More than just a (bear-shaped) sandwich: The hidden contents of your child’s lunchbox

*Disclaimer: Please note that parts of this English blog were automatically translated.*

I recently stumbled upon @amsterdamlunchbox, the Instagram page of “bento-box mom” Victoria Ranitz. Inspired by the Japanese lunch tradition, she turns her daughters’ daily lunchtime into a party with a bear-shaped sandwich, a snack pepper with a little hat, and raspberries with googly eyes. As the mom of a two-year-old – still in my pre-lunchbox era – I was inspired but also slightly intimidated by the prospect of preparing the daily lunch of my elementary schooler-to-be. Although I don’t have any experience yet, preparing the daily lunchbox feels like more than just providing a nutritious meal. What might be the reason?

Preparing the daily lunchbox is food work: a cognitive, physical, relational, and emotional effort to meet the child’s nutritional needs [1]. Cognitively speaking, as a parent*, you must choose the contents and plan the preparation, while considering what the child likes, whether it’s healthy and varied, and how much time and money it costs. According to parents, the contents of the ideal lunchbox are healthy and prepared with fresh ingredients in accordance with dietary guidelines [2,3]. A major consideration in this respect is whether the lunch gets eaten [4]. A carefully prepared lunchbox feels like a waste of effort and ingredients when the bear-shaped sandwich comes home untouched. But above all, parents want their child to feel nourished and full while at school. This is also functional, as since nutritious meals can contribute to cognitive functioning [5].

In addition to the cognitive work, the contents of the lunchbox must be purchased, the food prepared and the lunchbox packed: the physical work [2]. The cognitive and physical tasks must also be coordinated among caregivers – the relation work – with one parent, usually the mother [6], often bearing the greatest responsibility [2]. The parent-child relationship is also tested through the lunchbox. Children want to have what their classmates bring to school, especially the “treats”, which sometimes leads to whining [4]. In addition, an increasing number of schools have policies regarding what is allowed in the lunchbox [3], and additional aspect that parents must consider in the preparation phase.

The seemingly simple lunchbox turns out to be a complex interplay between the home situation and the school context, between parents and children and their social environment [7]. It’s not just about what your child eats, but also about what you as a parent show the outside world what you’re feeding your child. The lunchbox says something about you as a parent. Healthy lunchboxes are associated with parental intelligence and competence, and failing to provide the ideal lunchbox often leads to parents feeling pressured, guilty, stressed, and frustrated [2]. And that brings us to the emotional work involved in the lunchbox – and likely why it affects parents so deeply: the lunchbox is linked to societal ideas about what is “good parenting” [2].

That might be what I unconsciously, and before writing this blog also unknowingly, felt. There is so much more in a child’s lunchbox than just the food: it is packed with choices, coordination, expectations, social influences, and rules. In an interview, Victoria Ranitz said she sees the lunchbox as “a hug from mom” [8]. I liked that thought. Ultimately, it is all about the care and attention we put into our child’s lunchbox. For every parent, it involves a careful and above all personal balance of priorities, preferences, and resources, with the intention of nourishing our child as well as possible. And for some parents, this will result them preparing a bear-shaped sandwich.

This blog was written by Levie Karssen (Radboud University) for RAD-blog, the blog about smoking, alcohol, drugs and diet.

* In this text, “parent” is used in a broad sense; the term also refers to other caregivers who are responsible for childcare and upbringing.

References

1. Middleton, G., Golley, R. K., Patterson, K. A., & Coveney, J. (2022). The Family Meal Framework: A grounded theory study conceptualising the work that underpins the family meal. Appetite, 175, Article 106071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106071 
2. Seow, C., Johnson, B. J., Black, J. L., & Middleton, G. (2026). “I do feel a lot of guilt about the lunchboxes”: Exploring caregiver perceptions and experiences of packing school lunches. Appetite, 220, Article 108441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2026.108441 
3. Voedingscentrum (27 augustus 2026). Peiling Voedingscentrum: Ouders vullen lunchtrommel met gezonde opties, maar ook met croissants en koek. https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/nieuws/peiling-voedingscentrum-ouders-vullen-lunchtrommel-met-gezonde-opties-maar-ook-met-croissants-en-koek.aspx 
4. Crossley, S., Phillips, O., & Morling, J. R. (2025). Influences on parents’ food choices for what children eat at school: a UK qualitative study. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2025.2558845
5. Cohen, J. F. W., Gorski, M. T., Gruber, S. A., Kurdziel, L. B. F., & Rimm, E. B. (2016). The effect of healthy dietary consumption on executive cognitive functioning in children and adolescents: A systematic review. British Journal of Nutrition, 116(6), 989–1000. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114516002877 
6. Swinkels, J., van Tilburg, T., Verbakel, E., & Broese van Groenou, M. (2019). Explaining the gender gap in the caregiving burden of partner caregivers. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 74(2), 309–317. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbx036 
7. Metcalfe, A., Owen, J., Shipton, G., & Dryden, C. (2008). Inside and outside the school lunchbox: Themes and reflections. Children’s Geographies, 6(4), 403–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280802338098 
8. Karademir Hazır, I. (2024). Guilt and beyond: A class cultural analysis of evolving emotional responses to maternal foodwork. Sociology, 58(6), 1399–1415. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385241244994 
9. Hensbergen, E. (19 april 2026). Bentobox-moeder Victoria maakt extravagante kinderlunches: ‘Extra keukenkast voor gekocht’. LINDA. https://www.linda.nl/mini/eten/exclusief-in-linda/bentobox-moeder-victoria/