The 1 Lunchbox Item That Made My Mom Life So Much Easier

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best mom. Despite following dozens of "mommy influencers" on Instagram, my house is a DIY/bento-box/craft-free home. I'm unfazed by small stains on my son's shirts when he heads off to school, and the last thing I'm going to try to do in the morning as we rush out the door is pose him perfectly for a photo for my dozens of social media followers. What I do care about, though, is making sure he gets all the nutrition he needs, which is easier said than done.

Three-year-olds can be notoriously picky, and my son certainly falls into that category. Most days, he picks from seven meals that we rotate through, and I strive to make his dishes as nutritiously balanced as possible, even if he would be totally content with just a plate of fries. However, he doesn't like most meats, except for salmon, which he has been known to scarf down at an alarming rate. Additionally, protein that isn't subsidized with gobs of sugar (I'm looking at you, yogurt!) is hard to come by, and that's why I'm so grateful we found thinkKIDS protein bars.

With seven grams of protein, I can easily give my son over half of a 3-year-old's daily protein needs with one simple bar. Compared to yogurt, which previously was my go-to snack for my son, it has more protein and significantly fewer grams of sugar. At only four grams of sugar — which is 45 percent less sugar than the leading national granola bar — I know I'm giving him something that his body needs without rotting his teeth. I'm also not spending a fortune — a box of five bars is $4 at Target.

And the best part is packing his lunch has been a breeze. While I'm cutting his fruit, he helps pack by picking out a bar for his lunchbox and grabbing a piece of string cheese. We both get what we want: I get the comfort of knowing he's eating right even when I'm not there to monitor his diet, and he gets to eat something that tastes like what he describes as "a yummy cookie" (flavors include vanilla cupcake, peanut butter cup, and cinnamon sugar cookie). I may not be the best mom, but I'm going to take this parenting win.