My son has been going to the same pre-school for two years, but this has been his first year going 5 days a week. I never had any problems with them until they moved him to a 3 year old class in December (he turned 4 less than a month ago). But now I'm having an ongoing problem with them not opening his lunch.It started about a month ago. He's a picky eater (which I know sucks, and I'm working on it, but right now he just is), so I pack him a lunch that has some nutritional value that I know he will eat. It consists of a kid's squeeze meal (the one's with added protein and grains), squeeze applesauce, fruit leather, and cheese crackers. He is a creature of habit--he loves this lunch, so I pack it every day.The problem is the two squeeze items. He can't open them. I talked to the school at the beginning of the year, and they assured me it wasn't a problem and that they would open them for him. About a month ago, the two squeeze packs were sent home unopened, which I know because the seal wasn't broken. My son said, "I didn't eat because I couldn't open my lunch."Now I know my son is prone to exaggeration, so I do take this statement with a grain of salt, but I still thought it was weird. When we dropped him of the next day, we asked them to make sure they helped him open his lunch. They said, "Of course, we always help him." So I assumed it was a mistake.The next day, his lunch came home unopened again. He said the same thing. So I emailed the director and told her what was going on. Here was her response: "I confirmed with [teachers] that they encourage him to try to open his lunch, and if he needs assistance, they assist him. They have not withheld food from his lunchbox from him at any time, nor do they refuse to assist him so that he cannot eat."Now, I know that his lunch wasn't opened because the seal remained in tact. So I very explicitly said, "I’m requesting that, if he does not open it himself, someone open it for him at the beginning of lunch. He cannot make the choice to eat it if it’s unopened."The problem seemed to be solved until yesterday, when he once again came home with unopened food. This time, the food came with an accompanying note from his teacher: "Please do not send any food that [son] cannot open." Please was underlined 3 times.So today, when he was dropped off at the school, we asked them once again to please open his lunch (along with sending another email to the director and a handwritten note to his teacher). His teacher said, "Well he can open it by himself sometimes." We requested again that if he doesn't open it, that they please open it. The teacher's response was, "We'll meet him halfway."I'm upset for a number of reasons, one of them being that I don't understand why the teacher can't open his lunch (this is a small, very expensive church pre-school with only 6 students per class). The other is that I feel like they're telling me they're opening his lunch when they're clearly not. And also, if he can open the lunch why did they send home a note saying he can't?But my question is--is my 4-year-old behind on some childhood milestone that says he should be able to open his own lunch? If I put him in another school, will that school also insist he open his own lunch? Is this just what is expected of him, so I need to figure out how to get him up to speed? Or is this a school problem?TL;DR: My son's school won't open his lunch items for him. They give me the run around when I talk to them about it. Is not assisting a 4-year-old with opening a lunch a common practice, or will this problem be solved if I put him in a different school? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2ozVQCg
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