Easy foods for 6yo to eat when he comes down in the morning

[boysmum89]

My 6yo comes down in the morning before anyone else - rest of us are not early risers!

He will get something to eat by himself, but the problem is he’s always ferreting around in the cupboards for snacks! He does know what is/isn’t healthy (doesn’t always ‘remember’ that in the morning, obviously!) and we typically don’t have crisps or chocolate in the cupboards during the week anyway, but I’m looking for ideas of something we can buy or make ahead for mornings to vary things up a bit and be somewhat filling to get him through to breakfast club.

At the moment, main thing I buy is those chocolate brioche rolls, but looking for more ideas (other than fruit)!

Yoghurt within easy reach in the fridge or baby bells. Croissants or pancakes.

Can he pour milk to get some cereal?

The night before, make some little sandwiches (wholemeal bread with cheese spread or egg or marmite) and tuck away in fridge in 'his special corner'

I'd get some individual little pots of live yoghurt in different flavours. DD loves the Yeo valley honey ones.

Breakfast cereals (choosing those that have a good amount of fibre)

You could have some berries in individual portions ready to go

At 6 I'd not be giving him free rein on whatever's there unless he is making the right sort of choices.

DD (also 6) will sometimes beat me to the kitchen in the morning but if she does she gets herself a bowl of muesli/cereal. It wouldn't occur to her to go for anything else.

Mine are older now but at that age they were told that they could help themselves to cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit and anything in the bread bin. I taught them to use the toaster and made sure anything they might want was laid out on the breakfast bar or on a lower shelf in the fridge.

Oh, I also bought some toast tongs so that they weren’t trying to fish crumpets out of the toaster with fingers!

Muffins.
Yoghurt
Cereal (leave milk in smaller jugs if you use the big 2l milks like we do as those are hard to pour)

You could also hard boil eggs and take the shell off and leave in the fridge for him.

This is a great idea!

Thanks! Yes maybe it’s about him just getting normal breakfast things but making sure they’re easy access so he doesn’t automatically go for other things.

He can get yoghurt and cereal himself, so I just need to be firmer about what he can and should be having, I think

we’ve had exactly this in the past with early rising

Small individual malt loaves

https://nairns.com/our-range/our-oatcakes/fruit-seed-oatcakes
or the lower sugar other nairns biscuits (come in packs of 2-3)

babybels/cheese snacks

little bags of breadsticks

I tried to encourage fresh or dried fruit but that is never chosen!

Overnight oats. V easy and he can make them night before
Bbc has recipe

This. We did this and he loved it, just a few listenable until we surfaced.

A breakfast box with things such as sliced Dutch cheese, hard boiled shelled eggs, cream cheese, bread rolls, waffles, fruit cake, fruit spreads, sliced ham, rice cakes.

Fruit. I would have a rule that if you have to eat before breakfast club it's fruit or nothing. Plus a glass of water, he's probably actually thirsty more than hungry.

Aside: how early is he getting up that you're not up but it's a school day! Maybe he's actually bored rather than hungry and needs to have something in his room to entertain until the house is up?

I wouldn't let a 6yo use a toaster unsupervised.

What time? How long is he alone for?

I would leave milk in a measuring cup with just the right amount for a bowl of cereal, put the bowl and spoon ready with the box of cheerios (or whatever).

Get up with your child or tell him to stay in bed until its time to get up.

Love this idea!

Does anyone else worry about choking? I just can’t relax when I’m not popping in and out the kitchen or nearby when my kids are eating!

My son is 10 now but since he was very little he has had a breakfast ‘starter’ which I put on a plate for him in the fridge, in the morning he just comes down and fetches it and planks himself in front of the tv until I get up.

It’s a combination of 1 piece of fruit, one bready item and one yoghurt. So his one this morning was a banana, a pain au chocolat and a yoghurt.

He is old enough to do this himself now of course but he is growing up so quickly I’ll do this as long as he lets me 🤣

I’m going to go with this - think we need a firmer rule instead of him having multiple breakfasts!

He’s not supposed to go down until 6, but it’s definitely more like 5:45 and then I’m usually up 6:30/45 with my youngest, who’s a terrible night sleeper and leaves us all knackered!

Have a look at taming twins. There's a recipe on there for a fluffy pancake that you cook in a big flat baking tray. I made it at the weekend with blueberries and raspberries scattered on before baking, and Dd wolfed it down.
Took literally two minutes to mix up,15 to cook, and slice, and made enough for her to have for breakfast up until today. Wish I'd discovered it ages ago, we used to go through brioche at a heck of a speed but they're untouched so far this week!

@Haveyoubrushedyourteeth

Could you share/link the recipe? I've just had a look and couldn't see it. Sounds ideal!

@INeedNewShoes I can't get the link to work so hopefully a photo will do. It's from the book "what's for dinner in one pot" by Sarah Rossi. Genuinely the best cookery book I've ever bought, and I've got lots!

I used to leave out a banana and a tube of yogurt. A croissant and cheese triangle or baby bel. A satsuma and pain au chocolate.