Lunchbox

Do you think if you walked into a grade 1 class today and asked a kid at random what a lunchbox was – they would know? I’m sure they’d call over their teacher and you’d get a free trip to the principal’s station … but let’s just imagine the kid’s response. I’ll bet they don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s so sad that kids don’t have lunchboxes anymore. I remember the coatroom in my elementary school had a shelf above the coat hooks where all the lunchboxes would be lined up in a row. My lunchbox was a yellow Pac Man one. The kid next to me used to have an orange Transformers one. It was like having my own briefcase for work … so professional, yet so colourful. There was always the one kid who had the generic lunchbox without a theme – everyone made fun of them. The brown paper bag kids were so envious of us when they’d pull out their leaky lunches with sandwiches that got squished at the bottom of their backpacks. The best part of the lunchbox was the matching thermos. It wouldn’t keep hot stuff hot, or cold stuff cold. It would leak all the time – but had a cool spout and a built in cup! Now kids use insulated lunch bags with built in freezer pack compartments and nalgene bottles. Where’s the fun in that!?!