That's how our food journey has been since kindergarten was on the horizon this year. I think my son sensed that this change was going to be stressful and he hunkered down. He stopped eating the healthy options he had opened up to prior. Then once school started he went a whole week without eating his lunch. The situation wasn't much better at home either. It was a struggle to get anything nutritious into his body. To make matters worse, the school was offering him snacks with gluten instead of giving him the snack that was sent from home. Sure enough, an asthma attack ensued.
The communication has been getting better with each week that passes. Still, the stress has been doing a number on his immune system. The candy that gets sent home for his good behavior hasn't helped either. Granted, it is getting sent home for us to deal with. We just have to figure out a plan so that my son doesn't feel cheated. Though I did notice that less candy was sent home this week, so maybe the kids are getting more comfortable in class. That wouldn't be a terrible thing in my eyes. :-)
I honestly can't say I blame my son for reacting to this huge change in this way. It took me quite a bit of reflection (after I calmed down) to see that as an adult this is something I struggle with as well. When I'm stressed I tend to make poor food choices. I also am less likely to take my vitamins. When I talked to a group of moms about it the consensus was that it's human nature. All I know is that I freaked out when my son had the recent asthma attack. It felt like we were going back to square one.
Which is my reason for writing today. It seems we are now in a phase where we are going back more than forward. The stress and junk foods are definitely at the root...I'm sure of it. We were on a path with a good balance, and now I feel like we have to figure it out all over again. On the positive side, the teacher is now on board with his eating restrictions. He brings his own lunch, so all that entails is that she make sure he doesn't get the general snack that is handed out.
As a result of us getting knocked off our path, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to relinquish some control. I know what works, and know what keeps the asthma attacks at bay. Yet I can't force Logan to make the right choices while at school and really can't expect perfection from the teacher either. Even we slip up sometimes at home! Except that at home I'm in a better position to gauge when he can have something and when he can't. It's harder to expect a teacher who's tending to 20 students to do the same. I guess time will tell what's in my son's best interest. If this doesn't work then there are other options in the school realm that we can explore.
