"BackToSchool" news and stories

I think there is a certain sense of relief parents feel when their children return to school in September. No more worrying about how the kids are going to fill their days, no more dealing with babysitters or shuttling them to and from summer camps. Life simply returns to normal. However, it seems that somewhere over the long, hot summer months we tend to forget the day-to-day dilemmas of our kids being back in school, and for me that always means once again dealing with what to send for lunches.

When my daughter was in kindergarten or elementary school it was easy - I packed pretty little sandwiches, a piece of fruit, a juice box and a small treat. She never questioned or complained about what I sent. To be honest, she probably gave it very little thought - she was fed, and that was all that mattered. In junior high / middle school though, that all changed.

Over the past few years we went through what I like to call the various stages of brown-bag hell, and though not every one of the items below specifically happened to my family, these are all true stories from either my daughter, her friends, or from my own personal experience. I'm sure at least some of these will sound familiar to the parents out there, and if you have younger kids, this is what you may have to look forward to in the coming years:

Well, good morning, our favorite Slashfood friends! Did you finish that final chapter of the last book on your reading list? Did you put all your supplies safely into your backpacks? Most importantly...did you pack a healthy lunch?!?!

In case you didn't know, we here at Slashfood are headed back to school today!

We'll be taking the whole day to post about speedy breakfasts, well-rounded lunches, healthy after-school snacks, and dinners for kids and family that are easy to prepare during the hectic pace of the school year. But it won't just be about the little kids. For some of us, "Back to School" means heading back to the college dorms, so we'll have some tips on how to avoid the Freshman 15 (or 20, in my case), tips for late night study/cram session snacks, and how to cook in a dorm room.

As always, we love sharing, so if you've got suggestions, posts on your own blog, or just want to get a little something off your chest about anything related to going Back to School, leave us a comment, or send us a tip!

I'm not sure if LunchBox software will help solve child obesity, but it can't possibly make things worse.

Some school districts in South Carolina will start using LunchBox this school year. Parents will be able to track their kids eating habits and restrict what their children eat. The system works by issuing students PIN numbers that are entered each time a purchase is made. Mom and Dad can then monitor junior's purchases from home.

From looking at the company's website LunchBox seems to be a POS/inventory/ordering/sales tracking solution that's trying to get parents in the loop.That's all well and good, but parents can't possibly track everything their kids eat at school. My folks never knew about the pints of Ben & Jerry's I scarfed during my free period in high school.

More school lunch tracking:

• Texas schools use technology to track lunches
• Fingerprint scanners to monitor what kids eat
• Healthy school lunches only, in Australia

Source