NOW CLOSED: UK MNers with a child aged 5-15: take a short survey for Warburtons - & share your best morning tips/breakfast recipes - £300 of Love2Shop vouchers to be won

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by Warburtons to find Mumsnetters to:

~ Complete their survey all about the morning breakfast routine in your house - this is open to all UK MNers with at least one child (of approx school age) aged 5-15 years - complete it and add your details at the end and you could win a £150 Love2Shop voucher - here's the link

and also for all parents (whatever age child you have) to please

~ Share your top tips for making mornings run smoothly, your top breakfast recipe tips or top advice on how to get your children eating breakfast - everyone who adds a tip etc will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win another £150 Love2Shop voucher.

This is all in advance of a new book which Warburtons are producing, so please note your anonymous tips/ advice may well appear in the book - as well as stats from the survey. The book will be distributed free of charge next year and there will be an opportunity to get a copy via MN.

Here's the survey link again (at the end you will be redirected to this thread so you can add a comment then)

thanks
MNHQ

[AmberLeaf]

Set up a bathroom rota [particularly if you have young teens]

Do packed lunches the night before.

Prepare porridge the night before by soaking a cup of dry oats in a cup and a half of cold water, then in the morning just add one cup of cold milk, bring to the boil and you will have perfect porridge!

[poopoopoo]

My top tip is to get the kids in bed by eight o'clock so they get a good nights sleep (I do not always manage this!) the next morning they are better at getting ready on time to get out of the door by 08:00.
I get the clothes ready the night before and put them in piles, with pants, socks, trousers and tops in the right order.
We do reading homework before bed and prepare the school bag and make sure homework is done and in the bag. Lunches prepared the night before and in the fridge and bags ready at the door for take off!
I like to have a stock of breakfast cereal bars and yoghurt tubes etc that are reasonably healthy and can be eaten on the go so at least I know they have eaten something when we are in a rush.
I always wake the kids up with hot milk, usually chocolate or strawberry. I think it is very important they are well hydrated ( we are about 70% water after all! )
On the days I am not working I will make boiled eggs, they are great kids love them and reasonable quick with bread to dip.
I have my drink and a breakfast bar when I arrive at work whilst checking my emails!

[QODRestYeMerryGentlemen]

There are no top tips from me. I give up. We have some breakfast bars and a lot of attitude :O

[IAmSheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Another tip which I am trying out next term- school dinners instead of packed lunches. It will be soooooo fabulous not to have those packed lunch blues.

[LoonyRationalist]

Do as much as possible the night before, reading, homework, etc in the morning is madness!

Breakfast in pyjamas, nothing worse than cereal down clean uniform..
No Tv until washed, dressed and breakfasted.(in my house shoes must be on and coats and bags by the door)
This is a great motivator to my 2!!

[Whatiswitnit]

My eldest son who is fussy and barely eats later in the day, always starts the day with scrambled egg or omelette so I know he had eaten one decent meal.

My others stick to Weetabix or other non-sugary cereal usually or occasionally croissants with cheese and ham.

I have 8am as a cut off for breakfast. If they haven't eaten at the table by then they can have a banana in the car, that's it.

I usually grab outfits and four toothbrushes for my kids and take them downstairs so there is no need for them to drift back upstairs to get ready.

[Reggiee]

Sort out school bags the night before, and always complete school related paperwork as soon as it arrives home.
Early to bed on a school night.
No tv/playing until washed, dressed and breakfast eaten.
And note to self, try to avoid pressing snooze on the alarm too many times....

[HilaryM]

Aim to leave 15 minutes before you ACTUALLY leave.

TV off until everyone's dressed.

Get self up before everyone else and have a shower ASAP. Dress self first.

Short cuts are OKAY. I'm looking at you, porridge in premade sachets....

[stealthsquiggle]

Apart from the getting stuff ready the night before...

Always remember that 10 minutes per child will disappear between leaving and actually driving out of the drive.

If you have to be dressed for work, and have toddlers, put an old T shirt over work clothes until you have dropped DC off - nothing gets the working day off to a lousy start like scrubbing snot off your shoulder on the way to work.

[mamamibbo]

while dh baths the children (aged 10 months,2 years 4 months and 3 years 9 months) i get their clothes ready,stuff nappies and refill my nappy bag) in themorning i concentrate on getting the children ready, the 11 year old dressesn himself but dh works so ive got to get the other 3 ready, i dress them last, one at a time, 2 year old first then strap him into the pram then the 3 year old and then the baby, strap her into the pram and ready to go. i have a whitboard in the kitchen where everything is written down, things to do every day, play groups, guitar lessons,library books etc so i cant forget

[Bakingnovice]

Night before: clothes ironed, bags packed, letters signed etc. no tv in the morning and teaching the kids to stick to the schedule. No tv. No messing about. Also a quick nutritional breakfast is key.

[Aranea]

Don't let the children go downstairs or anywhere near toys until they are dressed! Then straight to the breakfast table.

[Kveta]

for a fussy, chocolate obsessed toddler, we have discovered that adding a teaspoon of drinking chocolate powder to his porridge gets him to eat the lot - previously he would go hungry rather than eat the lovingly prepared wholesome stuff with grated apple and cinammon, now he has a decent breakfast and I don't have to grate fruit. win-win!

[DaisyFay]

Stick to the same routine every week day. I don't prepare the night before, and I do do the majority of the morning stuff, but we do follow the same pattern every day. We do have our moments - as mentioned by others, seams in tights can cause a major disaster! But I think the answer is to be a bit relaxed about it. When DP is home and stressing at her it all goes badly wrong!

[prettybird]

Can't really offer much of a tip,except that as a not morning person, marry a lark!

Dh gets up before me, gets ds up (who is also a morning person), gets the breakfast table ready, puts the porridge in the microwave or the eggs on the boil (depending on what I'm wanting that day) and then sends ds through to tell me it's time to get up!

I suppose I should - but I do the packed lunches and most of the ironing!

[ILoveAFullFridge]

Step back. Sometimes you need to let tthem be late/cold/unprepared and learn the consequences of their inaction. If you are forever reminding them of things, making their lunches, setting out their clothes, how will they learn to do it themselves? That way just makes sure you will always be doing these things.

Of course, you can't treat all ages the same: I make our 6yo's pack lunches, we keep our 10yo's school dinners account in credit and if she wants a pack lunch she has to make it herself the night before, and we put £5 every week in the dinner money tin - which is not enough for a week of school dinners - and he sorts himself out. Yes, twice this term he has gone hungry because he forgot.

[ILoveAFullFridge]

"we put £5 every week in the dinner money tin " for our 12yo. Somehow missed that out.

[mrspink27]

We have 5 pegs in our utility room for the 5 days of the week. All school stuff and after school activity gumf is hung on the appropriate peg - e.g Swimming bag, brownie uniform, french book, recorder etc
That way it's just a grab and go.

Also ... absolutely no electronic devices before school e.g. tv, ds, phone etc.

Set routine of me up, unload dishwasher, feed animals, sort self out then DDs up and uniform on. Then breakfast, teeth, face and hair.
If there is time they make their bed, pull their curtains and clear up any crap stuff on their bedroom floors and bring their laundry downstairs.

[AwkwardAnnie]

No TV until breakfast is done, at least not kids TV.
DD gets dressed downstairs so we can keep chivvying her on, (she's 5, this will have to change one day)
I take my breakfast into work and eat it at my desk in peace.

I start a new job in the New Year, so I plan to start work at 8:30, which means I'll be out of the house by 8 and DH (who is a SAHD) can have the school run all to himself and it will be wonderfully stress free (for me) :)

[notnowbernard]

I try and do lunchboxes the night before but woefully underperform in this area

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

DD (6) makes a menu for breakfasts and can eat what she likes, as long as she eats. Often pasta; today it was cauliflower soup . Obviously, these are leftovers, not cooked to order.
She prepares her lunch box the night before, choosing five items from a selection in the cupboard, following strict rules: one healthy item (fruit or vegetable), one drink, one protein (cheese, cold sausage, hard boiled egg if avaible, handful of nuts) and two other items of choice.
I get up 30 mins to 1 hour before the rest of the family, so that I can feed all the various animals, put them in outside cages if appropriate (rabbit, gps), make porridge for DH and my mother (89 and living with us) and shovel leftovers from last night into lunch boxes for DH and myself to microwave for lunch. DD's clothes presented wrapped around a hot water bottle in winter, to avoid fuss. I know I shouldn't, but it makes mornings so much easier. DD and DM are often left to encourage each other in the mornings.
My breakfast is usually a sandwich eaten in the car on the way to work.
Not sure how many of these tips are applicable to others, although very pleased with lunch box system.

[OhyouMerryLittleKitten]

Get everything ready the night before. Try and eat breakfast with your dc, so it's just a normal part of everyday. The number of kids I see who don't eat breakfast at primary age is really sad and it often shows in their behaviour.

[IwishyouaMerryChristmas]

The question about how long it took you after having your first child to get back on top of the breakfast routine was odd! For 12 months I was on maternity leave from work, so no routine needed. Then I worked for about 9 months before getting pregnant again and having morning sickness so badly that breakfast was a non event! Then ds2 arrived so another 12 months away from work but in the meantime ds1 started nursery, so our breakfast routine was always changing!

Only now that both ds's are in full time school and I work around school hours are things settled into a routine!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheMistletoes]

I don't do quite a lot of these things, I never get up before the rest of the family, never shower the night before, the DCs come downstairs the minute they get up (bathroom is downstairs) and have breakfast before getting dressed, but they do put out their own uniform the night before and we sort bags etc together before bed too. We ALWAYS get up an hour before we need to leave and are ALWAYS ready with a good 5 mins to spare and I think that is the key thing, allowing enough time EVERY day. We have the odd tense moment when one of the DCs is faffing about instead of putting their shoes on but we have never been late for school (5th year now). We are lucky in that we don't drive to school so don't have to worry about car de-icing, traffic etc though and don't have any babies or toddlers to manage.