When her young son was having anxiety going to school, one mom turned to creative lunches to make her son feel more comfortable. And, apparently, the SpongeBob SquarePants made of pasta did the trick.
Li Ming, a 38-year-old mom of two from Singapore, has an uncanny talent for making food look like cool characters. So three years ago, when son Ivan was having a hard time coping with school, she started packing charabens – a form of arranging food – in his lunch.
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Creative mom makes food fun
[Ivan] refused to go to school and cried everyday – he was not used to the longer hours and missed me,” Ming told the Caters news agency. "I packed him charabens with written messages to make him feel more secure."
Since then, Ming has made more than 100 different creations for Ivan, now 10, and his younger brother Lucas, 7.
The characters range from rice versions of Super Mario and Spider-Man, to pasta-formed Despicable Me minions and Hello Kitty sandwiches.
Ming says her sons have input in what she creates and sometimes give her suggestions on how she should position certain parts. And if she doesn’t have time to make their lunches, she’ll do it with dinner instead.
A stay-at-home mom, Ming says she makes around six different creations every week. She shares some of her creations online, but has a whole stash she is saving to publish in an upcoming book.
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