Awkward first conversations. Tricky seating. Sweaty bodies. Shouting kids. Sounds of clunky lunch trays and crinkly brown bags. The middle school lunch room wasn’t my favorite place. 

Covid has added even more parameters to the lunch scene for our daughter. Plastic dividers, limited kids per table (two kids who’ve been assigned to that particular table), and socially distanced lines in the cafeteria. Thankfully some of those rules have loosened and my daughter can sit (socially distanced) with friends. 

One day, three of her friends asked her what she was eating and they said, “oh, I’m not allowed to eat that”.  

The offender? 

An English muffin with butter. 

Apparently these friends have been told to eat bread dry or with peanut butter. 

I easily could've been these moms feeling like I was doing the noble and right thing for my child and their health by telling them butter was off limits. Packing a lunch with no...