I came across a lovely blog this week. Well, I use the term *lovely* somewhat loosely.

Have a look on google for “This Lunch Rox”

It is lovely, in the sense that I have thoroughly enjoyed looking through the photos, mostly in absolute awe. And I am 100% supportive of the importance of a good diet, especially for children. But also, it has left me wondering…who on earth has the time or energy to do this kind of thing? Does this lady really do this kind of lunch every day for her kids? Do they eat it? Do they care that it looks like this? Is this really good use of ones time?

I’ve found that regardless of how I dress food up, the kids will either like the taste (and eat it) or not (and not eat it, or complain). Making it into pretty shapes and beautiful works of art really doesn’t have much effect on whether the food gets eaten. Conversely, it may even mean that they would rather look at and play with it, rather than eat it.

At first, I was rather envious of these beautiful lunchboxes; they truly are works of art. Part of me still admires this Mother for her dedication to makign beautiful looking lunches for her kids, especially when I KNOW i don’t have that kind of dedication. But as I looked on, I realised that my kids get mostly the same content as these in their lunchboxes, but they are just food items that look like food items. And you know what? they eat them just fine, and they enjoy them. Carrots still taste like carrots whether they’re cut into chunks or whether they’re finely chopped to look like beautiful little stars. It’s just that there’s less wastage with my chunks…and you know what? My kids are learning to eat food that looks like food, not food that looks like artwork. I wonder what those children will do when faced with a plain old sandwich, and a plain old piece of vegetable or fruit, that somebody hasn’t spent ages carving into a minute statuette?

I suppose I was left feeling like this: If I had enough time every day to make lunches that looked like that, would I choose to spend that time making lunches that look like that? And the answer is almomst definitely no. I’d be spending that time with the kids, doing stuff with them, or if they were out at that time, i’d be doing useful stuff like heping on the school PTA, or offering some more time to a charity. And when it comes down to it, I think I’d rather spend the time encouraging the kids to eat food that looks like food, as a social activity too, and to enjoy it because of the flavour, taste and texture of that food, not because it looks like something that isn’t food. Or i’d worry that I was setting myself up for some serious problems later on…