French Cafeteria vs American Lunchbox
(First Published October 24th 2016)
You can’t have missed that this Thursday September 1st was back to school in France! Indeed, unless one has neither any kid herself nor among her relatives, turned off the TV and the radio and didn’t read the press, and avoided driving or walking close to schools (where all of a sudden there was lots of excitement again) she/he couldn’t escape this great event! And unlike the United States where back to school schedule depends on each State and spans almost the entire August, in France back to school is at the same time for everyone.
Obviously with 4 kids from pre-pre-K (3 years old) to 6th grade we covered three school levels (kindergarten, elementary and middle school). My youngest had to be reassured, since she started the “big school” (as opposed to childcare) and my oldest was “little among big children” (since the 6th grade students are the youngest in the new world of middle school). Only my middle sons were in relatively comfortable and familiar ground.
So I spent my Thursday morning with my kids, because after having spent some time in my 3 year old’s classroom, I spent the rest of the morning visiting the middle school of my son and listening to the “principal”, the “referent teacher” (there is one referent teacher for every class) and “senior education advisor”. They remembered us the rules of this new environment (this was an open house morning). I think that thinking about middle school where my son will be less supervised and accompanied was a greater shock to me than to him! The more they spoke about accountability and autonomy, the more I imagined him as the baby and young child he was not so long ago…
This open house morning ended with the possibility for willing parents to eat in the school’s cafeteria. It was actually a nice idea of staff members, who allowed willing parents (one parent per student) to share the lunch and the universe of their child.
Having lunch in the cafeteria reminded me how lucky we are in France not to have to worry about the lunch of our children EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! Indeed, I remember how time consuming it was to prepare “lunchbox” for our children EVERYDAY (FIVE DAYS a week since school takes place 5 days a week in the US)!
Actually for a couple of weeks I’ve read lots of tips and tricks on dedicated websites and blogs in the United States about preparing lunchbox, meal ideas, how to organize for the week or for the month …
In fact French school cafeterias are an inexhaustible source of admiration and “envy” from many other countries. For example, here is what a British expatriate in France says about French school cafeterias.
However it is fashionable in France to say that what kids eat in the cafeteria is “disgusting”. This is part of French coquetry! Because even if school cafeterias don’t serve gourmet food, I always thought it was quite tasteful! And my son seems to agree with me!
However even if in the past I wrote about how surprised I was about the conditions of access to school cafeteria in Baltimore (where a child ended with only some cereals and milk because of his parents unpaid bill), I want to emphasize that since September 2015, all students in Baltimore City schools have free lunch every school day. This way all students (many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds) have access to 2 meals during the school day (as it is also possible to have a hot or cold breakfast at school). And even if the dietary quality of school meals in the US was less good than what our kids eat here in French schools, France isn’t the only place where solidarity ideas are important!
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