1st Grader Hates Lunch

liz37

Help! My 1st grader loves school, but hates eating lunch in the cafeteria. It doesn't seem to matter if she eats hot lunch or cold lunch, she is adamant that she does not want to eat lunch in the cafeteria. She is begging to come home to eat lunch. Is it just a matter of getting used to the new routine?

ppants

Is there something different about the lunch room this year?  A different teacher or someone she is supposed to sit by?

littlemermaid

Is it her first year eating lunch in the cafeteria?  Does she have friends that she can sit next to?  Like anything else school related they will eventually get used to the routine because they have to.

neverblushed

In addition to the sensory overload angle, I'd follow up on the social angle as well.

Ask her who she sits with.  Does she sit with the same kids every day?  Is she sitting with friends or just random kids?  

Ask her what the rules in her cafeteria are.  Are there lunch aides or teachers there?

Finally, eating in the cafeteria can feel rushed for kids who aren't used to it.  At my DS's school, the aides really push the Kindy and 1st grade kids to be silent and eat lunch, especially in September.  It's a little over the top, but it does get them to eat.  If her cafeteria has strict rules (or no rules) it could seem intimidating to her.

neverblushed

cmeon_the_water said:

Another issue for us? The kids are eating lunch at 10:30, after a 9am snack and a 7am breakfast. 

Why wouldn't the school do snack time in the afternoon for the early lunch shifts?  That's bizarre.  At my DS's school, the kids who have early lunch or late lunch can bring a snack.  But the early lunch people (K and 2nd) eat snack in the afternoon, not before their already-early lunch!