To only let my children have fresh fruit/yoghurt for breakfast?

[Sunshinesunflower]

They have plenty of healthy food during the day but I don't really want them thinking the day has to start with them shoving lots of hot food or sugary cereals down themselves.

There is plenty of fruit for variety and just a small amount of plain yoghurt.

Aibu? I have always disliked the concept of breakfast so fruit seems a reasonable compromise.

Egg sandwiches smell but ice never noticed anyone smelling after eating one. Egg McMuffins might leave an aftertaste in the way that I find Big Macs do - ie it's pretty plasticky food, not the same as the home cooked version

Do you always notice this smell? When im pregnant my sense of smell is so strong that I make my DH face away from me in bed as he always smells or garlic (to me!). Don't notice it otherwise. Do you notice the egg smell when you're not pregnant?

I think most of the remarks related to diet have already been made. I agree there is too little protein and whole grains and too much sugar (ironically from fruit).

I think you should address the questions of 'gluttony', 'shoving food in', and 'eating large quantities of food' and what those terms mean to you with a counsellor.

You don't necessarily have to verbalise any opinions or feelings about food to have your opinions and feelings affect your children.

I do, yes - must just be sensitive towards it!

Counselling is not the answer to all issues. I had months of it and I'm hardly doing particularly wonderfully; in fact according to some here I should be locked up and the key thrown away!

I'm really not getting the 'breakfast is the most important meal' and suggestions that fruit and yog is not ok.

I rarely eat breakfast , have never been overweight and am fit and healthy. Enjoy cooking and eating.

Occasionally I have breakfast: full fat yog and blueberries.

Which would have been infinitely preferable to the toast/cereal which is what was on offer when I was a child.

Hey op, hope you're ok.

You are doing fine. No one has got this parenting lark nailed, we're all fumbling through doing what we think is right.

I don't think I know you from previous threads. That's not important. And other posters calling you on other threads is shabby. Phrases like 'I feel sorry for your children' are used by boring lazy people with nothing to add.

If your lids are happy with fruit and yoghurt, great. If you want to add a bit more substance chuck some toast on or a crumpet. But don't sweat the small things.

Why would anyone want to the same thing for breakfast every day? I get that you vary the fruit, but still... Mine eat what they want (by and large, assuming we have it in) - sometimes eggs on rye bread, sometimes cheese or ham, sometimes cereal, sometimes porridge with honey or fruit. Occasionally leftover food from the night before; my older son also likes mackerel on toast for breakfast. I wouldn't be full on just fruit and joghurt - would need to at least chuck some muesli in too. As for you not liking breakfast - fair enough, but how is that relevant for your kids? I try not to like my personal preferences interfere with the kids getting a varied diet.

I've pretty much had cereal every morning in some shape or form every day.

I have porridge every single day, made exactly the same way. It does the job so I don't feel the need to eat anything different.
It seems as if some posters on Mumsnet obsess over eating eggs for breakfast and think anything other than that is an inadequate breakfast. It isn't.
OP have you considered giving your children a little bit more choice for breakfast?

I just think that whatever you post on mn someone will tell you it's unhealthy. The food threads are absolutely pointless imo. The obsession with fruit and sugar and the bizarre comparison to haribos earlier on is just . Yes eating too much of anything is bad, but fruit it's really good for you in lots of ways.

I have eaten marmite on toast for breakfast pretty much every day for the last 35 years

Totally agree tobysmum. I can't stand some of the comments re diet on MN. I can't believe so many people a and their DC shun all sugar including fruit. I never hear that sort of comment in RL and I live in a naice suburb.

Like most other things, you get out of counselling whatever you are prepared to put into it. The counsellor isn't a surgeon, quick swish of the scalpel, a little stitching and you are done.

I certainly don't shun sugar and neither do the DCs. But opting for fruit at breakfast instead of protein because it's 'lighter' and because it's 'gluttony' to eat right after you wake up doesn't bespeak a healthy relationship with food or ease with the sensation of eating or perhaps the feeling of being full. This is not about diet or choosing fruit for health reasons, or for healthy reasons.

I wouldn't be interested in this thread in the slightest if it wasn't for the fact that my mother has had an eating disorder for as long as I have been conscious of her attitude towards food and eating.

Did your counselling address the topic of catastrophising?

i.e."I am not perfect and therefore I am terrible"

Porridge?

I am not saying fruit is bad for you or akin to haribos, tobysmum - but I am saying that I don't believe just fruit and yoghurt is the best breakfast for children. We've also tried to say that there are lots of healthy options for breakfast, and that eating breakfast, when it's 11 or 12 hours since you last ate, is not gluttony - which is how the OP referred to it, early in the thread.

The OP's children have supper at bedtime - and then just have fruit and yoghurt for breakfast - that is to keep them going until lunch - it honestly does not sound like enough to me.

Op why did you start this thread?

I believe in balance and variety. You don't need any food group including protein every meal. Of course eggs have little fibre, but no one bangs on about that. I find fruit and yoghurt filling personally but I have lots of full fat greek yoghurt with it.

Oh sorry math, my last post wasn't directed at anyone on this thread. I was just agreeing with tobysmum about some of the comments I read more generally on MN about diet. The sugar content in fruit really isn't an issue for me or most people I know and I see a lot about it on MN when I never hear anyone in RL raise similar concerns. Agree there probably are other issues with the OP's choice.

Fruit and yoghurt is not enough, I'd add something with more energy. Some porridge would be perfect.

They have supper, they go to bed and sleep. During that time their body is still needing energy, when they wake up they need something substantial to keep them going through the day.

There are many reasons why certain foods can tip people over the edge smell wise perfectly valid reasons.

Just because the smell is not noticeable to one person does not mean its acceptable to another

You're right needs but projecting those reasons onto a child isn't very healthy really is it?

The children aren't going to be 'picked on for smelling of eggs' because there won't be a smell.

I like fish and rice at breakfast, fruit and yoghurt is a snack to me and I think breakfast should be substantial. Eggs are a great option if sugar is something bothering you, I can stuff an omelette full of veggies too.

I do have mornings where fruit and a yoghurt is what I do, but I tend to make up for that with a mid-morning snack.

Or not eggs, if personal preference, plain steamed meat with veggies is nice at breakfast too, with fruit and yoghurt.

I don't think it'll be a big issue if you do feed them just the fruit, except that they might want something mid-morning to keep them going.