I had a special guest in my bento zone this week: my sister-in-law and mom-to-be, Ashley!  She was here with my brother for one last visit before their baby arrives.  She decided to join us at the NAC for Girlie’s musical theater class and I was excited to show her how quick and easy it can be to pack a healthy bento on the run!  Ashley puts an emphasis on healthy diet and exercise in her daily life and I know she will her little girl to eat lots of fruits and veggies too!  It was fun to show her how my special touches don’t take too much time, yet have a big impact in the way my kids eat.

Here is the EasyLunchBox I created for dance class on Tuesday:

Bento To Go!

This very simple bento took only a few minutes to put together, but made my kids very happy! They ate every bite!  I have heart-shaped silicon cups of crackers and sliced cheese.  I included a piece of vegetarian bologna that I cut in half, rolled up, and speared with a cute animal food pick.  There is also some pirate booty and pears.  Girlie has cucumber and yellow bell peppers.  I put trail mix in Little Dude’s small compartment since he is not a fan of those vegetables.  The kids really respond to this kind of meal because it lets them mix and match their own cracker sandwiches and the food is all very colorful and bite sized.

Here is a picture of my bento crew on the way to the NAC:

We have only one week of musical theater left and then we’ll be free of activities for a while!  I am excited to get Tuesday nights back, but I am glad Girlie had so much fun dancing all summer.

Parenting Dilemma: Do you let your kids choose their activities?  Girlie has real talent in gymnastics and has the build for it too! She has two-left feet and cannot follow along with the teacher in dance class (just like me!!!).  However, she seems to enjoy dance more than gymnastics and also her friends do dance and not gymnastics.  I’d prefer her to stay and develop her gymnastics talent, as this will maybe motivate her to continue being very fit and dance may get discouraging for her.  She seems adamant about switching to dance.  What do you think? As a nearly 6-year-old, is she entitled to make that decision?