What do you give your 10/11 year old for breakfast?

[cheeseday]

I am really struggling to find healthy breakfast options for my 10 and a half year old daughter.
I usually give 2 pan au chocolate or chocolate crepe or 3 scotch pancakes with margarine or cereal or 2 slices of toast with chocolate spread or peanut butter or jam.

She is over weight and we have started consciously giving healthy home cooked dinner which includes meat or fish and vegetables and of course have not mentioned anything to her but breakfast seems to be our downfall, she likes porridge in the winter but not in the summer.

Also packed lunch tends to be a generic sandwich, yogurt, piece of fruit and crisps.

Nuts may be calorie dense, but they are also full of protein, fibre, minerals and good fats. One of my favourite breakfasts is 50g granola, 15g nuts (I like pecans or pistachios, but almonds are good too), 100g plain Greek yoghurt and 50g blueberries or strawberries.

I wouldn't regularly weigh it out for her, but it is really easy to have too big a portion of granola, so good to get your eye in.

Mainly toast tbh. Although currently he’s been having two sliced kiwis. Up the exercise.

19yo (skinny), 15yo (skinny), 10yo (slightly overweight) and 8yo (skinny). All boys. 10yo has pancake with chocolate spread or honey nut flakes and full fat milk. 8yo likes porridge with banana mashed in.

I would suggest an omelette for breakfast with milk added in. And fruit for afterwards.

They are just very simple carbohydrates - there's no fruit or veg there, and the protein mainly comes from the milk.

Cereal - weetabix, porridge or shreddies
Yogurt
Fruit - generally berries or banana
Eggs on toast
Buttered bagel

Scrambled eggs on whole grain toast
overnight oats
porridge
full fat Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit (kiwi, strawberries, blueberries etc) could add granola or seeds too

Look up some baked oats recipes. They’re delish. Serve with Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.

To help transition her it might he worth trying some sweet but protein and fibre heavy wholefood based alternatives like strawberry (or other fruit) silken tofu mousse, chia pudding etc.

If she likes jam try moving to chia and hemp homemade jam served on wholegrain bread. Super easy to make: 2 cups frozen fruit heated in a pan until melted then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until broken down. Mash fruit in pan. Turn down heat, stir through two tablespoons of chia seeds, 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds and a splash of lemon juice. Heat for a few minutes then leave to cool. Once cool put it in the fridge and it will thicken right up after a few hours. If it isn't sweet enough to begin with you could add a splash of maple syrup to the mix and reduce in future batches then remove it entirely.

You can make simple mini pancakes by blending oats, milks and ripe bananas then cooking in a frying pan. I make a few days worth at a time.

These are nice too. naturedoc.com/banana-buttermilk-pancakes/

In fact there are lots of good breakfast recipes on the Naturedoc site.

Weetabix, milk and water the choice of a 9 year old at the moment

i make overnight weetabix very often for my DC.
Bottoms layer: 2 x weetabix mashed up and soaked in 100ml almond milk (or any milk will do)
Top layer: 150g skyr or Greek yoghurt, can be flavoured if your DD will only eat that

Put some fruit on top the next morning right before serving. Berries, bananas etc. Another variation here from the Weetbix website https://weetbix.com.au/recipes/high-protein-peanut-butter-overnight-weet-bix

Otherwise, my very fussy DD has peanut butter on wholemeal toast, a yoghurt, and a piece of fruit every morning. She also doesn’t really like eggs.

Overnight oats is a good call too, this is lovely (though I do it with pear instead of apple)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/overnight_muesli_with_57876

Or boiled eggs / poached eggs?
either soft boiled eggs eaten hot with a spoon or cold hard boiled eggs cooked the night before
cooked or cold tomatoes on toast
beans on toast
omelette
avocado on toast

Oh and overnight oats with different fruits and toppings and chia seeds etc - she likes to look online for different recipes and make it herself in a jar

My very active 10 year old has 2 Weetabix and a yoghurt. At weekends she has a bagel with Nutella or peanut butter as a treat.

Perhaps you could still allow the treat breakfast at weekends so as to not do a massive change and risk giving her a complex?

Most overweight DC are not active enough. Get her outside roller skating, playing sport, go on family bike rides as a regular weekend activity. Reduce car use and cycle or walk instead where possible.

I’ve also been making these Greek yoghurt pancakes for years and my DC absolutely love them. Even the fussy one! You can easily meal prep a bunch and freeze them. They also make a great lunchbox snack.

joyfoodsunshine.com/greek-yogurt-pancakes/

My DD10 normally has a sourdough bagel with a bit of Nutella or jam and fruit. Sometimes crunchy nut cereal or eggs on toast.

Protein bagel with bacon medallions or chicken sausages in the air fryer
protein bagel with pesto and egg also done in air fryer
smoked salmon and melon/strawberries
seafood sticks (random but MIL bought them and he’s a fan)
cereal
pancakes (not healthy! I make them myself and they like fluffy pancakes with maple syrup and DC1 will also add white chocolate chips to the batter or occasionally peanut M&D’s)
toast and peanut butter
crackers, cheese and cold meats

Bagels with either just butter, peanut butter or jam, boiled eggs and toast, cereal, porridge. I would perhaps give her a bigger breakfast but of a better quality if you can as it's a long time to wait till lunch in school and you want her to be satisfied. I have the same problem with my kids, I try to save the chocolate waffles and pancakes for weekends.

Weetabix is very healthy. So are Shreddies (original not frosted), Cornflakes, Shredded Wheat, Ready Brek (Original), Rice Crispies.

Stick with a healthy portion size and semi skim milk.

If adding crisps, stick with low calorie options such as Wotsits or Quavers. Swap white bread to whole meal or at least the 50/50 option.

If hungry after school and before dinner, cucumber and carrot sticks with low fat hummus. Or berry selection with 0% fat Greek Yoghurt.

Weetabix (with a tiny spoon of sugar) or rice crispies without sudar. That or a boiled egg and toast

I agree these chocolate-based breakfasts are not great.
one of my sons is 11, I cook porridge with a finely grated apple in, and a little honey. Sometimes a pinch of raisins and seeds on the top. Maybe a little cinnamon.
overnight oats if he doesn’t want anything warm. (Loads of variations of overnight oats on bbc food website)
Or simply weetabix, slices of melon, chopped banana. A boiled egg and brown toast.

I would get rid of the crisps aswell.

There are lots of suggestions already for healthier options. These are all better than what you’re offering.

But I understand that some kids (some of mine included) won’t eat those things. So it becomes about portion control, and your portions are very big.

My 15 year old fussy eater would get 1 pain au chocolat OR one chocolate crepe OR one slice of toast with chocolate spread/jam/peanut butter OR two scotch pancakes with a topping (but only at the weekend).

It is really easy to get used to large portions, and really hard to get used to normal portions again. Half (or less) of your current breakfasts would be a normal portion for an adult or and active 10 year old.

We don’t have time for anything complicated (kedgeree?!!)

DD has a variety of

Cereal - I only buy ones with less than 10% sugar, best options are low sugar granolas

or muesli as they have plenty of nuts in so are filling. We have some other low sugar cereals like corn flakes and shredded wheat, own brand bran flakes - I try to make sure she has some nuts/seeds as well for protein and nutrients. And fruit.

Yoghurt - eaten with bit of honey, nuts or seeds and fruit, usually frozen berries or frozen mango or banana. Sometimes she makes it into a smoothie - this is her favourite if there’s time.

Seeded toast (Jasons seeded sourdough, much less UPF stuff in it) - eaten with peanut butter or cream cheese (DD1 likes a savoury breakfast)

If your DD likes fruit yoghurt - check the sugar content- most of them are really high in sugar unfortunately. You could try making a fruit puree she can stir into plain yoghurt? A little honey is ok too but suggest you do it not her… and reduce the amount gradually.
Does she like nuts or seeds, adding chia seeds could really help it be more filling.

Yes the two pain au chocolat is pretty poor. She’s having a massive sugar rush every morning.

How about getting her involved in making her own overnight oats? She can chose what to add to them. There’s loads of recipes online. Hopefully getting her involved will help.