You are welcome to visit with your student during lunch. Did you know that? You can! Not only that, you should. I recommend doing this for three reasons: 1. Time is short, 2. Positivity breeds success, and 3. It’s good for your brain. If you do not homeschool, your child attends—on average—1,000 hours of school per year. That is a lot of hours! Feel free to interrupt at least one.
All three base schools permit parents to visit their children during lunch. In fact, this is permissible across the Minot Public School district, with the only policy regarding food one that concerns bringing fast food (see left guidelines)
At North Plains Elementary School, just call and ask for your student’s lunchtime, enter through door 1, sign in as a visitor, and buy a school lunch to eat with your student in the cafeteria, or –if you bring outside food—sit at a separate table outside of the cafeteria with your student. Cost for lunch is $4.30 for adults and $3.05 for students (prices are the same at Dakota Elementary School).
At Dakota Elementary School, enter door 1, sign in as visitor, and you are welcome to sit in the cafeteria with your student if you eat the cafeteria food or if you bring a homemade meal. If you bring outside food, you are asked to eat in the conference room in the front office with your student.
At Memorial Middle School, you are welcome to have lunch with your student, and the secretary is happy to make space available in the school office with advanced notice. For the privacy and safety of all of their students, visitors do not eat in the cafeteria with the student body.
If you’re brave, you could also try visiting your son/daughter in High School!
Time is short. Your child will only be little for a little while. To feel the full weight of this reality, I recommend listening to Scotty McCreery’s “Five More Minutes,” Taylor Swift’s “Never Grow Up,” and/or Ben Folds “Still Fighting It.” Enjoy your child now. Not tomorrow. Your student will immensely benefit from your presence in a world of instability where the mission may soon change your now.
What’s more, positivity will help breed success for your student, because it helps him/her build resilience. For more information on this, I recommend reading “Practical Tips To Help Students Be More Optimistic” (https://www.jbcnschool.edu). To maximize the effect, I also recommend being strategic regarding the date of your visit. Was your child upset about a situation that occurred with a peer the day before and you gave him/her advice to mend the relationship? Show up and ask how that’s going! Are they serving breakfast for lunch and you LOVE breakfast, especially the french toast sticks? Pop in and say, “I couldn’t miss this!” Your positive presence could uplift your child, spur them to appreciate their school lunches, and show them how much you care. To immerse yourself—phone-free—in their young environment is exciting, different, unexpected, and fun! Also, feel free to be silly and engage with their peers, because children love silly and they have parents, too, and might wish they were visiting as well.
Lastly, your brain develops new neurons when it does something out of the norm. It’s called neuroplasticity. That’s why they say to drive to work via a different route occasionally. Did you ever wonder if your student eats his/her lunch? Who they sit with during their meal? Stop wondering and find out. We are creatures of habit, but can benefit from spurts of spontaneity!
To assist in the research required for this article and to not be a hypocrite, I popped in for lunch with my 5th grader on Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. When I arrived, I spent some time chatting at the front office with Principal Strand, catching my son on his way to lunch. I spoke with his teacher and hurriedly caught up to him in line. Jett smiled when he saw me and asked what I was doing there. I told him I was there to eat lunch with him! While standing in the cafeteria line, Jett turned to me and said, “I’m really excited you’re here.” It was so sweet!
I followed his lead, surprised the lunch lady said, “Hi Jett!” and then when I smiled and introduced myself as Jett’s mom, she said, “He’s a really great kid.” I thanked her for sharing that, told her which vegetables I wanted, paid, grabbed a plastic fork, and sat down next to Jett at a round circular table with attached seats.
When I sat down, I saw six curious eyes staring at me. I said, “Hi, I’m Jett’s mom!” Both girls smiled and the one boy responded, “Hi, Jett’s mom!” During our visit, I chatted with all three students while my son sat and listened. I asked if they were going to the Purple Ball and the boy asked when it is. I told him. He said he might. The girl next to me responded, “My mom’s on the PTO, so I’ll probably be made to go.” I smiled and said, “Jett and I are going together! We are going to dress up. You all should go, it’ll be fun and we’ll see you there!” I peeled my cutie and put half of my fruit on Jett’s tray-he smiled and ate it. We chatted about favorite school subjects. I said the food is delicious—it really was—and all four students agreed! Then I talked about the ice this morning. I told Jett that it was very icy when I observed our on-base Yellowfin bus drivers (or “chased the buses” as Jett calls it), but they were careful and all students were in good hands. I explained to the girl next to me that I’m the Contracting Officer Representative for our on-base Yellowfin bus contract, then I realized that’s probably way over her head and said, “I make sure the buses are safe.” She nodded. The girl next to me said, “The worst thing about ice is you can’t see it!” I agreed. The boy added, “I did a split once [falling on ice]!” I told him, “Oh no, that must have hurt!” He said, “Yeah.” Then, someone announced a 5-minute warning. All three students cleared their trays. I told them we have four minutes and they said they want to be ready for recess. I finished eating with Jett who soon cleared his tray, leaving with all three students without a word to me. As my eyes followed his small, departing self—hoping he didn’t hate me for visiting and really did like my visit—he turned back, smiled and waved. I got up to clear my tray and quickly down the rest of my milk before placing the carton in the trash.
Below are two pictures (I only took two, because I wanted to document and not distract, which is vital to your mission as well):
The best and most surprising, unanticipated pleasure was Jett’s reaction at home. He asked me to show the pictures to his older brother. I did and Layton laughed when he saw them. Throughout the night, Jett was hugging me more than usual and smiling about how much he loved me and enjoyed my visit.
What a day! I will never forget it. I’ll ask in 15 years if he remembers. I have a hunch he will.
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