This 'Lunchable Mom' Just Nailed the Real Problem With School Lunch Shaming

When we were kids, school lunch was easy. Some kids were hot lunch kids and some kids had a mom who threw prepackaged snacks in a paper bag, made a PB&J sandwich, and called it a day. But these days, things are a lot more complicated. School lunch has become yet another place where moms can get shamed as it has turned into some sort of competition for who can craft the cutest, most elaborate and nutritious meal in all the land. That's why mom Nikki Pennington wrote an epic Facebook post reminding parents to calm the eff down, because every lunch is a good lunch.

"There are two types of moms in this world when it comes to lunches, or so you think," blogger Pennington began her post. "Moms that make lunches from scratch every single day with cookie cutters and love notes with freshly squeezed lemonade made with pure love. Then there are other moms, the moms like me that hand pick Lunchables, lovingly peel off the wrapper of the said lunchable, rearrange the crackers to make a nice little sandwich and write I love you with a permanent marker on the store-bought juice."

But, as Pennington went on to explain, things aren't always that simple.

She grew up with a single mom who couldn't afford things like Lunchables, and her mom usually didn't have time to make something from scratch.

"She was the mom that was working two jobs to make ends meet and putting herself through college at night," Pennington wrote. "She was the mom that put me on the free lunch list at school because that's the only way I could get lunch. She was a really good mom regardless as to whether my lunch was cookie cutter sandwich or a cheese spread with freshly squeezed drinks or perfect vegetables cut up from our garden."

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The thing is, lunch shaming isn't just silly. It also fails to consider the different lifestyles and very real struggles each family faces.

Maybe money is tight; maybe a parent (or her child) has a disability that makes handcrafted bento boxes an impossibility; maybe a kid has a sensory disorder that means he or she will only eat one specific thing day after day.

There are a hundred reasons why children might end up with the lunch they're eating on any given day. Wasting time judging each other over the contents of a lunchbox, or worse, shaming kids for what they bring to school, is pointless and hurtful.

Healthy Lunchbox Snacks That Take Zero Time For Back-to-School-placeholder

Healthy Lunchbox Snacks That Take Zero Time For Back-to-School

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Here's to supporting all moms who are figuring out how to get kids fed, day after day.

The average parent will have to prepare roughly 1 billion meals for their kids over the course of their life (at least it feels like 1 billion!) so can we just chill on how people get that done? Pennington thinks so!

"So here's to the moms that wake up extra early to write a note in the lunches with the organic snacks," Pennington wrote. "Here's to the lunchable moms that wake up in just enough time to pick one out of the fridge and toss in with the juice box. Here's to the moms doing the best they can that can't afford any lunches for their babies but are thankful they will get fed at school. Here's to all the really good moms, even the lunchable moms like me."

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