How long do your kids get for lunch in school?

[HIU8]

DS (in K) gets 20 minutes to eat lunch and 20 minutes of recess immediately afterwards. I end up packing him a smaller lunch that I know he can finish b/c when I was packing what he would normally eat for lunch, over half of it came home uneaten. He does have a AM and PM snack (and I do make those larger b/c they are eaten in the classroom--lunch is eaten in the APR with K-4).

[ett]

DS1 is in 3rd grade and he gets 20 minutes.

[Tinkerbell313]

Our children get 30 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for recess.

And we have one of the longer school days in the area...they start at 8:10am and end at 3:05pm.

Because of the number of hours they go each day, the exceed the number of hours in a school year and never have to make up any snow days...even when they were off for all that snow during Snowmageddon in 2010.

[HIU8]

Yeah, DS's school day is 8:15-3:15 (so an hour longer than the public school system). I was surprised that they only get 20 minutes b/c of that.

[vludmilla]

20 minutes for lunch and 25 minutes for recess after lunch.

[SnuggleBuggles]

20 minutes. Recess is before lunch- lots of research to support that as a good thing so that makes me happy.

Beth

[g-mama]

30 minutes for lunch; 20 minutes for recess.

[inmypjs]

DS is in 1st grade and also gets 20 min for lunch, with recess for 20 min (I think) afterwards. He is a very expedient eater, and still often tells me he doesn't have time to finish everything. I've found that squeezable/drinkable foods work well - like gogurt, squeezable applesauce, V8. I'm worried that DD will have a rude awakening when she starts kindergarten, as it takes her 45 minutes to eat a granola bar!

[KrisM]

Recess before lunch here.

Kindergarten gets 30 minutes for lunch. First grade and up gets 20 minutes. Parents requested longer for kindy and they switched it last year.

[Kungjo]

Mine get 30 minutes for lunch and 20 for recess.

[essnce629]

DS1 just switched to a new charter school and they also do recess before lunch. It's been great and DS1 is actually eating ALL of his lunch now instead of taking a few bites and rushing off to play. They do 20 minutes of recess and then come in and eat for 20 minutes.

I'm surprised more schools don't follow this patteren since the research does seem great and there's a lot of benefit of recess before lunch.

Play, Then Eat: Shift May Bring Gains at School
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/health/26well.html

[s7714]

20 minutes lunch then 20 recess. I really, really wish they did it the other way around. Too many of the kids don't eat all their lunch (mine included) because they're rushing to go play.

[Jo..]

Yeah, DS's school day is 8:15-3:15 (so an hour longer than the public school system). I was surprised that they only get 20 minutes b/c of that.

This is interesting. DS (in K) goes to public school from 8:40 -3:25 (so 6.75 hours). I always assumed that other school districts had pretty much the same hours. Now I am wondering how school hours vary in different parts of the country, and between public/private schools.

[o_mom]

30 min lunch, 20 min recess. The recess is not tied to lunch, so it varies if it is before or after. DS1 has recess right before lunch. DS2 has recess an hour or so after lunch is over, so after, but not right after so there is no incentive to eat quickly.

[BeachBum]

My Kindergartener gets 20 minutes for lunch--but his time is 10:40!!! His school day is 7:50-2:00. His recess period is totally independent of the lunch period and is totally at the teacher's discretion.

[clc053103]

30 min recess followed by 30 min lunch.

[ilfaith]

Lunch is 30 minutes. Recess is 20 minutes before lunch. They also have another 10-15 minute break later in the afternoon (the school day is from 8:15-3:45)