Grade School Lunch

[cyfan964]

Maybe I'm misremembering things or out of my element here... but have grade school lunches always been so short?

For the past several years my kids have come home starving multiple times and when I asked them if they had lunch they would respond with things like, "We had a shorter lunch today because so and so wasn't ready or I tried, but ran out of time." I just chalked it up to my kids talking with friends too much and not focusing on eating.

Fast forward to today where I met my kid for lunch and JESUS. I think he had maybe 10-12 minutes tops to eat his lunch. Is this normal in the school system now? I swear when I was younger we got at least 30 minutes. There was never a rush to eat. I'm starting to realize why my kids engulf their food at home and when we go out to eat now.

 

[cyclone4L]

Maybe I'm misremembering things or out of my element here... but have grade school lunches always been so short?

For the past several years my kids have come home starving multiple times and when I asked them if they had lunch they would respond with things like, "We had a shorter lunch today because so and so wasn't ready or I tried, but ran out of time." I just chalked it up to my kids talking with friends too much and not focusing on eating.

Fast forward to today where I met my kid for lunch and JESUS. I think he had maybe 10-12 minutes tops to eat his lunch. Is this normal in the school system now? I swear when I was younger we got at least 30 minutes. There was never a rush to eat. I'm starting to realize why my kids engulf their food at home and when we go out to eat now.

My lunch was always 25mins minimum.

 

[nhclone]

For our kids it has a lot to do with where they are in the line. The front kids get 30ish minutes but it takes so long to get through the line the kids further back hardly have time. My oldest is in a class that's always at the back of his lunch period this year and he comes home hungry almost every day.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

Maybe I'm misremembering things or out of my element here... but have grade school lunches always been so short?

For the past several years my kids have come home starving multiple times and when I asked them if they had lunch they would respond with things like, "We had a shorter lunch today because so and so wasn't ready or I tried, but ran out of time." I just chalked it up to my kids talking with friends too much and not focusing on eating.

Fast forward to today where I met my kid for lunch and JESUS. I think he had maybe 10-12 minutes tops to eat his lunch. Is this normal in the school system now? I swear when I was younger we got at least 30 minutes. There was never a rush to eat. I'm starting to realize why my kids engulf their food at home and when we go out to eat now.

Just getting them ready for military basic training. Been 30 years for me but I still find myself eating stupid fast.

 

[cyjack5]

I'm a teacher.. our lunch period is 26 minutes.. so by the time they go through half the kids have maybe 10-12 minutes to eat.. kinda ridiculous but I don't make the rules so I just go with it

 

[BCClone]

Maybe I'm misremembering things or out of my element here... but have grade school lunches always been so short?

For the past several years my kids have come home starving multiple times and when I asked them if they had lunch they would respond with things like, "We had a shorter lunch today because so and so wasn't ready or I tried, but ran out of time." I just chalked it up to my kids talking with friends too much and not focusing on eating.

Fast forward to today where I met my kid for lunch and JESUS. I think he had maybe 10-12 minutes tops to eat his lunch. Is this normal in the school system now? I swear when I was younger we got at least 30 minutes. There was never a rush to eat. I'm starting to realize why my kids engulf their food at home and when we go out to eat now.

Back in my time, 10-15 was the norm. You didn’t FO or you didn’t get everything ate.

 

[houjix]

My kids have packed a lunch almost every day for years. Partly because they say they don't like the food and partly due to time issues. Not having to wait in line gives them the time they need to eat enough food. Although I never remember not having enough time to eat school lunch growing up even going through the line. One, I was a fast eater, and two most likely because of virtually no choices on food items. The same items were on every students tray, so if probably moved faster.

 

[CascadeClone]

For our kids it has a lot to do with where they are in the line. The front kids get 30ish minutes but it takes so long to get through the line the kids further back hardly have time. My oldest is in a class that's always at the back of his lunch period this year and he comes home hungry almost every day.

Same w my kids who are now ~30yo.

 

[Pope]

I took cold lunch day and had the same thing every day: P&J sandwich, sandwich baggie with chips, and a pack of Twinkies. I had enormous bargaining power with those Twinkies.

 

[Acylum]

When I was K-12 my school district had 3 different buildings. K-12 is all under one roof now. That probably complicates things. Also, K-5 had staggered times for lunch. Class sizes ranged probably between 60 - 80.

 

[3TrueFans]

Honestly 10-15 minutes seems like it should be enough to eat a school lunch if you're not messing around.

 

[Pope]

I’m curious, how long does it take you to eat lunch? A lot of times I will run uptown to the convenience store, when at the farm, grab a quick lunch and eat it on the 7.5 mile drive back and I always am done with several miles to spare.

Seriously, 10-15 minutes is plenty of time unless you are basically trying solve world problems during it.

Kids don't eat their lunch in a car by themselves. They sit next to other kids and do things like talk.

 

[BCClone]

Kids don't eat their lunch in a car by themselves. They sit next to other kids and do things like talk.

Yeah, I know, and 10-15 is plenty since they either just had or will have recess.

 

[Acylum]

Honestly 10-15 minutes seems like it should be enough to eat a school lunch if you're not messing around.

I’m a notoriously slow eater. So when Brown House went down for supper at Helser food service, I was always told to go to the front of the line. Even as a freshman.

 

[Clonehomer]

My kids have the same complaints. But they don’t want to take their lunch because I guess they segregate students that bring their lunch vs getting hot lunch so they can’t sit with their friends if they bring their lunch.

 

[clone52]

Maybe I'm misremembering things or out of my element here... but have grade school lunches always been so short?

For the past several years my kids have come home starving multiple times and when I asked them if they had lunch they would respond with things like, "We had a shorter lunch today because so and so wasn't ready or I tried, but ran out of time." I just chalked it up to my kids talking with friends too much and not focusing on eating.

Fast forward to today where I met my kid for lunch and JESUS. I think he had maybe 10-12 minutes tops to eat his lunch. Is this normal in the school system now? I swear when I was younger we got at least 30 minutes. There was never a rush to eat. I'm starting to realize why my kids engulf their food at home and when we go out to eat now.

In the 90s, we had 25 minutes. But not everyone got their food isntantly. So if you were last in line, you could very easily only have 10 minutes to eat it.

 

[NickTheGreat]

MY kids in Johnston always complain about not having enough time. I think they get 20 or 25 minutes, but that's to get up from the classroom, wait in line, sit down, and eat.

And knowing my youngest, she spends the other 10 or 15 minutes gabbing, leaving no time for actual eating.

 

[AltoonaFish]

My 11 year could have a 7 course meal at noon and be starving by 130.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I feel like we usually had at least 20-25 minutes for lunch, but we also had to walk 4 blocks to the high school cafeteria to eat since we didn't have a cafeteria in grade school. 10-15 minutes to eat seems about right.

Since we had recess right after lunch, we'd usually gobble up food quickly so we could go play.

 

[Tailg8er]

Similar observations on my end, my elementary kid is always hungry and routinely says she didn't have time to eat everything at lunch. Even when she brings a lunch it typically has items leftover when she gets home that she didn't have time to eat.

Never remember being rushed to eat in school growing up.