Murderers & Thieves = BAD / Lunch Lady = GOOD

A little background…the main glory of moving from Kindergarten to 1st Grade is you are finally given the permission to purchases ice cream as a part of your school lunch. Let’s face it – there isn’t much glory in being a 1st grader, so this is equivalent to me being given the keys to the Diet Coke machine in our office. (Hold on a second – I need to daydream about that for just a bit.)

This is supposed to be a treat.

A treat not necessarily enjoyed EVERY day.

My children did not get this memo.

To their credit, if I had a blank check (we put money into an account they use to pay for their daily lunch) and was offered ice cream, I would definitely take it. I mean, who wouldn’t?

We had no idea the girls were doing this almost every day until I recently checked their lunch account and I was able to print a report showing me their daily spending habits. Mmm…hmmm…very interesting report.

So we had a chat with mini-Ben & Jerry, and explained that ice cream is a “treat” and does not need to be enjoyed every day at school. Yes – they looked like deer in the headlights over that revelation, but they finally came to and understood what we were trying to tell them. We told them they could get it two times a week and they could pick those two days of the week. If they abused this privilege, we would not allow them to get ice cream at all. This brought on a whole other discussion about which days they wanted it. Just another one of those moments where we see how much like Chris Anna is and how much like me Ashlyn is.

Anna fretted over the decision for a good 10 minutes and decided to hoard her ice cream til the last two days of the week. Ashlyn was trying to figure out if she could actually use both her ice cream “days” on Monday – no clue where she gets that impulsiveness (har dee har har).

Having explained all this – the most important thing to remember is that ice cream, the lunch room and the lunch ladies (who hand out this beloved ice cream) have been popular topics of discussion lately.

This morning the girls were laying in our bed waiting on me and Chris to finish getting ready. The news was on and there was a story presented about a man who shot and killed two people during a robbery. Now – I am not winning Parent of the Year any time soon, but I will take certain opportunities like this and make them a learning experience if I think about it quickly enough. As I slipped on my shoes, I told the girls, “See girls, there are some very bad people in this world which is why we always want you to be careful and make wise choices. There are also lots of good people too, but …”

I didn’t even get the last part of that sentence out before Ashlyn said, “Good people – like the lunch lady!” Anna immediately agreed and all Chris and I could do was look at each other and start cracking up. Yep – the lunch lady now ranks right up there with Santa, the Tooth Fairy & the Easter Bunny now. We’re so proud.