The Breakfast of Champions

I'm a big fan of breakfast. I eat it; I make my kids eat it; I try to make my husband eat it. It's like coffee--I know people do without it quite happily, but I don't quite comprehend how.

When my kids were in traditional school, a teacher told me that they were the only ones who regularly ate breakfast. This was in a high-scoring school in an upper middle class community in Northern California. I still don't understand how the parents managed this. First, if I don't feed my kids (and quickly), they start serving themselves--digging through cabinets and drawers, leaving trails of Cheerio dust and messes that will require more cleaning time than I would have spent cooking myself. Second, they dissolve into whiney, tantrum-throwing monsters if they are low on protein, so I would have to spend time dealing with less-than-ideal behavior, again more time than I would have spent cooking.

Are there any parents out there willing to admit to not feeding the kidlets breakfast? How do you deal with the messes and behavior? Is it really a timesaver for your family?

I doubt anyone will answer that call.

In my home, breakfast is usually something with protein and whole grains. I try to make it fun to prevent arguments and standoffs, but health definitely comes first. I have an advantage in that my children still haven't realized that many of their peers successfully demand expensive and unhealthy foods. It helps that we homeschool... obviously parents willing to spend eight hours a day or more making sure Junior gets a quality education aren't going to skimp on meals. So far our only food conflict was when my 12yo son discovered one of his friends gets (drum roll...) Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. As opposed to Annie's organic, which I think tastes better anyway.

Today we had french toast made with 12-grain bread... yummy!