To think, just eat your Breakfast. Sweets maybe?

[bongobaby]

I am at the end of tether with my DS, every morning it's a battle to get him to eat his breakfast. When we go shopping I ask him what cereal he would like. He picks a cereal that he wants and is happy. Has had every cereal going!!! Now he has decided that he doesn't, like milk and wants to eat it dry or he wants toast with no butter with the crusts cut off and then only takes three bites out of it.
Then he doesn't actually like the cereal chosen by his choice, So I end up with countless boxes of a quarter eaten boxes of cereal left. I get stressed as I think and know that it is so important to have a breakfast inside you before a full day at school.
After dropping him off at school this morning, I went to the shop. There were two mums in there with four primary aged kids on the way to school.The children were drinking Blue Energy drinks and a can of Coke And eating a full sized Milky Bar and packets of Chewits sweets. Each parent is different I know that and I'm not judging them. These Mums seemed less stressed than me.
Please give me some options? My Morning nerves are fast running out!!

[OTheHugeManatee]

You may not be judging them for letting primary-aged children have caffeinated 'energy' drinks and chocolate for breakfast, but I definitely am.

[MajesticWhine]

How old is DS?

[obviouslyneedsupernanny]

I would never give my son a chocolate bar or something, even if he said no to his proper breakfast.

Could you try making some breakfast muffins or savoury scones? Let him eat it on the way to school?

[ErrolTheDragon]

What food does he like? Don't just think about conventional 'breakfast' foods.

Would he eat some sort of yogurt? Or some sort of sandwich?

[AKissIsNotAContract]

A cheese string would be a better breakfast than sweets. Would he eat that?

[Edithmark]

Traditional breakfast food doesn't appeal to everyone...my middle DC prefers something really savoury. Often has last nights leftovers (shepherds pie, piece of pizza) or a cheese sandwich and a yoghurt. I think these are often nutritionally better than the owl of sugary cereal that I'm eating!

What's your sons favourite food? Do something with that maybe?

[Alwayscheerful]

Porridge is good in the winter. Stop all the cereal for now.

Banana is good on the go food.

[LittleMissGerardLouiseButler]

My youngest is fussy too, I think he is just like me though and gets hungry a bit later on, we tried cereal with milk, dry cereal, toast, etc.

Now he just has something small, it varies between school bars (fruit bars) bananas, chocolate chip brioche, yogurts etc.

So long as he eats something relatively sensible then I'm not bothered.

Some things just aren't worth the battle!

Though I wouldn't want to be the teacher of kids filled up on sweets and fizzy drinks!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Pancakes with blueberries and banana and honey?

A breakfast muffin/cereal bar that could be eaten on the go?

Fruit smoothie/peanut butter and banana smoothie

[pookamoo]

This morning dd2 (2) had two cherry tomatoes and a raw mushroom for her breakfast.
She was happy, DD1 wasn't late for school, and it is quite likely she'll have some cereal for a snack mid-morning. Not a biggie, as long as it's a balanced diet over the week.

Not sweets though. The sugar crash is not a great start to the day.

[ShakeAndVac]

If he won't eat toast or cereal, how about yoghurt or fruit?
Or you can get packets of ready made pancakes that you just warm up, would he eat something like that? Or brioche, or croissants?
Better option than sweets and energy drink!

[DamnBamboo]

Why aren't you judging those parents - it's appalling what they feed their kids for breakfast.

Just be firm, rightly or wrongly he behaves this way because he can and because you have let him get away with it.

Toughen up and lay down the law.

'DS - you can have this, this or this' Three choices, all of which are acceptable to you and all of which you know he likes.

If he says no, he goes hungry! I bet it won't keep happening that's for sure.

Probably best to do this of a weekend so you don't stress about him being hungry at school.

[Edithmark]

Sausage sandwich always goes down well...or sausage rolled up in a piece of buttered bread(cut crusts off). Or really small pieces of things...like you'd do for a baby...bits of banana, bits of cheese, fingers of toast, satsuma segments...it's a faff but I can get a lot more down my reluctant breakfast eater DS that way.

[stealthsquiggle]

I am in the "whatever you damned well like, but eat something" camp, because my DC are not morning people (not surprising, genetically ) and breakfast can be a battle.

However, even I draw the line at energy drinks (ever, at any time of day) and chocolate for breakfast. DD does sometimes opt for stinky cheese and salami, which makes me feel sorry for whoever she reads to at school, but at least it's food. Both have also eaten bagels /toast/brioche /homemade cake/grapes in the car on occasions, but they know that eating something for breakfast is non-negotiable, and that I will make them late for school over it, and make them explain why.

Hold your ground, OP. FWIW I also refuse new cereal until the last one they chose has gone but, as they frequently remind me, I am mean

[FreudiansSlipper]

brioche

sometimes ds has this with a little nutella

a glass of warm milk i add a tiny bit of honey

[Beastofburden]

Sympathy- some people are just not morning people or morning eaters. But I dont think the way is to find the magic food that tempts him. What both you and he are discovering is that there isn't one really. He will have to learn to eat breakfast on autopilot without enjoying it,w hich si what half the country does.

(a) stop buying his choice of cereal. He doesn't know what he wants. He is getting overwhelmed with choice and now he is losing the plot. Back to simplicity.
(b) does school have a breakfast club? if so, send him. He will behave better in front of others.
(c) I would step away from a sweet breakfast. What does he actually enjoy eating at other meals? If he will eat eggs on toast, or beans on toast, or even a bowl of cold pasta and tomato sauce left over from last night- fine.
(d) put a banana in his school bag for the days he eats nothing at breakfast.
(e) Odd but posibly worth a go suggestion- a hot bowl on a cold morning- does he like flapjacks? if so, he might eat wholegrain (not the mimsy slimy normal sort) porridge (I use Jordans). Make it with water if he doesnt fancy the smell of full-on dairy first thing. Sweeten it with golden syrup - or if he will co-operate, zapping some frozen blueberries gives you a kind of jam which is nice to eat and amusingly purple.

[swannylovesu]

DS2 (8) has a favourite breakfast of cucumber, salad cream with strawberry after. As long as he eats something healthyish i will provide whatever he wants.

DS1 (11) likes a poached egg on wholemeal toast with a rasher of bacon....thinks hes royalty that one!

On "not hungry" mornings they have fruit or yogurt after a fight explaining they will be starving by lunchtime.

I have had to start eating breakfast too so i can set an example...that helped a lot.

[EugenesAxe]

Yeah obviously speaks sense - muffins or a granola type flapjack. Or do him boiled egg and soldiers? Maybe not every day in case it bungs him up, but apart from the ones you get from fresh fruit/veg, I always feel safe if I know there's an egg inside my children as they are packed full of loads of other great nutrients. Mr Strong likes them.

Or on AKiss's theme - cheese on toast with Branston. And orange juice to wash it all down, for vitamin C.

Selection packs in the short term, to do away with partially eaten big boxes.

[bymoonlight]

You've given him too much choice and let him go wild on the sugar at breakfast.

Not only has he been able to pick any old crap, he is able just to stamp his feet and say he isn't eating the one he chose.

That would not be allowed to happen in this house. breakfast choice is limited to non sugary cereals, an egg is some form or porridge or toast with butter on a school day. Take it or leave it. Surprisingly enough, they take it, everyday, because it's decent food which really fills them up and they miss it and feel hungry when they don't have it.

Unfortunately you can't put the genie back in the bottle so he'll probably crave sugary breakfasts all the time.

If I was in primary school, allowed to pick and chose which sugar high I fancied everyday no way would I go back to porridge.

[steppemum]

dd1 doesn't like to eat breakfast. Sh is seriously not a morning person, and just can't eat until she has been up for a while. She has got better, but in an ideal world, she would eat about 1 hour after she gets up and not before.

So I try and time my mornings around that. If she is tired and sleeps in it is much harder to get her to eat.
She prefers savoury too.

Try a breakfast experiment week. Make it fun, plan together all the things he could try
muffin
bagel
croissant
crumpet and cheese
cheese/ham/peanut butter sandwich (rather than toast)
banana/apple/pear etc
apple with cheese slices
boiled egg and soldiers
any other variation on an egg!
porridge - try with chopped banana/grated apple/cinnamon/spoonful of strawberry jam/teaspoon brown sugar/squirt of golden syrup
bacon sandwich

etc etc

also dd is hungry by playtime, so she eats the cheeses string from her packed lunch then. Is he allowed something to eat at playtime?

[DamnBamboo]

Agree with ^^^

That's exactly what mine get and we don't often have issues.

[bongobaby]

Thank you the pancake and Yoghurt idea is good. He wont eat Banana's. I'm just a real worry head that he is not being filled up properly for the day. Hate the morning battle of breakfast time. But I also really don't want to go down the route of sweets and chocolate for breakfast. I see a lot of it on the school run.

[DamnBamboo]

That was with bymoon I agreed BTW

[Snazzyenjoyingsummer]

Have you asked him what he would like for breakfast? If he says 'sweets' you can always say' no, but what else?' There are all sorts of options - toast with various spreads, sausages, eggs, muffins (sweet and savoury), yoghurt, fruit. Get a feel for what he likes within a limit of what's OK to eat to start the day, and give him that.

The changing cereal preferences don't surprise me - I think most kids have a phase of liking one thing and then moving onto another, so I wouldn't feel too bad about that. Nor about him only eating 3 bites of the toast - if he's had something that's a start.

I think the OP's 'not judging them' because she has seen how people get slammed for judging on here, even when it's something that - I agree - people should actually get judgy about. You can't do right for doing wrong sometimes.

[PeppermintCreamsSaga]

My DS does not like eating early. So I struggled a bit when he started nursery class at school at 8.30 in the morning.

Things that were a success with him were ham sandwiches and wholesome homemade cakes (muffins, oat cookies mostly) with a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top. These could be eating on the way to school as well. Plain digestives, or hobnobs?

He's in year 1 now, and has gradually got better. He normally has a slice of toast or weetabix with orange juice. But it's not what I would call a proper filling breakfast.

I think the key thing is to get him used to eating something relatively healthy everyday, then work on a proper breakfast slowly.