Why do I pack lunch?

Why do I pack lunch for Chispa? First of all, it's quite onerous. I must come up with something varied and intriguing that our progeny will eat, that's vegetarian, due to the religious restrictions. Because I'm a Gruppie, I insist on packing it all in little Rubbermaid containers I can wash and reuse, so sometimes between 2 lunches, I'm talking 12 containers! They insist on throw away bags for field trip days (Chispa only). This made me twitchy, but I've complied reluctantly for Tue/Thu. So amount of work aside, the results...oh the results!

Chispa has managed to eat varied amounts of NO-lunch to some-lunch with snacks provided with it all at once. This wouldn't be a problem, except she has major blood sugar problems, and if she hasn't eaten, she's horrid. She's come home and been told to sit and eat because she was so cranky. (huge fits, I'm not hungry, more fits) So I get her home, and end up having to put her on time out multiple times until I can get some food in her. Sigh. I've tried pointing this out to Chispa. So far it's not improving. She ate some of her lunch today which was a first of the 3 days of camp so far, but still decomposed upon arriving home. Maybe it's too long a day? It's not so nice to get your kid home from camp and have to start disciplining them like a crazed parent, but she truly goes nuts, and is horrid to me, Changa, etc, berating, crying, screaming, teasing, it's like she just fritzes out.

Maybe I should just have something fabulous waiting on the table to come sit down to the second she walks in? Maybe she needs some adjustment time to such a long day? Maybe I should plunk her on my lap read her a story, and hand her a dish with dried fruit that she doesn't notice she's eating until she evens out? Maybe I should haul her off to the pediatrician to see if something is clinically wrong with her?

Parenting a very intense child is, well, intense.

PS For those wondering, Changa may or may not eat too, but she doesn't suffer from this same malady. If she's hungry when she gets home, she eats. Simple, no?