to think DH is over-reacting to the kids' breakfast?

[EmGee]

Kids generally have homemade banana bread (I do add some dark choc pieces...), or other homemade cakey/bread/muffiny thing sweetened with fruit puree, a bit of brown sugar or some maple syrup. I add ground almonds and things like chia seeds or oat bran as much as possible, and try to use alternatives to white flour to vary things. Always cut down the amount of actual sugar that is given in the recipe to the absolute minimum.

I also make flapjacks and have successfully reduced the sugar content dramatically by using mashed banana for example. Kids are less keen on the banana version though.

My reasoning is that these things are homemade and I know exactly what has gone into them. The kids like them. It's quick and easy in the mornings. Is it so wrong?

They normally have water, milk or I make hot chocolate using unsweetened dark cacao powder and add a bit of brown sugar to sweeten.

He thinks weetabix is 'better' and it's ridiculous that they eat 'cake'.

AIBU or is he????

No, not everyone does, but I'm sure (outside of MN ) that most people just have a bowl of cereal or jam on toast for breakfast. The percentage of people eating wholemeal toast, scrambled egg etc. everyday is probably pretty low as a whole!

I'm not saying my DS has a brilliant diet, but that's not what the question is here.

OP thinks she is doing the right thing for her DCs and seems to have a bit too much time on her hands by making them homemade cake and hot chocolate for brekkie. Her DH thinks they would be better with Weetabix.

Well tbh I'm on hubbies side. It seems an awful lot of fuss to basically feed the DCs a sugary breakfast (brown or not it's still sugary) and surely the overall effect can be obtained with less fuss by buying a box of coco pops.

BTW I have poached eggs on smoked salmon every morning -takes abou 4 mins to prepare.
Sadly DS is carb boy and refuses to eat them.

YABVVVVU. That is a ridiculous amount of sugar for breakfast everyday. You're adding sugar to everything, using fruit purées, chocolate, maple syrup. weetabix is a far healthier option than the breakfast you had been serving up. Just because it is homemade, doesn't mean it's healthy.

French people would rather die than snack

French people don't snack. French people prennent l'apéro

Each to their own I suppose - to be honest neither option sounds so terrible that it's worth you arguing about it. You're not banning them from having Weetabix I hope?

I know it's not made by your own fair hand, and is known for having some salt on it, but it's really not packed full of hidden Pure Evil and isn't a bad option as breakfast cereals go.

Why is everyone making comments about having too much time on her hands.

maybe she she does it overnight in a slow cooker on a timer.

maybe she's just an early bird.

maybe everything is prepared the night before so it's mix and bake.

maybe she's just warming it through and it was cooked the day before.

surely it's no one's business why she has the time.

Sorry OP but you're in MNland. Breakfast is essential to set children up for the day. You are making your DC something and that is fab. Yes it is a lot of sugar but if the rest of the day is more balanced and they are of healthy weight so what? Peanut butter on toast is palm oil on bread with sugars & salt. Add a glass of orange juice and that's not such a healthy breakfast either. All things in moderation.

Do they have an apéricube with their apéro?

I think this totally depends on what they are having the rest of the day. If lunch is wholemeal sandwiches, veggie bits and some fruit, dinner is a solid home cooked meal, and there are no snacks in between, then it's probably fine, but if they get more of the cakes at lunch, dinner and snacks then yes it's probably all a bit much.

It does seem too much like hard work for me though! My dd varies between porridge, weetabix, and rice crispies or a cook breakfast at weekend. She does like a chocolate brioche from time to time too.

You shouldn't need sugar in a hot chocolate

Do you make yours with just unsweetened cocoa poweder, then?

Weetabix isn't the perfect breakfast, any more than muffins and so on. There definitely needs to be some protein in there, other than a little milk, for something that's more sustaining.

I used to have weetabix for breakfast, they were edible as long as you added about two or three heaped tablespoons of caster sugar. Which I did. This was the eighties!

ha ha ha yes temp they are only edible with a ton of sugar on top.

It does sound like a lot of sugar, even with the seeds etc.

A lot of cereals are just crap though, IMO. Maybe eggs or something like that sometimes?

But as for your DH in the short term, if he doesn't like what you give them then tell him he is welcome to make the kids' breakfast instead.

It gave me the rage in Rome when the only breakfast items available were cake, cake and more jeffing cake.

Give me a dippy egg and soldiers any day.

You are both being a bit U!

Cake for breakfast is just wrong in my opinion, no matter if it is a "clean" cake or shop bought packaged cake. Homemade cake is a million times better than a processed, factory made cake....BUT the children are eating cake for breakfast!

Plenty of alternatives if you don't like cereal and want to give the cake a break. Keep the cake for snacks and ocassional treats though.

Exit how can anyone get the rage in Rome with all those handsome men strutting about and checking their reflection in every shop window?

Radio 4 this morning, talk of breakfast croissants, always crescent shaped? Tesco are making them long and straight you can get more on a baking tray. Mon dieu!

Hijack alert

So why are we such a fat nation - and we are - when we're all (apart from the OP) desperately trying to reduce sugar intake and eat healthily?

If Europeans all eat cake & hot chocolate for breakfast, have 'proper' lunches and very later dinners... why aren't they as fat as we are?

Are we all obsessively doing and eating the wrong things? Is it snacking? Or are we (Brits) the kings and queens of 'junk food'.

SOMEONE TELL ME THE ANSWER BECAUSE I'M FAT AND I'M TRYING VERY HARD NOT TO BE! And I don't have cake for breakfast and I go to the gym 3 times a week.

BUT the children are eating cake for breakfast!

So? If you break it down into its ingredients, it's probably not a whole lot different to sweetened cereal.

He would shit a brick at my kids choco balls cereal and shop bought pancakes.

Well if you particularly want to give your child a sweet tooth, give them sugary meals

I'd say wheatabix is a bit crap too as it's processed cereal, wheat based (a crop that people overdo and est too much of) . You'd be much better giving porridge with berries

Twitterqueen - the parents who give their kids cocopops and chocolate milk followed by nutella on white bread for breakfast (or a snickers and bottle of coke from the shop on the way to school) aren't going to be on this thread, are they!

My kids don't have a perfect diet by any means, they get crisps and fruit shoots and greets sausage rolls now and then, but I work in school and a large proportion of children have absolute crap every single day. Crisps, cake bars, biscuits, chocolate puddings in huge portions every lunch.

Twitterqueen - I suspect it's something to do with portion sizes. At the end of the day weight is primarily to do with calorie consumption so what they are eating might not be the healthiest, but if portion sizes are small enough and there is no between meal snacking, then they'll still end up slimmer than us. Oh and that and smoking.
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