My Lunchbox Diary I

My lunchbox diary resumed in April. For some complicated issues with my work hours (another long story about how Japan is a disabling environment for working mothers), T is no longer entitled to staying in the nursery where he was enrolled in April 2017. After many difficult considerations and many more emotional downturns, we decided that T would move to a local kindergarten.


Due to the last-minute change with my work issue, we were left with very little time to find a kindergarten and were left with less choices of place. (Here in Japan, kindergarten- or nursery-application starts in November a year before an academic year begins in April the following year.

The kindergarten that we chose for T was a small and homely place run by the 2 generations of a local family. The grandparents were the fonders and are still active everyday in the kindergarten. The Miss grandmother drew a T-Rex for T yesterday given that T was passionate about dinasours. I was very moved. The only “drawback” is that lunchbox has to be homemade everyday once kids begin to stay until afternoon. I am not unfamiliar with lunchbox culture or lunchbox-making, and T somehow has an obsession with lunchbox, so over-all it is not difficult. However, after a year in the nursery where lunch and tea were cooked and provided in the institution, I need some time to brush up my skill, and my day schedule apparently needs to start early from now. I also ordered 2 cookbooks for lunchbox for kindergarteners. 

T’s move was unexpectedly smooth, and I hope his attachment to lunchbox will help him to get accustomed to the new life soon. At least, it will be some kind of consolation for a mother who is feeling guilty that T has to move as a consequence of the mother’s incompetence.
1st lunchbox in the kindergarten on 16 April 2018
1st lunchbox in the kindergarten when he inevitably had to stay until 5 pm on a day when both parents had to work. 16 April 2018

1st lunchbox in the kindergarten on 16 April 2018
A hotdog lunchbox for T’s stay in his 1st nursery when both parents had to work and before the life in the kindergarten began in mid-April. 9 April 2018. 

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