I have made school mornings easier by putting breakfast out

[PrunellaMcTat]

I realise this wouldn't be for everyone, but it's really made a positive difference for us.

Before:
16yo dd moping about saying she can't face breakfast.
14yo ds in the kitchen frying eggs and making a mess.
10yo dd eating her body-weight in sugary crap cereal.

So I changed it a bit and now when everyone gets up (about 20 minutes after me) breakfast is out on the table. I do something different every morning, it's very simple, no choice, just sit down and eat what's there. They love it!

This week was:
M - croissants and jam and milo
T - porridge and fruit
W - brioche toast
Th - Yogurt and fruit
F - Eggy bread

I put out a hot drink, a bottle of OJ or water, and their vitamins.

It takes me 5 minutes, and they clear it all up when they're done. Everyone has been so much more cheerful in the morning. I've been doing it for a few weeks now - I include 5 simple breakfast choices along with my big weekend shop. It hasn't cost any more. The teens have even been getting up to join in breakfast on flexible learning days (when they don't have to be at school).

But, despite by previous post, my teens did their own breakfast most school days most of their secondary life.

Someone asked about vitamins. When ds's were in reception? My mum read that it was recommended that they have omega 3 fish oil, (and other vits). So I did for primary.

For me it was when I returned to work and we all had yo leave the house early. I would put the ingredients into the bread maker before going to bed then at 6 next morning, bake the dough. (You can let the bread maker do the baking too, of course, but my kids wanted focaccia which needed oven-ing.)

Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon is very quick. Pancakes I’d have made in the weekend and frozen in batches, and I would precook sausages so they’d just need heating. Time in the morning is so precious!

So they’d have focaccia for lunch with fruit and yoghurt and wotnot.

I don't think my mum made breakfast for me since I was about 7. I either made my own or I didn't get breakfast.

Obviously I had to make a cup of tea for her before I left for school.

I genuinely thought by secondary most kids made their own breakfast when they wanted it/got up. I wonder if this thread is a squewed example.

Do people me who do this go to work?

I leave the house at 7.10am at the latest to go to work. We all sit down at the breakfast table at about 7, I just have a coffee and dcs (pre-teens) have cereal which they get themselves. I thought I was doing well to sit down with them every morning but now I feel like a failure and I should be making an array of porridge/eggs like in a hotel!

We do have nicer breakfasts on a weekend.

You've made school mornings easier for everyone except yourself

Yes, I'm sure most working mums are baking home made focaccia at 6am while whipping up scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, with a cheery apron over their snazzy work suit and a dazzling smile on their face as they ruffle their children's hair.

Ffs

@TheSilentPicnic Never read anything so middle class insta mum for a while 😂

I'd have been a help yourself sort of mum but my DH insisted on making our DC a proper breakfast every morning, which for him was eggs or porridge, toast, yogurt, juice. His mum did it for him and he just thought it was a positive start to the day. Our kids (mostly!) appreciated it and it definitely stopped them snacking during the morning.
They're now at uni/working and making themselves a decent breakfast every day!

I am only in the office one day a week now and sitting down for breakfast is definitely since I was wfh. Before that it was usually toast and nutella in the car on the way to school.

When I was younger we did this every day. Cereal, milk, bowls sugar etc put on the table which we had to pull out from the corner every time and put away. I did the same with mine when they were younger. We don't do it anymore apart from birthdays and on Christmas morning

My children make themselves a decent breakfast every day anyway!

My point was it didn't make them somehow unable to look after themselves!

Maybe just us working single mums then?

Really? Never been on Insta and I was in receipt of benefits to top up my income. Shows how wrong you can be eh. Poor people like good food and love their children too.

Work? I was holding 3 jobs when my children were in primary. We left the house at 6:45am and didn’t get back till 5:30pm. They were long days for all of us which made breakfast even more important.

@TheSilentPicnic So parents who don't lay breakfast out for teens don't love their children?

Interesting how this thread has taken a turn....
why do those who don't put out breakfast/make breakfast insist to compare doing so to being a maid/running a hotel? That seems a bit harsh when referring to dependent children.
🤷‍♀️

I was brought up in the 1970s like this . Table laid the night before.

I had no idea this wasn't the norm!
Growing up we always had breakfast 'made" for us. Alternate days were porridge and cereal, with toast/croissant/crumpets after.
DF did the school run as he wfh and DM was a teacher. DF would get up, shower etc and go downstairs to start breakfast. He'd make tea and start porridge (always made in a pan, never the microwave) whilst DM used the bathroom. He'd bring us a cup of tea in bed to wake us up. We (me and DB) would then head down to breakfast as soon as DM was ready (usually a shout of breakfast is ready!) We'd then eat our porridge/cereal whilst DF made toast etc.
DB/me would then head off to go through bathroom (we usually showered night before) whilst the other would help put away breakfast things. This alternated. We then had to be ready and at the front door by 7.45 on the dot ready to get a lift to school. We knew we couldn't be late because DF had to get us to school and back in time to start work at 9am.
It was a slick, slick machine and really helped me get into good routines as an adult. Though I do miss my cup of tea in bed now I don't live at home!

I do this on school days. It solves so much drama. Cereal for one, toast for the other two and three glasses of milk. Banana if anyone chooses. Takes no time and makes mornings run smoothly.

On weekends, they get their own breakfast. Screens aren’t unlocked until they have all eaten, dressed and brushed teeth.

Love everything about the idea of doing this.

I grew up eating cereal. I didn’t realise people go to so much effort for breakfast

Would not like to hear my 16 y os response if I suggested eating, together, at a set time in the morning!

@BloodAndFire

Scrambled eggs and smoke salmon take minutes to make. It’s one of the quickest breakfast to make ever. The focaccia would have been done over night and just needed put in the oven for not very long at all. Far from this being a difficult breakfast to make it’s actually an easy one and whilst the bread is in the overnight you could be in the shower then dressed before going back to get the bred out of the oven, make the eggs and open the packet of salmon. This breakfast only sounds time consuming and a lot of bother because of what it comprises of.