I am a firm believer in food being a way to express love. Not in a reward-for-good-behavior that I have seen some parents use. More in an I-care-about-what-goes-into-your-body sort of way. This is part of the reason that I get up a little early to pack lunch for The Girl, every morning.
For example, today’s lunch:

It isn’t a terribly complicated lunch. I mean, there aren’t even any secret messages in it! However, it is more or less healthy with the added bonus of being full of things she likes.
Sometimes OFTEN Things a Kid Likes ≠ Healthy. I am lucky in that she digs vegetables (most of them) and fruits (all of them.)
There are people out there whose children will eat a set list of things – and only those things. Apparently, this has been going since the beginning of time, as evidenced by this book from my own youth (see: dinosaurs, earth-walking.)
If your kid is one of those who only allows say, peanut butter, sliced American cheese and hotdogs to pass their lips – I am truly sorry. I know that watching your skinny noodle of a kid push away yet another plate of food is frustrating. There is are some very good resources out there to help you get nutrition into your bébé nowadays.
YAY, internets!
Now, I wrote all this so you’d understand that when I went downstairs to get my 3rd cuppa of coffee1, you would understand the eyeroll I allowed myself when I saw The Girl had left her lunch on the counter. At first, I was thinking it was because she had simply forgotten. Until I looked up her school cafeteria’s offerings for the day.

That’s OK, though. I will be bringing her lunch to her. I may have…modified her lunch bag a bit, though.
Think she’ll notice?
😀
[1]– Don’t judge.
Ha! That’s funny. Did she notice? lol