But does she, as a teacher, suggest all parents to subscribe to the school lunch scheme?
“See, if you have a single child, the school lunch option can be quite helpful but for those with two or more kids, it can come as very expensive,” says Ranjeeta.
Although packing lunch from home does take up a bit of time, parents have the option of feeding their child what they want and what’s available at home, saving up a lot of money.
Pramila Niraula, mother of two sons, Aavash in grade 5 and Pravash in grade 3, agrees that paying the school an extra amount for lunch can become a bit expensive.
Both her sons go to Graded English Medium School (GEMS), Khumaltar, Dhapakhel. While she has signed up her smaller son for the school lunch program because the school has made it a compulsion, her elder one carries a lunch box.
“I agree that a lot of kids these days refrain from carrying homemade lunch but I insist Aavash does so,” she says.
Pramila believes parents need to explain to the kids how eating out from an early age will lead to heath issues later.
She says that even working moms have an option. “Just pack whatever you have for breakfast with an extra share of fruit and nuts.”
Aavash has rotis with honey aloo paratha, porridge and fruits. Like all others his age Avash fusses over having to carry a lunch box but Pramila has come up with a scheme. Once or twice a month, he gets cash as a reward for cleaning up his lunch box everyday.
“Although it can take up a bit of time and energy, packing homemade lunch for kids has a definite advantage in the longer run not only health-wise but they also they become money-smart,” signs off Pramila.
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