Lunch Box Notes

SMALL DRAWINGS, BIG BONDING

    When my daughter started kindergarten, she wanted to take her lunch on the second day of school. I packed a sandwich, yogurt and fruit in her new lunch bag and then decided to add a special touch to let her know I was thinking of her. I drew a flower on a small piece of paper, added some Xs and Os, put it in a baggie so it wouldn’t get messy and slipped it into her lunch bag when she wasn’t looking. 

    I forgot all about the note until Kaelyn marched out of school that afternoon. She wore a big smile and gave me a hug. “Thank you for the flower!” she said. The moment we got home she pinned it to the bulletin board in her room. When her dad arrived home from work, one of the first things she told him was that Mommy put a note in her lunch. 

    “Well,” I thought, “a 10-second note sure made her day.” And so our tradition began.

The next day I drew stick figures of our family, including the cat and Kaelyn’s beloved stuffed Clifford the Big Red Dog, and slipped it into her lunch bag. I wrote our names under each figure, to help her learn to spell. She loved it. 

    Kaelyn takes her lunch at least three or four days a week, and each day I put a little drawing in there for her. It is fun for both of us. If she’s in the kitchen while I’m making her lunch, she makes it a point to hide her eyes while I’m drawing the picture. Peeking would spoil her day. 

    Sometimes I use a ballpoint pen; other times I use markers or crayons. Sometimes Kaelyn chooses the markers for me, and I must come up with a picture that will fit in with those particular colors. I always label the picture to help with her growing reading skills. 

    I have drawn balloons, ice cream cones, cats, butterflies, trees and smiley faces. On the day of the Belton Pirates homecoming game, I drew a football and a jersey. 

    I must say that I am not an artist, not even close. Stick figures are about as artistic as I get, and I am afraid that one of these days I will run out of things I can semi-draw. 

    One day I drew a rainbow, and when Kaelyn got home I admitted that the colors were in the wrong order. She looked at me like I’d sprouted a third eye. “I thought it was the prettiest rainbow ever!” she said emphatically. That was the last time I criticized my drawings in front of her. 

    But I guess artistry is not really the point of our tradition. My simple drawings are meaningful to my daughter and are a way for us to bond. Each day she hangs the latest drawing on her bulletin board, and makes a point of showing them to family members and friends. 

    One day Kaelyn will be at that age when Mom’s lunch bag drawings are no longer cool, so I am cherishing these moments now.

Tisha Foley lives in Belton with her husband, daughter and son. She loves that her kids think she can draw.