Breakfast

You know what never gets easier? Breakfast. And heading out to school in the morning just makes the mornings even CRAZIER.

One of the biggest problems that I have with my children at mealtimes (outside of the kid that can make mealtime a 10 hour event) is that they suddenly will STOP eating something. Why? I don't know. We will go weeks with all 5 of our kids eating breakfast well and then suddenly breakfast is a battle ground again! For instance, for awhile our boys really enjoyed eating cereal in the morning. Then I started having the problem that halfway through a bowl of cereal, one of them would burst into tears saying he didn't want Captain Crunch, he wanted Mini Wheats. Or one of our boys would eat a whole bowl of cereal, ask for a second, eat two bites out of it, then say he was done.

So here are my tips to make breakfast a little less crazy.

1. Establish routines

During the week when I have to get 5 children out the door in the morning for school or daycare, I do "easy" breakfasts. Easy means: cleans up well, most likely not going to coat their school clothes in syrup or milk, and easy to make. I serve them the same breakfast Monday through Thursday. Fridays we have cereal, Saturday we have pancakes, and Sunday I tend to cook something a little "fancier" that takes more prep work (and thus more dishes).

2. Work in treats

My children love breakfast cereal as well as pancakes. Pancakes are far too messy for my kids before school (syrup!!) and cereal is always a struggle with them. No one wants the same cereal... the milk gets spilled... chocolatey milk gets dripped down shirts... it is a mess. Limiting these "treat" days makes them much more exciting when they come around. They know they have a set time that they can partake in a treat and I don't have to fight with them all of the other days over something they do enjoy.

3. Mix things up

I pretty much have 2 breakfast options that I make on any given weekday morning. These 2 breakfast options change-- they are not always the same two breakfast options-- but they go in waves. I don't deviate from the menu much. This allows me to shop in bulk for our 5 children and the kids know what to expect for breakfast during the week. When I see that they have stopped eating one of my breakfast options well, I switch up my breakfast menu again.

• How do you know when to mix things up? Well, my kids tend to be really social at mealtimes (or just very slow eaters). So when my toddler is picking at his food, I don't think much about it. When my oldest-- who has always been a really great eater-- starts saying he didn't feel like having more sausage... or eggs.. or whatever it is that I've been making a lot of lately, I mix in a new breakfast option to keep things "exciting." A couple weeks ago, none of my children were finishing their bananas at breakfast. I finished up the bananas we had and then I took bananas off their breakfast menu for a bit. The other day I worked bananas in a little bit-- giving all of them half a banana. And now bananas are being eaten great again. But I know that in a few more weeks (or days!) they will once again be picking at their bananas.

Now that you know my three breakfast rules, what are my easy weekday breakfast options?

1. Plain oatmeal

This is my hands down favorite weekday breakfast option. I buy oats in bulk and make them up in the morning for all of our kids and then we add our own mix-ins. Getting the plain oats lets me make almost endless oatmeal options and much healthier than buying the instant packets.

• bananas and brown sugar with walnuts
• maple syrup and granola
• brown sugar and milk
• honey, pecans, and blueberries
• "decorative oatmeal" where the kids decorate the top with cut up fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, blackberries) and you drizzle honey over the finished product

To cool down too hot oatmeal, I splash milk or almond milk on the top. To make it even healthier, I buy flaxseed and cook it in the oatmeal.

2. Breakfast pizza

This is a favorite stand by with my kids. The easiest way to make this is on whole wheat sandwich bread, but it can be made on just about anything (English muffins, bagels, croissants, etc). I lightly toast the bread and spread on some sort of "sauce" (Greek yogurt, peanut butter, Nutella, almond butter, sunflower oil, etc) and then put on the "toppings" (bananas, berries, granola, fruit, etc). I like to drizzle the top of it lightly with honey or maple syrup-- depending on the sauce and toppings. The kids love this. They really love when they get the plate with just the toast and sauce and get to assemble the pizza themselves-- making their toppings into a smiley face or a fancy pizza. Some toasts can handle being eaten whole, but for little hands this is much easier to eat if cut into fourths. Otherwise the toppings tend to roll off.

3. A la carte

A la carte is great because I can mix up what I put on their plates. I usually try to do a protein, a grain, a fruit, and a dairy. So I might do Greek yogurt with fruit, sausage, and a piece of toast. Or a fig granola bar, a yogurt tube, and scrambled eggs. Last week we had mini bagels that I served with peanut butter, half a banana, and a cup of Greek yogurt. The only trick to a la carte is that I have to have a good protein option or else they eat me out of house and home. When I make scrambled eggs, I make between 8-12 eggs for my 4 boys. When I make sausage, I make at least a dozen links. And I firmly limit how many packaged items they are allowed to have, such as one granola bar each, one yogurt tube each, etc. I offer more of the protein item or a glass of milk if they are saying they are still hungry. With the mini bagels last week, each of the boys ate between 2-4 bagels with peanut butter for breakfast (the 1-year old only ate one mini bagel).

4. Tasting menu

This is the oldest trick in the parenting book, but it works. Sometimes I just give them smaller portions of the exact same food and they love it. Sometimes all I need to do is plate it differently, and they love it. For instance, instead of a big bowl of just oatmeal, I make half the oatmeal I normally make and serve a small bowl of oatmeal with a half portion of breakfast pizza on the side.

And what about treat days?

1. Cereal Fridays

I hate this day-- haha! I don't have a problem with cereal, per se. It isn't a very nutrient dense food, but I think everything in moderation is fine. What I have a problem with is how much cereal costs for being so void of nutrition and how poorly my kids eat cereal-- despite professing how much they love it. They whine over which cereals they want, they spill milk all over the table and down their shirts, they eat half a bowl and insist they are done. Sounds like a fun treat, right? Well, that's parenting for you. :) So I limit cereal to one day a week and if they are eating it well, I let them have two bowls. If they aren't, they get one bowl and can have a banana or half a banana if they are still hungry.

2. Pancake Saturdays

I do love pancake Saturdays. My husband started this tradition. He makes homemade pancakes and often draws fancy shapes-- like car shapes or Christmas shapes. I love it. He also does something else I love, which is making tons of pancakes so we have leftovers on Sunday. It is a fun and slightly messy tradition-- syrup, peanut butter, and chocolate everywhere. Sometimes the kids need baths afterwards, but, eh, childhood is supposed to be fun, right?

3. Fancy Sundays

This is the day that I will cook something different for the kids, like eggs in a basket or a fancy scrambled egg dish or French toast. Sometimes we go out to eat or go get donuts. Fancy doesn't mean it is actually a fancy breakfast, but rather something that I wouldn't make during the week before school.

What are your tips and tricks on feeding children breakfast??