Pack your lunch and your manners.
Before your child walks out the door each morning, we pack more than food; we tuck in a few small, steady words that they can pull out when the cafeteria feels loud, the test feels impossible, or a friendship feels shaky. Pack your lunch and your manners. Those two things—nourishing food and simple phrases—work together. A sandwich feeds the body and a phrase steadies the heart. From a parent’s perspective, the goal is to give kids short, honest lines they can use on the spot, plus a habit of manners that helps them connect with others even when they’re upset or nervous.
A handy list of short, high-impact phrases can live on a note in the lunchbox, a sticker on a water bottle, or a quick text before school. Try a few of these and teach your child when to use them:
- “It’s okay to feel that.”
- “Take a breath with me.”
- “Tell me more.”
- “I’m proud of your effort.”
- “Let’s fix this together.”
- “I need a minute.”
- “Thank you.”
- “I believe in you.”
Say these lines out loud at home so they sound familiar. Practice using them when small moments happen—a scraped knee, a lost game, a sibling argument—so the child learns the rhythm of expressing feelings, pausing, and choosing kindness. Manners aren’t just about saying “please” and “thank you”; they’re about being able to step back, use words instead of hands, and show respect for someone else’s feelings and your own. That’s a superpower for handling hard times.
Teach your child that using these phrases isn’t weak—it’s smart. When a classmate is mean, a quick “That hurt my feelings” plus “I don’t want to fight” can stop a situation faster than yelling. When a test feels scary, “I’m nervous” and “Can we breathe together?” invite calm. When they’re hurt or embarrassed, “Tell me more” opens space for talking instead of bottling up. Encourage them to pair a phrase with a small behavior: a deep breath, a hand on the heart, turning over a polite note. Those little rituals make the words real.
Finally, remember to model the manners and phrases yourself. Children watch how we speak to cashiers, neighbors, friends—and to them. If you show up with gentle words, quick apologies when you mess up, and genuine praise for trying, your child will learn to pack their own emotional lunch with care. We can’t stop every hard day, but we can make sure our kids leave with a full lunch and a handful of kind phrases that help them get through it.