I tend to swing to extremes – either I do something extraordinarily well, or fail miserably at it. In fact, I often wish I was Jennifer Lopez and could get paid for excelling at mediocrity (how can someone be a mediocre singer-actress-designer-producer-dancer-perfumer and still warrant that kind of paycheck? Oh yeah, she’s hot).
Focus, Lena.
Anyhoo, one of the things I royally reek at is getting a healthy, balanced breakfast from the boys’ plate to their mouths. Like, I fail at this EVERY morning. In all fairness, they don’t put up too much of a fuss at lunch and dinner; there’s just something about the 8:00 a.m. meal which has them pushing the food away in frustration, irritation and downright hostility.
I like breakfast. In fact, it’s probably the meal I look forward to most!
Think about it – it’s the only meal where it’s socially acceptable to have something sweet or savoury – or a glorious combination of the two. They even invented a hall pass for gorging on pastries and little cakes – it’s called “Continental Breakfast”. And every fitness enthusiast will preach the importance of protein in the morning – bacon IS a great source of protein, right? Right.
So what the heck is their deal? I am at a loss. Ryder and Reid will push aside cereal and take about one bite of scrambled eggs (sometime two). Muffins will be tossed on the floor and don’t even get me started on oatmeal… the gagging begins the second they see the pot of water boiling on the stove. Toast? Used as Jedi swords.
(They even discard bacon. Seriously! They cannot be my sons.)
In fact is, the only thing they will eat willingly – in large quantities – is fruit. A bowl of strawberries, sliced banana and apple, and a few blueberries for good measure. THIS is my “Plan B” every morning… which is slowly starting to turn into Plan A, since I’m just about done wasting perfectly good food, and my waistline can’t afford the whole “waste not want not” phenomena, if you know what I mean.
Fruit they will eat. Even veggies – thinly sliced raw green pepper, cucumber and grape tomatoes make repeat appearances at the breakfast table for the boys. (Ryder asked for an onion the other day, and after insisting it’s not a good food to eat raw, I called his bluff and handed him a slice. He ate it and asked for a second. Who IS this little person?)
But anything else – pass. And with Ryder starting kindergarten in just a few month’s time, I am understandably beginning to worry about how he’ll be a healthy, productive student if he’s only running on nature’s candy. And with good reason – from HealthyChildren.org’s “The Case for Eating Breakfast“-
“Children who eat breakfast are generally in better health overall, a fact that may be attributed to the types of food often associated with the morning meal. Breakfast provides a golden opportunity to fortify them with nutrients that can easily fall by the wayside the rest of the day. “Breakfast is a great time to consume fiber in the form of cereals and whole wheat breads,” Dr. Cochran says. Fiber can help with weight control and has also been linked to lower cholesterol levels.”
Oookay. So the boys ARE having breakfast, which is a good thing – I just somehow have to make the meal more balanced, and get them to eat it, of course.
Thank goodness for IronKids Gummies. They’re my crutch; my peace of mind… my Plan C, if you please. Because every single morning Ryder and Reid receive a Multi-Vitamin, Vitamin D and Calcium gummy, which goes a long way to help them get the most out of their active day. Bonus: there’s no bribing involved – they happily wait for the great-tasting gummies, often prompting me when I forget to dole them out. And on some mornings, mommy sneaks a gummy vitamin or two for her own health and stamina ;)
(All IronKids Gummies are made in a nut free facility, and are allergen and gluten free. Plus, there’s no sugar coating, aspartame or artificial colors . . only real ingredients. #winning)
So tell me, have you dealt with picky A.M. eaters? What tips/tricks can you offer? Please and thank you!
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The opinions on this blog are my own.
My son is a picky eater too. But I offer the same food ( not literally everyday) at least 30-50 times before concluding that he doesn’t like it. That’s how he took to oatmeal. Try breakfast smoothies. Google ” Banana Oatmeal smoothie”. It is like drinking breakfast and I love it too!
I’ve heard that kids can take that long to finally accept a food; I suppose I may be a tad impatient ;) Thanks for the reminder to keep trying. And I love smoothies! The boys: not so much. Sigh.
My DD is a picky morning eater too. I find what works best is to give her a little of everything because I figure even a few bites of toast are better than nothing. And she gets her multivitamin daily too of course.
I often do that too: offer them bird-sized bites so they can get at least a little variety in them. But yes, the multi is my saviour.
I hate breakfast. It’s the only time of day when I don’t want to eat!
Hahaha, you would get along with my boys famously Laura :)
Breakfast has always been a struggle here too. I have TWINS. So I can comiserate with you when two babies won’t eat. They will be 3 in the summer and I still haven’t figured out what to do. But I will be buying the vitamins you mentioned. I need a plan C too!
OY! Twins. Cannot imagine going against the combined stubbornness. Ryder, since he’s older, will humour me once in a while, so I guess it’s not so bad.
Breakfast can sometimes be a bit of a battle, especially since my kids need to eat at 7am in order for us to be out the door by 7:30 in order that my daughter makes it on the bus and in order that I’m at work in time for bus duty. Phew.
We have been using IronKids Gummies for a very long time now and it has become a part of our daily morning routine. The major stress I feel is when my supply is running low so I’m always scoping for sales at Shoppers Drugmart or on Well.ca (which ships for free in Canada!)
WOW. I think if that was my schedule, the boys would go to school hungry. Happy to see there’s another mom who is obsessed with IronKids too!
Thank god we never had a problem feeding our DS in the morning. Mornings are busy enough without hovering over a picky eater!!!
LUCKY!!!
For me my morning battle is against the clock. I live with one of the slowest eaters in the world!! (she would rather sleep then eat) I’m with you, a multi vitamin is the only way I know my babies are getting everything they need in the mornings!!
Hahaha, well, slow I can take – we’ve got a lot of time here. But sometimes Ryder is in his chair for over an hour!!! Sheesh.
I could have written this, except my kids are like this at Dinner.
Breakfast? they love. 100% cereal fans {like me}. Lunch? We can always find something.
Dinner? more time than not it’s pushed away.
This leads to before bed moodiness, restless sleeps and OMG-I’m-Starving-feed-me-the-second-I-get-up mornings.
Frustrating, Yes! I feel ya mama, there’s always got to be one meal that breaks us down into tears!
Why can’t it just be easy all the time? Waaa!
Oh Lena, I love your posts. They always speak to me! My first DD was the best eater ever. Her sister was a complete nightmare. Food on the floor at every meal! But I learned that kids get enough, even though enough doesn’t seem like enough to us, if you follow. Good luck with the boys, they look like happy and healthy boys to me!
Aw, thanks RubyRed. I agree – sometimes we have unrealistic expectations about their portion sizes. If my boys’ energy and vigor is any indication, I’d say they’re doing just fine! Still, I worry.
Breakfast is my fave feast of the day. My son too. My daughter however… she’s anti-food. ANY food, at ANY time. It is slowly but surely driving the entire family insane. Eggs, bananas, cereal and yogurt… that’s pretty much her entire menu. So ya, we’re big IronKids fan too. :)
Yay fellow breakfast lover! And sigh, my son used to be anti-food, so I feel your pain. The good news – looks like she’s at least eating from diverse food groups!
breakfast was always a problem here