I've lost all perspective on breakfast. Please advise!

[KindergartenKop]

I'm in an ongoing battle with my kids over breakfast. I want them to have plain porridge, they want toast with jam, chocolate spread and pancakes on. We usually compromise somewhere in the middle. They also take ages to make any choices for breakfast, thus making me late for meetings etc etc.

So new plan is that I tell them the breakfasts available in the week and they choose which day it happens in advance. So in a week they have to have...

2 x cereal (not fun ones) or porridge with small amount of raisins or half a banana and peanut butter.

2 x plain yogurt with frozen fruit.

1 x treat breakfast (pancakes or croissant and jam etc)

1 x fruit smoothie and a chunk of cheese/babybel.

1 x egg on toast

Also fresh fruit if they want it.

Is this crazy? Is this too much sugar? I've lost all perspective! They are 6 and 8. I'm a bit concerned they need to keep dairy consumption up, they don't drink milk at all.

That sounds like your just making massive amounts of work for yourself and creating a battleground.

I would just let them have toast either with a tiny spread of jam or say just butter and jam at weekends.

How old are they?

My son is two and would need more than half a banana with peanut butter.

I have a bread maker, means I can make bread with 3 mins of effort. And I know the amount of sugar in it. Is that your concern with bread?
It wouldn’t occur to me to limit toast, or eggs..

At that age I provided a choice of maybe two types of not too sugary cereal, shreddies/weetabix/granola. They could make themselves toast if they wanted , but rarely did. Fruit juice and fruit in the bowl to help themselves.
Pancakes and other sorts of cooked breakfasts only in school holidays really. Coco pops Christmas day only!

I haven’t looked into the ingredients yet but my mum used to buy marmalade which catered for diabetics, so low in sugar. I’m not sure if that’s worth a look at..

Don't buy the crap

How do they eat for the rest of the day and week, OP? What’s your specific concern about breakfast which requires such a regimented list of options?

It’s perfectly justified to say that treat breakfasts are for weekends / holidays only but that’s a very prescriptive weekly list.

Sorry, I completely missed where you mentioned their ages .

I think I'd limit their choices - 'x' cereal, or toast with butter. Free range over the fruit bowl & some juice if they want it.

Mine help themselves, but they're older, & know that treat-ish breakfasts are for non school days (including now while we're at home!)

Too much sugar!!!
Eggs snd toast.
And no juice.

If you don’t want them to have certain things - don’t buy it.
I have a selection of cereal they can choose from.
There is always toast. They can choose dairylea, butter or peanut butter.
If I’m doing eggs, I’ll ask if they want.
At weekends I’ll make pancakes or do bacon.
So I don’t really care if they want cereal 5 days, or have toast for 7.

I always buy multigrain whole meal bread.
I do occasionally buy a small jar of Nutella but that’s for weekends only.
My children are 8 and 9 but it’s pretty much always been like this.

If you have to work, how about making breakfast simple enough that they can get it themselves? Selection of not too sugary cereals. Fruit. Yoghurt or milk. Bread or similar products and a toaster.

In the middle of a lockdown with work + 2 kids is not the time to pick unnecessary fights.

I have cocopops for breakfast every day
It’s my least healthy meal, my lunch and dinner are more balanced. It’s my treat.

My kids are 5 and 7. They have porridge/ cereal, cheese or peanut butter on toast. Then fruit and cheese everyday. Sometimes a yogurt too.
Make sure you're filling then up with proteins like cheese, yogurt or egg every morning.

We have pancakes / bacon egg at weekends only.

Wouldnt bother with the 1/2 banana give them a whole one. My kids eat quite alot so a yogurt and fruit wouldnt fill them.

Plain porridge is gross. If I have porridge at all it has to be drenched in sugar, often multiple times as I get further down the bowl 🤣

I and the kids generally have original cheerios/ cornflakes with milk, no sugar, and some fruit.

That sounds like a good range. Mine mostly have cereal (weetabix, shreddies or Cheerios) on weekdays if they’re at home. Often they’re at school breakfast club and end up with jam on toast.

We nearly always have croissants on Sunday and Saturday we mix it up a bit - might be porridge or scrambled eggs.

Yikes. You risk having to have the same argument every day.

Here we have weekday options:

Eg Porridge, Weetabix, Cornflakes

And 'weekend' cereal: Frosties, Shreddies.

OMG you're giving them a menu? Why are you letting them walk all over you like this?!

Just stop buying stuff you don’t want them to eat

I have plain cereals, toast with marmite/hummus/peanut butter, fruit, cheese, brioche and yoghurt and they help themselves.
Porridge or eggs if I have time!

Honestly, if the rest of their diet is adequate, I’d step right back. It’s just not worth the stress.

Im a breakfast hater, and my mum used to make a massive drama over what I had to eat for it to be considered acceptable. A pointless battle making people late. For nowt.

I look back and think what a bloody waste of time and effort. My diet as a whole was fine. I still hate breakfast.

At that age mine just helped themselves to cereal. I know they are 6 and 8 but really they are capable of pouring cereal and milk in a bowl.
I would just have a choice of cereals in the cupboard for them to choose. I wouldn't allow jam, chocolate or pancakes for breakfast but they could have toast if still hungry. Yoghurts and pancakes are puddings not breakfasts imo.

No juice!

My issue with free choice of toast is that they'll always choose that over cereal and I want them to have the milk with the cereal. Cereals are dull: weetabix, cornflakes or branflakes. They love cereal on the odd occasion when we have something sugary!

My teen has 2 cereals. Weetabix or oats they can have either of these hot or cold. There’s also raisins, banana chips, dried apples, fresh bananas and fresh apples. DC adds whatever they want from that list.

No deviation from it. That’s DCs breakfast. Every single day.

Mine is oats every single day with blueberries (dc doesn’t like them)

Having the same stops rage/stress/arguments etc.

And yogurt is plain with a bit of frozen fruit on top.

Plain porridge is disgusting why are you forcing them to eat that?!

Kids want sugar. I want sugar. The answer is just to not have it in the house.

I used to give options. It was a nightmare. Now I just give them breakfast and they're quite happy with it. I do vary it though - and tend to put what is on offer in the middle of the table for them to help themselves.