There isn’t a mom out there who hasn’t battled their kids over breakfast….As you read this, you are shaking your head, I know, we've all been there…done that! Our house has experienced more morning mayhem than I honestly care to admit. I finally threw my hands in the air one morning and said “Fine eat whatever you want for breakfast…I don’t care!” All three of my kids stared back at me with wide eyes, gaping mouths and looks of pure shock on their faces. “Uh, really Mom” was all any of them could utter.
Emily who was four at the time announced “I wanna have goat cheese, tomatoes and salt please Mommy.” Her big sister, Tori chimed in next with a request for apple slices and peanut butter. My son Harrison, (still in shock) asked for the leftover pizza in the fridge. I honored each child’s breakfast order and had a peaceful morning (and all three kids ate every bite of breakfast…NO complaints). Once I got home after dropping the kids off at school, I thought long and hard about what had occurred in my kitchen that morning. My children had been given the opportunity to choose their breakfast and made pretty darn good choices. Yeah, Harrison had leftover pizza, but he also had a big glass of milk and fresh fruit, which overall is much more nutritionally sound than a bowl of sugar laden cereal or pop tarts. As for little Emily, she has very eclectic taste in food (we will save that for future blog post) and could live off of crumbled chevere, sliced grape tomatoes and a pinch of kosher salt. My point is that she didn’t whine about having to eat breakfast that morning and devoured her plate of cheese & tomatoes with gusto! Then we have my sweet girl Tori, who loves to eat almost anything except for breakfast….she is just not a morning person (gets that from her Mom). No matter what I set in front of her…scrambled eggs, toast, cereal…none of it appealed to her. I gave her a sliced apple and a giant dollop of peanut butter and she licked the bowl clean! I learned a lot from my children that morning.
My kids now routinely eat non-traditional “out-of-the-box” breakfasts. They choose everything from deli turkey with cheese & crackers (think homemade lunchables), pizza, fruit salad and yogurt, spaghetti (yes, spaghetti). I have also started making surprise breakfasts for them. When they wake up in the morning, pancakes, waffles, bacon, occasionally even fresh baked banana bread or scones are ready and waiting for them at the table. Nobody complains on surprise breakfast mornings. Life is full of compromises…why shouldn’t breakfast be the same? I buy less “garbage cereal”, pop tarts and other less than good-for-you breakfast items now that I have adopted a much more relaxed breakfast style. If Tori wants hard boiled eggs for breakfast, no problem... Harrison wants an egg and cheese sandwich, no problem… Emily wants tuna salad with Ritz crackers…well, no problem with that either!
The take home message is simple…it’s okay for your kids to eat pizza for breakfast… it’s all about the compromise. Look at it this way, your kids start the day off with full tummies and smiles on their faces and you get to enjoy a cup of coffee with NO breakfast battle…and if by chance one of your kids begs for gummy bears for breakfast…sprinkle a few onto of a bowl of yogurt & berries and call it a sundae...you both win.
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