Supervision of lunch eating arrangements is often part of teacher responsibility. That’s especially the case for Early Childhood and Primary children.

Quite often, lunches are eaten in classrooms before children go out to play. There is usually a time of 10 or 15 minutes allocated to lunch eating. This might include getting lunches from refrigerators or luggage lockers, eating, disposing of litter and replacing the lunch containers in school bags.

Keeping children focused on eating can be an issue. Often, there are children who have nowhere near completed eating by the time the release bell goes. These slow eaters can finish up sitting outside eating their food. That is supposed to happen; however more often than not, the lunch finishes up in the bin.

There are ways and means of encouraging children to eat lunches. Requiring children to stay in their seats or sit in social groups and acting in an acceptable manner may work for some. Playing soft music as a background can relax atmosphere and encourage eating.

When supervising lunches, I often used to play a game that focused on etiquette, table manners, posture, and general good manners. Included was commending children who ate with their mouths closed and didn’t become distracted. Giving points to groups for compliance is a way of reinforcing positive eating behaviours. On occasion, I would introduce imagination. One example was out the class pretending to be eating daintily and displaying appropriate etiquette, with a reward being a figurative visit to Buckingham Palace for afternoon tea.

Teachers sometimes use lunch eating periods for marking work, talking with colleagues, or preparing for lessons to follow. That’s important, but there are games that can by played or or attitudes that can be built around lunch eating.

I found that children quite often appreciated me taking an interest in what they were eating and interacting with them during lunch periods. This can be an enriching time.