It can be a struggle to make sure your kids have a good breakfast (or any breakfast at all sometimes!), and it’s something that some parents find is a constant morning battle – it’s not a great way to start the day for you or the little ones. On top of that, you’ll probably be worried that they’re going to head off to school, feeling hungry and unable to focus on their work. Surely giving your children breakfast is the least you can do daily as a parent?
It’s easy to feel guilty when things are working out as you planned, but it’s also easy – relatively speaking, at least – to ensure your kids have a good breakfast so that you can take that worry off your list. With that in mind, here are some options for you to try.
Don’t Give A Bedtime Snack
One of the reasons why a child might not want to have breakfast is that they’re just not hungry, and although it’s good that they’ve got control over their eating habits, it’s not so great when you want them to have energy for the day ahead.
One of the reasons for a lack of appetite is bedtime snacking – if the child has eaten something close to bedtime, their body might not have realised that it’s time for breakfast, and it won’t send the hunger signals out until later on. That’s why it’s best not to offer a bedtime snack at all, and to ensure that dinner takes place at least a couple of hours before bedtime. In that way, your child will be more likely to feel hungry by the time morning comes.
Menu Plan With Them
Something that can definitely help make your child more interested in eating breakfast is having them plan it with you. Take a little time together at the weekend and plan out each day’s breakfast for the week ahead in advance – or, if there’s not a lot of time, you can plan the next morning’s breakfast the night before at the very least (it’s better than not planning at all).
When you plan the breakfasts for the week ahead, make sure you include at least one thing that they love, and at least one new thing for them to try – for example, you could switch from cow’s milk to oat milk from myom.shop to see what they prefer. It can become a bit of a fun experiment, and make them a lot more interested in breakfast, even giving them something to look forward to when they get out of bed each day.
Make It Less Hurried
If you’re always in a rush in the mornings and the time between waking up and going to school is pretty chaotic, that could be a reason why your child doesn’t want to eat breakfast – they might prefer to take a little more time over getting dressed or gathering their things together or just resting for a moment, which can mean any ideas about eating a good breakfast go out of the window.
If that’s the case, why not slow down a little in the mornings? That might sound impossible, but you can do it if you get up a little earlier (just ten minutes can make a difference) and prepare as much as possible the night before; get everyone’s clothes ready and pack their bags, which will save time and stress. It might be enough to give your child the peace to eat breakfast.
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