Loving Lunchtime Sans Kids

Here in France, elementary schools run 4 days a week - meaning, on Wednesdays the kids have the day off - so two days on, two days off. Though I like to joke that this arrangement is to prepare the kids for the 35-hour working week, it does make sense to me  to give the parents and the kids a break from the morning rush in the middle of the week. Of course, it's not an ideal situation for dual-working parents, but something tells me that it is assumed that the mother stays home...

Because the other thing about elementary schools here is that the kids have a choice of staying to eat at the school cafeteria or to eat at home. And to me, it appears that most kids do actually go home for lunch - I live across the street from school, and every school day at 11:30, there is a throng of moms and grandparents lining up to get into the school gates. Then again at 1:30 when the kids are brought back. This is sheer madness to me. 

Hana has already asked me a number of times if she can eat at home and my answer is invariably a firm "no". I cannot imagine, with all the "stuff" I have to do, to also worry about what to feed the kids that they would actually eat, and go back and forth to the school, all smack in the middle of the day! Granted, we live so close, but still, is it bad of me to see it as an intrusion on my me-time? Schools are supposed to feed them a nutritious balanced meal, right? Probably better than what I can prepare - though I like to cook nutritious meals, it is another thing altogether to ensure that they actually eat them, and I think ensuring that would be too stressful at lunch. Cute as they are (see picture above), I can quite do without them for one meal a day (no hysterics over who gets the pink cup, Manolee fingering all of Hana's food, drinks spilled, sleeves sullied, etc etc). So I feel quite justified in maintaining that firm "no".

So why is it that - whenever a mom asks me whether the kids lunch at home, my answer is habitually, "no, not today" - giving the somewhat misleading impression that they do sometimes... I feel somewhat sheepish, that it is something that I should be doing, a maternal duty that I am neglecting... Sigh. Supermom I am not, that is for sure.