School lunches, by the end of the year, become pretty humdrum. And the thing is, it was never supposed to be like that. Your child was going to love those lunches you so lovingly prepared. And for a few days, it IS like that, until it’s not.
You know how it goes: every year parents start the school year full of resolve: this year will be different. My child will never have to search the laundry hamper for socks that don’t smell too ripe while half asleep on an early Monday morning. I will make my child do his homework. I will pack healthy school lunches for him every single day.
Why, of all these well-intentioned parenting resolutions, is that last resolution the most difficult of all for parents to execute. How many of us end stuck in a school lunch rut: egg salad Monday, tuna salad Tuesday, peanut butter and jelly on Wednesday, and so it goes. We slap two pieces of white bread together with one boring filling or another, then sigh and hope and pray they kid will actually eat it—our kids need energy to learn.
One mom is determined not to get stuck in the ho-hum school lunch rut. That would be Catherine McCord who put together this page of tempting school lunches that look so good you’ll wish she were your mom. The problem is that at a certain point, you begin to resent this woman the way some moms resent Martha Stewart: She’s just too perfect. She must spend hours shopping, planning, and prepping. (What does she do the rest of the day? Order tacos from Jack in the Box??)
Not to mention that all the other kids must hate HER kid for having those unique, and really special school lunches. But if you can get past all that, why not let these great ideas inspire you out of your school lunch rut? After all, these school lunches are pretty darned awesome.
A few screenshots of McCord’s school lunch creations follow. But don’t drool on your keyboard, or you may end up shorting out your computer.
Is your child a wiz at logic and lateral thinking—a philosopher in the making? Check out these next two pages: a quick-thinking riposte by Sidney Morgenbesser to a statement about double negatives and double positives (which turns out to be a true story albeit with two different extant versions floating about), and difficult but humorous lateral solution riddles. See if you and your child can solve the riddles together (with or without the hints). It’s not so easy.
Now that we’ve taken care of food for the belly and food for thought, it’s time for a tutorial in graphic design for no particular reason other than that this is a really groovy website we’ve found for that purpose. If your child is into graphic design, definitely bookmark this one. There is so much here it kind of boggles the mind.
We were also pretty taken with these Photoshop effects tutorials. And what about this page on how to “avatarify” your portraits? But don’t stop with avatarizing your own photo. Why not avatarize your fave movie star? Or Tom Cruise, if it floats your graphic boat?
Today’s graphic design marries art with technology. It’s not only a great skill to have for future employment, but can offer kids hours of fun. A great way to spend time in the hours after school.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published April 17, 2014, and has been completely revised and updated for accuracy and scope.
About Varda Epstein
Varda Meyers Epstein serves as editor in chief of Kars4Kids Parenting. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Varda is the mother of 12 children and is also a grandmother of 12. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Learning Site, The eLearning Site, and Internet4Classrooms.