Growing up, my dad made my lunch. Everyday I wanted a lunch, I had a homemade sandwich and snacks. I mean, I could buy lunch if I wanted, but why would I when I had the best sandwich ever? I know we already knew my parents were amazing, but what I didn't realize was what that sandwich represented.
Fast forward to today. I administered the TAKS test. I administered the 11th grade ELA test and the test takes all day. As a result, kids can't take a lunch break, so we bring in lunches for kids who want the school lunch. They eat at their testing desk. Kids can bring their own lunch and kids are even allowed, and encouarged, to bring snacks to eat throughout the day to help with their energy during the long day.
Today during lunch I saw something that I have never seen in all my years of teaching. I saw a student bring a homeade sandwhich. I didn't realize how rare it was until today. In a class of about 25 students, one student brought a homemade sandwich. It was in a container and he had a banana and some other snacks. You could tell someone cared if he ate well. One other student in the class had a sandwhich from Subway and almost everyone else took a school lunch and ate it with their bags and bags of junk food. On a daily basis I see kids eat and its pretty much school junk food: cheese fries, slushies, hamburgers, etc.
Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Not only is there a deeper issue of a lack of good eating habits, but I think something is very wrong with the lack of homemade sandwiches.
For me, my daily sandwich represented consistency, security, and loving parents. And today, I knew that someone cared about this kid. Someone cared enough to send him to school with a healthy lunch. Someone cared how he performed on today's test. Someone loved him and I saw it. I saw it all in the sandwich.
So my question is, where have all the ham and cheese sandwiches gone?
3 comments:
that is so so so true. i love this post! i might even re-post it with thy permission.
did you like that use of thy? i felt like it was appropriate because this post just inspired me to use it :) hahaha!
It's a tribute to your dad. The blessing is you appreciate what he did.
My dad made our lunches everyday too (sometimes, mom did, but usually dad). Sometimes he'd cut shapes into our sandwiches, like hearts or stars. hmmm... we have such great dads!
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