How to Create a More Functional Lunchroom
Dear Kid Whisperer,
My question is about lunch. I am an elementary school principal. I used to enjoy being at lunch, but I no longer do. I feel like I used to be able to wander around the lunchroom and talk to kids and help them open up packaging and help them to clean up messes. I was happy to warm up pre-packaged meals that required microwaving. Now, I find myself sprinting around the lunchroom opening everything and cleaning up everything. Can I do anything to improve my lunchroom? -Lauren, Parma, Ohio
Lauren,
As someone who has been working in school lunchrooms for nearly a quarter century, and who now has the very odd job of making lunchrooms across the country functional, I can tell you that your experience is, sadly, very common. If parents in this country knew how out of control most lunchrooms are, they would be demanding change. Schools would be unable to provide sufficient changes to create functional lunchrooms because, to be optimally effective in working with students, adults working in lunchrooms must be given functional procedures and must have been explicitly trained in the strategies necessary to create positive, pro-social environments for lunchrooms.
While I can’t list all of these procedures and strategies here, I can outline some pieces that will help greatly and show a bit of how to utilize some of this effective planning:
Send a letter home to all parents letting them know that no adult will help any kid open anything for any reason, so they should not send anything that could not be opened by a kid, preferably by their own kid. Train your students to be able to be self-sufficient in the way that is described below.
This procedure is not developmentally appropriate for kindergartners or pre-kindergartners. For this reason, the first ten minutes of every kindergarten or pre-K lunch should be “staffed” by students from older grades who can help open younger students’ items after the questioning, shown below, is done by these student helpers.
In that letter home, also let parents know that nothing will ever be warmed up for anyone. Never, never, never. Introduce the concept of a thermos: a container that can keep food warm through lunch time.
Place caddies with plasticware, safety scissors, and napkins within the reach, or near reach, of all kids.
If necessary, talk to your food service provider about not carrying certain difficult-to-open items. Those providers work for your school, not the other way around.
Now you are set up for a more successful lunch. You can now spend your time being a more functional adult in the lunchroom. You can hop from table to table, building relationships, making kids feel loved and safe, and reinforcing positive behaviors from a comfortable, seated position. Here’s the kind of interactions I have in lunchrooms when we are set up for success:
Kid: I can’t open this milk.
Kid Whisperer: Oh, drat. What are you going to do?
Kid: I’m supposed to try my best to open it.
Kid Whisperer: Yes!
Kid (after trying to open the milk): I failed at my task! What kind of glue do they use on these cartons, anyway?! Ugh!
Kid Whisperer: I noticed that you tried your best! What’s next?
Kid: I have to find the strongest-looking person who is right around me to open my milk! Kid #2, could you open this?
Kid #2 opens the milk.
Kid #1: Thanks! You are a true milk juggernaut!
Kid #2: Why, thank you.
If you have parents who feel that adults should be serving their kids as if they were helpless babies in a nursery, you can let them know that you care far too much for their kids than to steal opportunities for learning and growth from them, and that you want them to feel that they are competent, effective people who can do hard things. Tell them that as long as parents do their jobs and follow the guidelines set forth in the parent letter, procedures are in place so that no child will ever go hungry. Tell those parents that you and all adults in the lunchroom will be too busy keeping their kids safe, building relationships, and reinforcing positive behaviors to also be available to open applesauce cups.