We already paid for your goddam lunch you little shit! Stop being such a fucking snowflake and eat it!

This.
You have a great opportunity to start your little snowflake on a path of eating normal food. We have a picky eater but when she is at school she has to eat what is served or go hungry.

But if you aren't ready to man up then buy shelf storable milk cartons and put it in his lunch.

You can. It's called ice cream.

But, actually, you can freeze milk. And like any liquid you freeze, the container should be able to handle the frozen milk as it expands.

Buy some small containers of milk and throw them in the freezer. Toss one in his lunch every morning, and it'll thaw by lunch while keeping everything else cool.
^^^^^THIS^^^^^

Problem solved. Now move on to something bigger, please and show your boy the ANSWER is easy. More people should do the obvious. Also, if your boy loses his freezer pack now, it is only semi-frozen milk, so two problems in one are now addressed ;-) //

I was just about to write the same exact thing and then saw you beat me to it. Great minds??

Point missed. The solution to him having milk for lunch took 3-5 seconds.

The question posed is to help explain to him that in order to get milk at camp, he needs to throw out a lunch. People who will be in a position of authority over the next weeks are telling him to do something that he and me think is inherently wrong.

My explanation will simply be that not everything in life is fair, white privilege for instance, and camp needs to have rules to manage all the different kids there, tracking and feeding so many kids in a short amount of time. If every kid needed an exception, lunch would take for ever and there would be less craft time, gym, etc. Instead of getting an exception to the rule or throwing lunch away, we will simply bring milk from home.

BTW, to the eat it or go hungry crowd, I see your point, but his lunches are by far healthier than what's provided at school or camp.

. . . his lunches are by far healthier than what's provided at school or camp.

Snowflake.

With regard to how to explain this to your kid, you don't. Or at least you don't stress over it.

Are the camp lunches perishable? If not he can bring them home and then drop off at the food bank at the end of the week. Everyone wins and you get more backdoor bragging material.

I would explain to him how the world works. They get food provided based on the number of students at the camps. They get it in bulk because it's cheaper that way, so less wasted money. Once they prepare it, they have to serve it or throw it away because of health regulations. My guess is that they have records to keep to justify their expenses and show where the food goes, so that's why they can't give a partial lunch, i.e. just the milk.

The waste occurs because you have decided to send lunch with him. Whether that's because you want to give him healthier food, or because he's picky as you said originally. You and he are choosing to have the camp waste that lunch. You can choose to have them waste it altogether, or you can choose to have them waste all of it except the milk. By him not taking the meal and keeping the milk, he's probably not keeping that meal from going in the trash.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I would explain to him how the world works. They get food provided based on the number of students at the camps. They get it in bulk because it's cheaper that way, so less wasted money. Once they prepare it, they have to serve it or throw it away because of health regulations. My guess is that they have records to keep to justify their expenses and show where the food goes, so that's why they can't give a partial lunch, i.e. just the milk.

The waste occurs because you have decided to send lunch with him. Whether that's because you want to give him healthier food, or because he's picky as you said originally. You and he are choosing to have the camp waste that lunch. You can choose to have them waste it altogether, or you can choose to have them waste all of it except the milk. By him not taking the meal and keeping the milk, he's probably not keeping that meal from going in the trash. //

So to paraphrase; it is his fault(9year olds) for all this food waste and his father is culpable for indulging him.. Love it!!

 
Child please...ok, actually got me thinking enough to find out.

Lunches generally consist of milk, sandwich and a combination of fruit, cheese stick, yogurt, goldfish, cheese it, etc. Sandwiches are made daily based on the number of kids who show up for camp. The rest of the crap is ordered weekly based on the status of inventory. So yes, I'm responsible for two slices of bread, slice of cheese, ham or turkey getting tossed daily.

Only from Republican cows.

This could be easily remedied by the camp by having a yes/no check box for campers re: the lunch on the registration form. Then they only have to make enough lunches for kids who check "yes."

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''The enemy isn't conservatism. The enemy isn't liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t.''

—Lars-Erik Nelson

I'm not trying to guilt you or anything, but your posts say that you think the waste is wrong, and you're trying to help explain the waste and the choice to waste the food to your kid. At least in good part, that waste (as little as it might be) is because of your choice to provide a second lunch for your kid. Seems like a pretty simple explanation.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

That's what's done at his school.

The republican cows earned their milk. They are not giving it to any poor kids who can't get their act together and lactate. Geeze. Only big government democratic cows would keep 9yo boys down by not incenting them to lactate themselves and supplying them with milk that will cause them to go their whole adult lives without lactating.

I also live in rural Maine, and for the past two summers I've run a summer camp at which these free lunches are served. In our case, the lunch-hub sends the number of lunches I order and a bunch of extra milks. I agree with the person who said take the lunch and share what he doesn't want with other children.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

As to the advice that he just share with the other kids, make sure there's not a rule against sharing. Such rules have been put in place to limit the camp's liability in the event Kid A consumes a food item given to him by Kid B to which Kid A is allergic. Peanuts, etc.

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War is god

I attended Boys and Girls Club for a few summers while growing up. They could (and did) freeze everything. I wish frozen milk was ice cream. It turns into a very gross separated mixture of ice crystals and all the other stuff. At least the frozen OJ was refreshing. Frozen lunch sandwiches? Not so much.

I just remember as a kid frozen milk turned sour or something

Maybe this is what made me think you can't freeze milk

I love how this was serious enough to warrant a post on ST asking for people "help explain this to a 9 year old" when you felt comfortable pointing fingers at those stupid camp people, but when the blame lies with you as well, suddenly it's no big deal to toss two slices of bread with cheese, ham or turkey :-)

How would I explain it?

Eat the lunch we paid for or go hungry.

Seriously. Man this thread and the OP's rationale of the issue was a nightmare.

First world problem. Why do I think a kid that prefers salads over normal kid food is already suffering from an eating disorder and the parents are in denial?

OP - the administrators of that program are morons. Their policy refusing to allow the purchase of only milk is stupid. Their response that you/your child should waste food is equally stupid. Think lowest common denominator in terms of employee hiring. Plus I'm sure they have no discretion and wouldn't know the meaning of that word if it struck them in the head.

You can tell you son that people in this world are stupid and often do things that make no sense. Sometimes all you can do is say OK, shrug your shoulders and move on. Not every fight is worth fighting.

Now let me crawl back under the rock I came from so others can continue to judge you harshly and be critical of your seemingly innocuous post.