If you have a school-aged child I am sure you are familiar with the hot lunch phenom known as “brunch for lunch.” Brunch for lunch is…well, eating brunch during lunch. The hot lunch ladies serve up scrambled eggs, pancakes with syrup, turkey sausage, and french toast sticks. Kids can’t seem to get enough of it! In our household brunch for lunch is every other Tuesday, and you better believe, those off Tuesdays are a real downer.

On brunch for lunch days I have witnessed students running into the building chanting, “Brunch for lunch, brunch for lunch!” I have seen students smiling ear-to-ear, grasping their hot lunch money tightly in their little, sweaty, fingers. On one special Tuesday I saw the hot lunch lady herself, usually curmudgeonly in nature, pushing the food cart down the hallway smiling and whistling a tune.

If you do not have school-aged children, I have just provided you with a powerful secret. Serve breakfast any other time than breakfast, and it makes people giddy, especially children! I caught on to this trend when my daughter was first in preschool. One gloomy, winter, Sunday night I had nothing in the house for dinner, and I couldn’t stand the thought of venturing out for groceries. I decided to scramble up some eggs with cheese and make some french toast and sausage. At the time my two-year old was appalled. “We are having this for dinner?!?!” Lucky for me, my preschooler came to my rescue….”Wait, Cameron….this is BRUNCH FOR LUNCH!!!!” I didn’t even bother correcting her, technically it was brunch for dinner, but come on, that just does not have the same appeal. The two of them devoured it.

Thank you to the hot lunch lady who decided to introduce brunch for lunch to school aged children, you transformed my pathetic scrambled egg dinners into a delicacy, and for that, I am eternally grateful!