Breakfast for a non-breakfast kid

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader hates eating in the morning. He never will have eggs. He tolerates cheerios but barely eats any...he will, however, eat a Z Bar (the Kids Clif bar) and a glass of milk. If you had to choose a "better/healthier" breakfast for your child before school, would you choose half a bowl of cheerios OR the Z bar with milk?

[Anonymous]

Would he eat any other types of bars. What about a Balance Bar or something else with a bit more protein?

[Anonymous]

Don't look at me. I just bought the Carnation instant breakfast drink. I never thought I'd see the day. . . . Please don't tell anyone.

[Anonymous]

in some parts of the world they eat fish for breakfast.

Look, you're offering two different varieties of over processed junk (the Z bar and the Cheerios).

What if you tried yogurt, or fruit, or a bagel or something.

[Anonymous]

I've hated breakfast foods ever since I was a kid. Can you give him leftovers from the night before? Last night's burritos or chicken and rice or even veggie pizza are going to be filling and just as healthy at 7am as they are at 7pm.

[Anonymous]

12:43. Is it eating that he hates? What about a smoothie with some protein powder? Yogurt, juice, fruits, heck even sneak in a veggie and you've got a good solid breakfast.

[Anonymous]

How about making a noodle kugel? You can opt to make it with whole wheat wide egg noodles or put in other dried fruits as well (dried apricots would probably work nice): There's a good recipe here (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipe):

http://www.sassyradish.com/2010/09/noodle-kugel/

Or a strata. You can make strata with whole wheat bread. We love one with spinach and gruyere, so that you can make it healthier.

The good thing about both kugel and strata is that you can make a pan say on Sunday and have pieces of it for the rest of the week. Just pop a piece into the toaster oven and in the time it takes to make toast, you've got a much better breakfast than just toast or cereal.

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. My kids eat gogurt or banana chocolate chip muffins (I make them with extra banana and just enough chocolate chips to say they have them so the kids will eat them.)

[Anonymous]

What about a smoothie? Ice, milk, frozen berries, banana, all blended together? Or, a Stonyfield Farms smoothie that's really drinking yogurt. Hell, if he wants to be weird and eat leftovers from last night's dinner there's nothing wrong with that.

I was never hungry in the mornings as a kid either and only forced myself to start eating breakfast because it's healthy, as an adult. As a kid, I wasn't hungry until about 2pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grader hates eating in the morning. He never will have eggs. He tolerates cheerios but barely eats any...he will, however, eat a Z Bar (the Kids Clif bar) and a glass of milk. If you had to choose a "better/healthier" breakfast for your child before school, would you choose half a bowl of cheerios OR the Z bar with milk?

Is the problem that he's not hungry or doesn't like breakfast foods?

[Anonymous]

I hate breakfast. Always have and rarely eat breakfast. The thought of food before 10am makes me want to vomit. The only way you are going to get a non breakfast eater to eat in the morning is to let them pick.

[Anonymous]

other ideas (that don't require a lot of effort)
- quiche
- peanut butter sandwich
- ham and cheese rolled up (possibly around a vegetable!)
- yogurt w/ granola and/or berries
- peanut butter & banana smoothie
- cheese and smoked meats (like salami, summer sausage, etc)
- bagel w/ cream cheese and smoked salmon
- fruit and cheese sticks

I like the idea of a yogurt and fruit smoothie. Fruit gives it some fiber and vitamins, yogurt (especially Greek) gives it protein and calcium. Filling without having to "eat".

I agree that you need to figure out why he isn't eating. Is it what is being offered, or that he isn't hungry yet? Is he too tired?

I know that I'm not very hungry until I've been up for about an hour. It could be that he needs more time in the morning, although I'm not sure I'd want to wake my kid up any earlier than necessary.

[Anonymous]

My son's the same way. He will physically throw up if I make him eat something. I have given up the breakfast battle.

[Anonymous]

3 of us in the family are never hungry and don't eat breakfast. The other 2 wouldn't dream of leaving home without a full blown breakfast meal.

[Anonymous]

Z bars are all natural. Feed him what he wants as long as it is good for him.

My son eats lunch type food for breakfast but is slowly taking on new food.