13 And Uncool

[snowygiraffe]

My 13 year old was diagnoed with celiac disease when she was 9. Up until now we've packed a lunch for school. Last year (7th grade) we went back and forth on the issue. I comprimised with the salad bar if she took her own dressing. Now she wants to eat things from the lunch line (because thats what everybody else does and its cool). We live in a rual community in SC and the closest support group to us is 1 1/2 hours away, so we don't know anybody much less kids her age that she can talk with. I'm afraid that there is going to be alot of cc as well as food with hidden gluten. Please Help!

Jean

[CarlaB]

My 18 year old packed her lunch her whole senior year of high school! She didn't like the school lunches and feels better gluten-free (she has not been diagnosed, it's me and my other daughter who have it). She would pack weird stuff instead of sandwiches. This was in a rural area as well and most of the time she was eating things the other kids had never seen before. She kind of got a reputation of eating strange foods and she carried it well! Maybe if your daughter can have fun with it, it will be something she enjoys more. If she has fun little containers, and a brown paper bag (lunch boxes are uncool) ... maybe that would help.

Then maybe you could talk to the school and determine which lunches would be safe and let her buy that day. My 13 year-old also packs her lunch every day so it's guaranteed to be gluten-free, but she doesn't seem to care if she's a bit different. I'm never trying to fit in, and it seems to rub off on my kids!

[angel-jd1]

My 13 year old was diagnoed with celiac disease when she was 9. Up until now we've packed a lunch for school. Last year (7th grade) we went back and forth on the issue. I comprimised with the salad bar if she took her own dressing. Now she wants to eat things from the lunch line (because thats what everybody else does and its cool). We live in a rual community in SC and the closest support group to us is 1 1/2 hours away, so we don't know anybody much less kids her age that she can talk with. I'm afraid that there is going to be alot of cc as well as food with hidden gluten. Please Help!

Jean

School lunches are mostly gluteney crap! They are required to provide a filling and inexpensive lunch for kiddoes. That means that tons of processed foods filled with wheat are used to fill that requirement. It will be near impossible for your daughter to eat school lunches safely.

Ask your daughter how "cool" it will be to run out of class to throw up or have diarrhea after lunch has made her sick?

I know this age is sooo hard. They just want to fit in. They are changing so much and hormones are running on hyper drive. It's hard to be a parent of a pre-teen/teen.

Sit her down and talk with her. Explain that she is GOING to get sick eating school lunch.

Hopefully a couple of the kiddoes on the board will post. Molly and celiac3270 are both teens and they deal with their lunches and such well. They are both also from larger cities where more options are available for kids. Living in small towns can sometimes limit the lunch options.

I'm sure that you and your daughter will find a way to compromise. Maybe she can buy chips and a drink and take the rest of her lunch. You will find a happy medium that keeps her safe and you happy.

-Jessica

[snowygiraffe]

Thank you for your suggestions. A drink and chips might work. It would probably all she needs for lunch and would not need to pack anything else. She usually dosn't pack alot because she takes adderall and isn't very hungry at lunch but I alway insisted on nothing but healthy food and let her junk out when she got home maybe I can reverse it. Let her eat junk at school and insist on a healthy snak at home.

Thanks alot it helps having feed back (no pun intended! )

[tarnalberry]

You might consider bumping up the coolness factor of her packed lunches. What if she's getting homemade 'gourmet' lasagna? Or turkey salad with feta and walnuts and raspberry dressing? Or a veggie sandwhich with avocado, sprouts, cheese, cucumber, and tomato with garlic aeoli? Not to mention fabulous sides, of course. Basically, if she gets better food than she could possibly get at school, that would be impressive even to those who see what she eats. (Status thing, of course.)

[Rice Cakes]

lunch boxes are uncool

Pfft.

Ask your daughter how "cool" it will be to run out of class to throw up or have diarrhea after lunch has made her sick?

Yeah, having been thirteen and ill all the time, and then fifteen and too ill to stay in school through the day some times, I can tell you it isn't fun. And I'm a guy, for a girl it will be impossible to stand being that sick all the time in front of everyone.

Here's an idea, I'm assuming here that she's been following the diet well enough since she was nine: Let her have something gluteny (or if she's saying she thinks she'll be able to avoid it by avoiding just bread and cookies etc, let her have something at a restaurant that will have invisible gluten in it, soy sauce or a soup thickened with flour or whatever). Yes, really do it. Do this now before school starts, and when she has nothing planned so she can be ill around you all (and only you all). I think the horrors of a C.D. flareup will soon be larger in her mind than being slightly, irrelevantly, different.

[snowygiraffe]

You might consider bumping up the coolness factor of her packed lunches. What if she's getting homemade 'gourmet' lasagna? Or turkey salad with feta and walnuts and raspberry dressing? Or a veggie sandwhich with avocado, sprouts, cheese, cucumber, and tomato with garlic aeoli? Not to mention fabulous sides, of course. Basically, if she gets better food than she could possibly get at school, that would be impressive even to those who see what she eats. (Status thing, of course.)

She happens to be a very picky eater. ANYTHING with nuts is out of the question. I have a hard time getting her to eat anything but basic fruits and veggies. I don't think it's so much about the food she brings as much as it is she BRINGS food to school. But she does drive me crazy when she tells me there is nothing for her to eat when her cabinet is filled to the brim and my son and I are down to peanut butter and bread.

Thank you for your suggestion

Jean

[tarnalberry]

She happens to be a very picky eater. ANYTHING with nuts is out of the question. I have a hard time getting her to eat anything but basic fruits and veggies. I don't think it's so much about the food she brings as much as it is she BRINGS food to school. But she does drive me crazy when she tells me there is nothing for her to eat when her cabinet is filled to the brim and my son and I are down to peanut butter and bread.

Thank you for your suggestion

Jean

the nuts was just one idea - illustrative, not specific. it'd have to be worked around her preferences, and could help if she made the food herself? I don't know, and am just guessing at that. if she doesn't like the stuff in the cabinet... well, not much point in having it. there's a lot of gluten-free stuff that's really not very good. I don't buy much of the gluten-free 'treats' because I don't eat them much - I too prefer to have fresh fruits and veggies on hand. if she only eats basic fruits and veggies, what would she be eating at school anyway? perhaps a compromise in letting her having the salad bar at school twice a week (bringing salad dressing), after talking to the school? or other sorts of compromises?

what suggestions does she offer for compromises if getting food at school isn't an option every day? (this is my leading question of asking how does she respond when you try to work with her in coming up with a mutually satisfactory solution. )

[snowygiraffe]

the nuts was just one idea - illustrative, not specific. it'd have to be worked around her preferences, and could help if she made the food herself? I don't know, and am just guessing at that. if she doesn't like the stuff in the cabinet... well, not much point in having it. there's a lot of gluten-free stuff that's really not very good. I don't buy much of the gluten-free 'treats' because I don't eat them much - I too prefer to have fresh fruits and veggies on hand. if she only eats basic fruits and veggies, what would she be eating at school anyway? perhaps a compromise in letting her having the salad bar at school twice a week (bringing salad dressing), after talking to the school? or other sorts of compromises?

what suggestions does she offer for compromises if getting food at school isn't an option every day? (this is my leading question of asking how does she respond when you try to work with her in coming up with a mutually satisfactory solution. )

She likes everything in her cabinet. She says shes just tired of it. She does eat almost any meat and takes it adds cheese and mustard and rolls it up. I alawys make sure I make enough pork chops, gluten-free soup, or whatever for dinner so she can pack it for lunch the next day. I'll even get up in the morning and cook her something special if she lets me know ahead of time. But I also go to school, am a single parent, and still have to help my son with his special needs. For example the first day of school (tomarrow) the menu is for taco salad. She is convinced that it can't hurt her. I offerd to make it for her at home but got this reaction .Unfortunatly she does not have an immediate outwardly reaction. She usually gets a stomache pretty quick followed by HORRIBLE smelling gas, constipation, vomitting,fever, dehydration. I think God gave me a teenager as a joke

[tarnalberry]

She likes everything in her cabinet. She says shes just tired of it. She does eat almost any meat and takes it adds cheese and mustard and rolls it up. I alawys make sure I make enough pork chops, gluten-free soup, or whatever for dinner so she can pack it for lunch the next day. I'll even get up in the morning and cook her something special if she lets me know ahead of time. But I also go to school, am a single parent, and still have to help my son with his special needs. For example the first day of school (tomarrow) the menu is for taco salad. She is convinced that it can't hurt her. I offerd to make it for her at home but got this reaction .Unfortunatly she does not have an immediate outwardly reaction. She usually gets a stomache pretty quick followed by HORRIBLE smelling gas, constipation, vomitting,fever, dehydration. I think God gave me a teenager as a joke

lol

sorry I misunderstood. maybe that can be a weekend project - she needs to present a suitable alternative solution before she can do something other than carry in a lunch. make her work for it!

[snowygiraffe]

lol

sorry I misunderstood. maybe that can be a weekend project - she needs to present a suitable alternative solution before she can do something other than carry in a lunch. make her work for it!

Thank you for all your suggestions. It gives me a good start. I might just sell her on E-Bay