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Dear Listmembers: I just finished reading the posting (summary) on school
lunches.  You all had some very imaginative and nutritionally "sound" ideas on
what to feed a child (I believe it was a nine-year-old, in this case).
However, I wanted to put in my two sense on this one, because I've been there.
I've been GF since I was four, and I am now nineteen.  Those years may be a
bit in the past, but the memories of what that is like are not.  I'm sure that
it depends on the school.  My grade school actually served a lot of hot
lunches.  They even had days where students could get Wendy's or Pizza Hut.  I
also remember that there are a lot of birthday treat occasions during that
age.

A while ago I posted a very long story offering advice to parents on this sort
of thing, and one of my main points was, if you will, a "separate but equal"
emphasis.  It's all well and good to send your kid to school with carrots if
he/she really likes that, but if the other kids are eating pizza and cupcakes
for lunch, well, it will be noticed.  Trust me, I remember!  You can make
almost any baked good in a GF version.  Dietary Specialties has some great
mixes, for instance, for white or chocolate cake.  You can make pizza from
white bread mix crust, or even "bread pizzas" on GF bread.  School lunches are
difficult, but planning is essential.  When I was old enough, I'd set aside a
time every weekend to bake myself some sort of "extra" for my lunch.  I think
my average lunch was a sandwich, fruit roll-up or banana or something like
that, some chips, and some sort of baked goodie.  Sometimes my mom would
include a thermos of soup, chicken nuggets (in foil) from the night before
(GF, of course), or a "special" meal like that--particularly if there was a
special meal going on at school.

If there was a birthday that day, my mom would provide me with a
comparable--key word here--treat so that I wouldn't feel left out.  Folks, at
nineteen I can handle eating different food in the cafeteria.  In fact, I'm
happy that I kind of have to eat a lot of brown rice and nutritious
food--keeps me skinny in the fattening college world!  However, at an age like
nine, having been there myself, I almost think that it's more important to
help the child feel as normal as possible.  It's good to be nutritious and
all, and there should be a balance, but don't inflict the 90's baby boomer
health kick on your Celiac child unless that is what he/she really wants.  We
have the ability to purchase or make almost any kind of "confection" or
"extra" that the average kid would enjoy--don't take that away from them!
Trust me, as corny as it sounds, it is important for them to have a good
relationship with food, or it will cause problems down the line.  You want the
diet to seem more like a different choice, rather than an inferior one.

Good luck!
Jessica in Indy
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