Out to lunch...

In the last month, Jack has called me twice from school. The conversations went something like this....


"Hi Mom, I really thought I was really being careful this morning to bring everything to school, but I think that I kind of, accidentally, might have forgotten my lunch in the car... or maybe at home. I don't know. So, will you bring it to me?"



I've only said "hello".



That is not actually the interesting/not-exactly-funny part of this story. The interesting/not-exactly-funny part of the story is that HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY FORGET HIS LUNCH EITHER TIME!!! Both times, I checked the car, the kitchen and the hallway, and both times, there was no lunch. So, both times, I told Jack that I didn't have it. His response has been "Oh whoops, ok, bye.". So, TWICE, in the last month, Jack has misplaced his lunch in his classroom. I don't even want to know what his desk looks like that he keeps managing to misplace his lunchbox. Not to mention the fact that last week he also forgot to bring his lunchbox home TWICE!!

Great idea Jack, maybe we'll just attach the lunchbox to your head.

It really amazed me that he worked up enough nerve to tell his teacher that he forgot his lunch...twice and then called *me*...twice. I'm not exactly one of those nicey-nice "Oh that's ok Sweetie...I'll bring it right over" moms. Honestly, I actually wouldn't mind bringing it to school, I like going to their school. But since I'm supposed to be teaching him "responsibility" I act mad.

I'm sorry Jack, but back in *my* day, kid's didn't forget their lunches.

(must of been because of the uniforms)

So, I had been trying to think of a way to teach Jack that he needs to be more responsible with his lunch when I remembered something.

Several weeks ago, I sent Charlie to school with his carpool. A little while later, I went in the kitchen and noticed that his snack bag was still sitting on the counter. Now, Charlie's snack bag is my responsibility. It's true that I probably should shift the responsibility to him, but I haven't done it yet. It blew my mind that his snack bag was sitting on the counter because I could have sworn that I put it in his backpack. Regardless, the fact that the snack bag was sitting on the counter and not in his backpack was completely my fault. So, of course, I decided to bring it over to school. Imagine my surprise when the teachers laughed at me when I came in and then proceeded to show me the "snack bag" that I had actually sent with Charlie. I had sent Charlie in with a "snack" of a CapriSun, some Leapster Games and a bunch of batteries. Maybe I really am losing my mind.

Which brings us back to Jack. Since I am apparently not qualified to "punish" this particular offence, this is the best I could come up with.

Surprisingly, he was actually mortified that I did this to his lunch bag, It did not "mortify" him to have to admit to his teacher and his mom that he couldn't find his lunch twice, but a silly picture on the lunchbag did the trick.

Now, if we could just get Drew to remember to bring his math homework home every night...