to make my dc eat healthy cereals for breakfast????

[icancount]

Apparently EVERYONE else has chocolate type breakfast cereals.

Mine have to have things like shreddies/weetabix/cornflakes/rice crisps etc etc. They are allowed honey on it.
During school holidays they choose their own cereals (frosties, coco pops type stuff)
Am I a horrible mother?

My dd's go between ricicles, sugar puffs and golden nuggets. (whatever is on special) Dd2 like weetabix or porridge every now and then. As long as they are eating before school i'm not that bothered. They also have toast/scone (with butter and jam )

Hold your ground and carry on with the lower salt/sugar options. DD and DS have Rice Krispies, Cornflakes, DD eats blackberry porridge during the winter, shreddies and at a pinch Cheerios. Oh and we might buy Shredded Wheat or Weetabix as a bit of variety but not very often. They don't know any different and don't ask for other cereals thankfully.

But that doesn't mean they won't ask for a much maligned Fruit Shoot at the first opportunity if one is made available to them ,

When I remember back to my own childhood we had all the better options we give our children but we also had regular Frosties, Sugar Puffs and at least a heaped teaspoon of sugar on Weetabix and Shredded Wheat - that will be why my teeth are so grotty nowadays

I can't believe all this talk of calorie counting with children. It makes me feel quite sad. A healthy balanced diet includes a variety of sugar, salt and fat.

I was never allowed chocolate cereals when I was young but back then I think there was only CocoPops to contend with. Nearly every cereal these days aimed at kids is chocolate flavour.

One tip I have seen with kids is to buy them a variety pack and then only open the next variety pack once all boxes of the current one are eaten. That way dcs get some healthy and some junky cereals. Only if you want though. I dont think YABU as I agree with you. I am toying with allowing dd choc cereal on weekends only but as dh was brought up on wither cocopops or normal cereal topped with choc milk i fear ill have a.battle on my hands.

www.weetabix.co.uk/products/cereals/weetabix

4.4g per 100g
1.7g per serving = two weetabx bars

My mudwife told me she can tell if a patient had sugar puffs fot breakfast as she could smell the sugar on checking their urine sample. gross and a clear sign that therea too much sugar in them for anyone.

Haha midwife damn smartphone

The children getting sugar for breakfast today will be hating their parents in fifteen or twenty years time because they will be fat, ugly and unhealthy with rotting teeth. If that is how they set their kids up for the day I can only imagine how hideous the rest of their diet is.

Diet affects the child's brain function too, a high sugar diet will burden them with memory problems, attention problems and energy levels which will negatively affect their schooling and ability to play sports.

They can have what they like. Even the unhealthy ones are fortified as are the healthy ones.

We generally have about 10 to choose from. soemtimes they choose healthy, sometimes they choose unhealthy. It's not the end of the world as they have a pretty balanced diet.

I did draw the line at lucky charms

My DCs have tried to dictate what they will eat for breakfast, the foolish individuals.

We can't get such delights as weetabix or shredded wheat here,so I have to actually prepare something, on the one occasion they had a sugar laden cereal(I was having a -that'll learn 'em morning), their stomachs were growling audibly by the time I let them have a mid morning snack. Because I'm evil

Bobbledunk - As i said my dd's have sugary cereal for breakfast. Dd1 then has a (paid for) school dinner. dd2 and 3 will have a sandwich with salad (or similar) for lunch, then i cook a tea every night. Tonight it is chicken breasts in chinese coating with rice(with peas and sweetcorn etc in) and boiled potatoes. Last night it was a belly pork dinner. (they have fruit whenever they want-the fruit bowl is always full) How can you insinuate children who have sugary breakfasts have a crap diet? I am quite proud of my childrens diet as this isn't the best area and my neighbours kids have a packet of crisps, or (and yes this did happen) a plate of battered onion rings. I grew up on egg and chips or pot noodles so have come a long way to get out of the rut.

Disclaimer! - My dc are fit, active, healthy, slightly skinny, and work well at school!!

Me preparing breakfasts is just not going to happen as we are out the door by 7.45am and dd and myself are not good 'morning' people!!

I do understand that the cereals I mentioned are not the most healthy, but surely better than coco pops and cookie dough cereal (yum!!)

Tesco weetabix are slightly better than weetabix weetabix I believe??

Here we have porridge, fruit and fibre or weetabix, with some fruit. This quibbling over cereal is pointless if you then give juice. I don't know why anyone thinks it should be a regular drink.

I don't agree that children getting sugar for breakfast today will necessarily be the fat, ugly, unhealthy ones (the rotting teeth maybe though!) - moi, I'm handsome, whippet slim and cycle/walk everywhere and I had plenty of sugar-laden breakfast cereals as a child, quite apart from the regular cups of tea (from toddlerdom onwards) with at least one teaspoon of sugar.

I agree that one shouldn't really be looking at calories and even amounts of fat/sugar/salt for every foodstuff. Surely it's a balance and this is where this Ofsted fascism about packed lunch boxes really annoys us..... so what if one's DCs have the occasional bag of crisps (without salt in this family) or even a KitKat (or something akin to this) in their lunch box if they are eating loads of fruit/veg and home-made food at home? One has to look at the totality of the diet not just one aspect of it....

I am amazed at just how many calories are recommended for growing children. Frankly without the occasional high calorie treat of a chocolate bar my DCs would struggle to ever reach 1800 cals on a daily basis...

Yes, I saw those Lucky Charms somewhere the other day - wow, they looked both appealing (for their kitsch factor) and horribly unappealing at the same time. Most undoubtedly an American import methinks....

Surely the absolute best breakfast is one which keeps them feeling full until lunchtime so they can concentrate? Yes I agree with not overdoing the sugar and salt but think the main thing should be that it keeps them satisfied all morning.

Ican I don't think there is a whole lot of difference if you put sugar/honey on top as it's only cocoa(and more sugar) in the cocoa pops that makes it diff to rice crispies.

I try and stick to under 20% sugar too with no extra sugar or I let them have half a tsp of sugar on cornflakes etc then w/m toast and butter,fruit and juice(whole lot of sugar in that).Some supermarket brand Cheerios aren't too bad re sugar ditto some Oatibix/Weetabix.

I'd rather they had porridge or eggs but it doesn't happen every morning.

DS (9) often has 4 weetabix at home, croissant at breakfast club at school, cereal bar and fruit at break, hot dinner for lunch, toast and fruit if at after school club, then another hot dinner at home, and toast for supper before bed.!! Goodness knows how many calories he gets through. Sometimes has a match tea as well!!! All this and he is still skinny.

Oh aren't you all so saintly...

Hear hear gazzalw

A balanced diet is what's is important.

Sugar at breakfast is not a problem as long as they get a balance of food groups. Children do naturally select a balanced diet when when is offered and I believe that if you enforce rules on them it can have quite the opposite effect and that when you can no longer choose their food for them, they will tip the other way.

Also the silly fruit only snack rules in our school means I have to give way to a bit of sugar in their breakfast if I can get it down them. There is no way my dc are going to school on nothing for the sake of a tsp of sugar,they just wouldn't make it through the day on an apple and a miniscule school dinner.If they were allowed oatcakes midmorning I'd be stricter re breakfast.

I can't believe how many people think a balanced diet involves eating the same kind of food that an adult on a diet would eat!

I'm not saying give your dc's loads of sugar but growing children do need fats and sugar in their diets.

ivykaty - I checked the sugar content of Frosties two days ago. I ate them around 35 years ago [gimmer]

This bbc article actually mentions breakfast cereals being important.
What is rickets?

MIL thinks DW is terrible for giving our children whole milk and butter instead of semi-skimmed and olive-based spreads. Well our DCs are on the skinny side and we see no harm in giving them 'natural' products. They get olive oil in cooking etc...

I think my two would rather have a chocolate treat now or again than sugary breakfast cereals and that is the choice that we make on their behalf.

But I do also agree about not denying them things totally. Don't you all recall that there was evidence of malnourished children in Muesli Hill (as I continue to call that uber trendy part of North London) simply because they were being brought up on lentils, brown rice and no fats/sugars/salts - and the children's health was suffering because of it....

Our mantra is "a little bit of what you fancy does you good" food-wise and think we should always consider that when assessing what our children eat.

One of SIL's is very picky about what her darling DCs eat - certainly no sweeties. Yet, when they go to see paternal parents and spend time with their cousins who eat nothing but tat, guess who the first ones are who raid the sweetie cupboard at Grandma's???? Yes, the 'virtuous' ones!!!

camt nelieve it im strict then too, sometimes we have boiled eggs n toast or fruit n yoghurt.

i allow sweets bur this is because ds meals isnt loaded wit sugar.

if we in a rush its ceral bar n babybel in car thats tjree food groups innit