The Breakfast Bandit
The past month has been anything but dull, consumed by two kids with birthdays, a new job involving travel for my husband, 5th grade science projects, band/vocal concerts, baseball games and track meets! Most days I'm treading water, barely surviving the end of school year/spring athletic schedule for our four children and bigly outnumbered. Just when I believed I had thought of everything, meticulously plotted out on our antiquated wall calendar, the low-balance lunch alert email came. My kids really despise all school lunches, with the exception of Thursday pizza, so there are worse calamities; nevertheless, I was confident I had diligently pre-loaded all of their accounts at the beginning of the school year to eliminate it from my to-do list. Dumbfounded, I activated my spy tradecraft to uncover the perpetrator weaseling away funds undetected. Busted! I caught the sneaky 7-year-old bandit with the toothless grin, who spilled the beans before I was forced to play my CIA 'lie detector' game, highly unfavored by my children, and likely subject of a future story.
Remembering the login and password to the children's lunch accounts was the hardest task. Filtering the data to the beginning of the school year and calculating the overages was a close second. My priceless reward was the amusing confession!
Turns out the little swindler had purchased no less than a dozen breakfasts on his account, increasing with frequency over the past month and completely depleting his account. How could this be when he devoured breakfast at home before heading out on the school bus? It surely must be a mistaken identity on the part of the cafeteria lady, I thought to myself. Questioning why my 2nd grader preferred the bus to biking, his brother's preferred method of elementary school transportation; I began to piece together a clever scenario in my head.
"Why not sleep in and bike to school?" we often queried our tired 7-year-old son, before tucking him into bed. It was perplexing to us as parents that the bus picked up a full 40 minutes before school began, driving one mile to school and arriving 25 minutes early. Perhaps the extra playground time or freedom, independent of his older brother, was worth it. Whatever our son's motivation, he chose the early bus over sleep. Now I surmised, as much as my teenage daughter enjoys Starbucks with her friends, my son was a connoisseur of French toast sticks during his own dining-out escapades.
Arriving home that afternoon with a big toothless grin and huge hug, I point-blank asked my young son how he enjoyed breakfast at school that morning. The smirk on his face was priceless! He knew in an instant that I had busted him as the 'Breakfast Bandit'. Sheepishly, he confessed to wanting to sit at breakfast with his friends who actually needed breakfast and before school care. Smiling, I said I didn't blame him although we expected him to fill up at home before school.
He's so adorable I thought to myself, and the only child who still showers me with affection and the best hugs! How could I punish this sweet boy? Feeling somewhat conflicted; I asked him if he knew what his consequence would be. "I guess I'll be packing my lunch on pizza Thursdays now," he replied, somewhat resigned to his own fate. Sounds good to me buddy!
Unbeknownst to me, we are now equally enjoying the lunch prep on Thursday mornings, me as I sip my coffee, and my 7-year-old as he continues to gain independence and confidence. He's now learning to pack his own nutritious lunches along with his older siblings. I'm going to miss his innocence and affection, which seems to dissipate come third grade with my sons. As for now, I'll continue to enjoy his toothless grin, bear hugs and sloppy peanut butter sandwiches!
Remembering the login and password to the children's lunch accounts was the hardest task. Filtering the data to the beginning of the school year and calculating the overages was a close second. My priceless reward was the amusing confession!
Turns out the little swindler had purchased no less than a dozen breakfasts on his account, increasing with frequency over the past month and completely depleting his account. How could this be when he devoured breakfast at home before heading out on the school bus? It surely must be a mistaken identity on the part of the cafeteria lady, I thought to myself. Questioning why my 2nd grader preferred the bus to biking, his brother's preferred method of elementary school transportation; I began to piece together a clever scenario in my head.
"Why not sleep in and bike to school?" we often queried our tired 7-year-old son, before tucking him into bed. It was perplexing to us as parents that the bus picked up a full 40 minutes before school began, driving one mile to school and arriving 25 minutes early. Perhaps the extra playground time or freedom, independent of his older brother, was worth it. Whatever our son's motivation, he chose the early bus over sleep. Now I surmised, as much as my teenage daughter enjoys Starbucks with her friends, my son was a connoisseur of French toast sticks during his own dining-out escapades.
Arriving home that afternoon with a big toothless grin and huge hug, I point-blank asked my young son how he enjoyed breakfast at school that morning. The smirk on his face was priceless! He knew in an instant that I had busted him as the 'Breakfast Bandit'. Sheepishly, he confessed to wanting to sit at breakfast with his friends who actually needed breakfast and before school care. Smiling, I said I didn't blame him although we expected him to fill up at home before school.
He's so adorable I thought to myself, and the only child who still showers me with affection and the best hugs! How could I punish this sweet boy? Feeling somewhat conflicted; I asked him if he knew what his consequence would be. "I guess I'll be packing my lunch on pizza Thursdays now," he replied, somewhat resigned to his own fate. Sounds good to me buddy!
Unbeknownst to me, we are now equally enjoying the lunch prep on Thursday mornings, me as I sip my coffee, and my 7-year-old as he continues to gain independence and confidence. He's now learning to pack his own nutritious lunches along with his older siblings. I'm going to miss his innocence and affection, which seems to dissipate come third grade with my sons. As for now, I'll continue to enjoy his toothless grin, bear hugs and sloppy peanut butter sandwiches!
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