By necessity, my firstborn learned to make her own lunch while in Kindergarten. I was a single working parent and we had to hop to it every morning to get the two of us where we needed to be by 8:30. I had all the fix'n's and she put the right combo together on the days we did not have her buy lunch.
Ten years later, her little brother followed in her footsteps and also made his own lunch on days he did not buy lunch at school.
The difference? Ten years later I wasn't alone fielding everything and could take some time every once in awhile to make a lunch and put some fun love into it. Our little guy still had the main job because I am all about coaching kids to be responsible.
But... every once in awhile, I surprised him with a lunch already made... and a funny face drawn on a hard-boiled egg. (I just "surprised" him yesterday although he hasn't seen the egg just yet.)
For my girl, packing a sticky note somewhere reached her. For my boy, making an egg looking crazy reached him. Both felt a special mama-love-message in the middle of the day.
As parents, we have a fabulous opportunity to find simple ways to show our kids we love them in different ages and stages. With our son, it's a favorite dinner and with our adult married daughter it's a shared recipe.
We are a vocal "I love you" family in addition to trying to show it in various tangible love languages. I encourage families to find ways to be sure their kids know they are loved. This is the best message we can ever communicate. And yup, it will leak out in ways that only our various personalities can demonstrate.
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