To wonder what your kids eat for breakfast before school

[DancyNancy]

Following on from a thread where a mum found herself in a pickle and had to give a snack based breakfast....and MN posters felt a banana and a granola bar was deemed a horrifically inadequate quantity of breakfast I'm really curious to know what people's kids eat in the morning.

My lot are aged 9-12yrs.

2 out of 3 are often not hungry first thing but I insist on at least milk.

One always has cereal or porridge
One of the inconsistents has a glass of milk and then possibly a bagel or pitta with peanut butter
One will have milk and might have natural yogurt, or bagel, or banana with peanut butter.

They have 2 breaks in school so eat at 11 & 1, and then again at home around 3:30.

To me a banana and a granola bar is quite a hefty breakfast, and equates quantity wise to a bowl of cereal or porridge 🤔

I don't understand the horror response to that as a breakfast...... enlighten me??

Personally I think that's fine, you cannot force kids to eat and something healthyish is better than nothing in my opinion. We let the teenagers decide for themselves but make sure there are fast healthy options to grab and go such as smoothies, low sugar cereal bars and fruit. DS will have cold cooked chicken breast and an apple most days - his choice!

My kids eat weird random stuff for breakfast, but it at least gets them to eat. Choices include,
Eggy bread
Wraps with ham / marmite / Nutella
Yogurt
Pepperami
Tomatoes / cucumber
Bacon baguette
Blueberry wheats, no milk
Coco pops with milk
Pancakes with lemon and sugar or Nutella
Banana, as long as it's still green
Blueberries
Cream crackers

All have to have cereal. If they didn’t eat a lot the night before or are hungry I also make them choose between a banana, yoghurt or toast. Youngest adores cereal bars so for a treat I might give him one in the car too

Toast or a granola bar. Usually eaten in the car on the way to school, we are not morning people.

Mine, primary age, both have cereal - weetabix or rice crispies and then either toast or a bagel or similar with butter. Plus a glass of milk. Seems to work for us and it’s fast enough to make. I make it on a school day and weekends they have more freedom

Mine has two slices of wholemeal toast with butter and jam or marmalade, a piece of fruit (satsuma, pear, banana) and a glass or water.

DS likes a buffet for breakfast 😂it will often consist of sandwich, yoghurts, small bowl of cereal, pan au chocolate, fruit. He eats a lot on a morning as he takes medication which can supresses his appetite during the day.

DD will usually have cereal, waffle, actimel yoghurt if anything.

I don't usually have breakfast until 9.30-10 as I can't eat before that.

Youngest is 8 and has a huge appetite, but lacks variety (she's ND). Invariably she has what I'd call a 'continental' breakfast. Waffles x 2, maybe a pepperoni and small lump of cheese, some yoghurt and sometimes a smoothie or some dried fruit type snack. This sounds a lot (and it is!) but she's perfect weight and high energy, always on the move (like her dad!)

Ds is 14, so weekends are more about brunch for him, maybe a bacon roll by the time he wakes up, or cereal/ crepes if he's got football training or a match. School days a bowl of cereal and dried fruit type snack.

My DD is like me never wants breakfast makes us nauseous on a weekend she will have brunch around 11
school days she will have a smoothie a carton one and will take a croissant and ceral bar for break at 10.45 then has a big packed lunch at 1.45 then she won’t eat dinner till after 9pm she has a weird body clock due to activities and what suits her we trust her to make the decisions about her own body

I grew up eating cereal for breakfast (70s). My kids either had oatmeal or cereal. By the time they were teens though no breakfast, and I didn't either at that age.
A granola bar is not particularly healthy at all. Banana fine, maybe with yoghurt? Egg would be even better.

My DC cycle through:

Eggs on toast.
Eggs with soldiers.
Toast.
Crumpets.
Homemade granola with yoghurt and fruit.
Grilled tomatoes on toast.
Omelette.

I'd love to do porridge but we're coeliac and react to even the GF oats. Shame, as porridge is a lovely breakfast. Sometimes we make rice porridge which isn't bad, but not quite the same.

Do you live in Scandinavia with such and early lunch break and the rice porridge on a Friday?

Yeah in Finland. Lunch is so early! I could not eat lunch that early but I suppose the children get used to it.

Pancakes too

We lived in Sweden and my daughter ate school lunch at 10.50 which I feel is still technically breakfast 😂

My reception DS doesn't want much in the morning, usually has fruit (either berries or a banana) and a slice of toast he picks at or a small bowl of cereal.

Year 4 DS is always starving in the morning, usually has 2 slices of toast and a bowl of cereal, or Greek yoghurt and fruit plus toast.

Just catching up here! I'm hungry reading it 😂

I should have clarified that in the thread I was referring to, the OP had had an issue with child getting into breakfast club one morning, and had to wait until school started. So, as child had no access to breakfast club she gave them her own granola bar and banana.

Personally I feel most breakfast things, including what my kids eat, are so carb/aka sugar based and actually not healthy, but quantity wise I think a banana and a granola/cereal bar would be a grand filler for my lot and no worse than a bowl of cereal, or toast.

I'd love if mine would eat a more protein based brekkie but I've tried and failed on that front. Best I can get is the peanut butter, yogurt, milk. Sometimes beans on toast. They go through phases of things . They'll eat eggs at lunch/dinner but can't stomach them first thing usually.

The girls don't feel very hungry first thing so I don't force either.
The boy gets in horrendous form when hungry and even can get dizzy so I do insist that he eats, even if he hasn't registered the cue himself. He always feels better after and agrees! 😄

Anything is a possibility. I try and make sure it is vaguely healthy but below is a list from the last few weeks...

porridge with butter, sugar and cinnamon
porridge with raisins
Greek yoghurt, honey and banana
fruit yoghurts
Greek yoghurt and blueberries
crumpets
toast and one of jam, marmite, honey, peanut butter or sometimes just butter
sliced gherkins (one teen's obsession at the moment)
cottage cheese on crackers
scrambled eggs
cheese on toast
passion fruit
Weetabix and skimmed milk
pancakes
croissant
Danish pastry
panettone
grapefruit
Kiwifruit
bacon sandwich
muesli and skimmed milk

So a real pot luck. I tend to limit things like pastries and cooked foods to weekends.

Just putting this post here, so I can find this thread later.

I need some breakfast inspiration. Ds is in a bagel rut!

My 11 year old daughter who doesn't eat a lot has a big bowl.of no added sugar Swiss style muesli with extra raisins. My 6 year old son has a bowl of yogurt and granola or coco pops and a cereal bar on the drive to school. My 19 year old son has tea and porridge

8yo.

Buttered toast, or Weetabix, or Coco pops, with either water or glass of milk.

Toasted cheese sandwich
omelette
savoury waffles
egg muffins
porridge with cinnamon and banana
toast with nut butter
yoghurt
boiled egg
salmon cream cheese bagel

Porridge with cinnamon and apple. Every single day. He's neurodivergent and it's part of his routine. But glad it's not Nutella he became obsessed with!

Porridge with fruit or toast, l might stretch to making pancakes at the weekend. Pastries as an occasional weekend treat.

My youngest sometimes will only have fruit when everyone else has their proper breakfast and will normally top up with toast on the way back from school.

As an occasional thing, a granola bar and a banana isn't terrible, OP

11 yo.

Wheatabix with whole milk, banana and a glass of water.

Happy with this...although has been having same breakfast every single school day for literally years!