Why 9-year-old logic is better than adult logic

[LuckyTheDog]

So, my kid, who just started fourth grade, ate hot lunch at school all last year. I planned to continue that practice this year, but packed him a lunch for the first few days because that's what he wanted.

After this first few days I said: "OK, let's go back to school lunches now." He resisted -- strongly - but refused to tell me why. I thought that was odd because, when I was a kid, I always liked the hot lunches better than anything my mom would pack. I also know my turkey-and-cheese sandwiches are not all that wonderful. But, I packed lunches for a few days more and tried again to transition back to school lunches. Again, he resisted.

So, I asked again what the deal was. Were the school lunches yucky? Was the lunch lady mean? Was there some kid he was trying to stay away from? He again refused to say.

After another few days, his mom got out of him what the problem was. School lunches, it turns out, are actually pretty yummy. He also has no problem with the lunch lady or the kids in the lunch room.

BUT... to get a school lunch, one has to stand in line. And that takes time.

Kids who pack a lunch, on the other hand, can sit down right away, eat quickly and spend more of the lunch period playing outside on the playground.

The kid was afraid I would not think that was a good reason to pack him a lunch every day, so he didn't want to explain it.

He was wrong. That's a perfectly good reason.

[driver8]

1. Makes perfect sense to me, too!!

Sounds like something my 8 year old son would say.

We were back East this summer and spending some time at my cousin's house on a lake. My aunt was telling a story about how they used to wash their hair in the lake.

My son sat there for a moment and then said, "Why would you want to wash your hair in water that's full of fish poop?".

That still cracks me up.

[surrealAmerican]

2. This is the same reason my children had in elementary school.

It was a rather good reason too: sometimes that wait in line took more than half the lunch period, leaving the children without enough time to eat.

[Chan790]

3. My K-5 solved that issue.

They had rolling lunch period...the following is broken by grade, but we were also admitted by classroom. (K1@11:30am, K2@11:32am,...) We were segregated in the lunch room by grade.

11:30am Kindergarten lunch begins.
11:45am 1st grade lunch begins.
12:00n 2nd grade lunch begins. Kindergarten lunch ends, recess begins.
12:15pm 3rd grade lunch begins. 1st grade lunch ends, recess begins.

And so on...in a grade school of 700 kids over 6 grades, the longest I ever waited in the lunch line was 7 minutes on field day and that was because everybody was in the hot lunch line...there was free cake. We were divided into hot and cold lunch...hot lunch was admitted to the lunchroom first.

[wysimdnwyg]

4. Smart kid

That was a very logical reason. I can understand how a child might think his parents might not think it's a good enough reason, but clearly you think it's fine. Bravo to both you and your son.

[MorningGlow]

5. Ah, a little stoic boy--I have one too

When he was in kindergarten and first grade, he always bought ice cream for dessert (as often as they would allow it--the younger kids were limited to just Fridays for K and something like twice a week for first grade). So when he started second grade I loaded up his account at the beginning of the year...and he never spent a dime. Why? Wouldn't tell me. Finally, near the end of the year, he confessed: He had tweaked to the fact that he was forced to go through the line at the beginning of the lunch period, even just for ice cream, so it would melt before he finished the rest of his lunch. It never occurred to him (and I didn't tell him) that he could eat the ice cream first.

Now he's in third grade, and I wish the cafeteria $ account accumulated interest, because he still hasn't touched the $20 I put in at the beginning of last year. And he might never use it.
:rofl:

[m1049]

6. Reminds me of my own childhood

We didn't have a cafeteria at my elementary school. We had an hour set aside for lunch and recess. The rule was you couldn't go outside until you ate lunch. So some boys would take one bite of the sandwich their mom made, then throw the rest away, confident they had gone through the formality of eating, so they could be first on the playground.