More time or less time in the morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people eating in the car? I truly don’t get it. It’s more time and work to pack up breakfast, take in the car, then clean out the car than to just eat it at the table like a normal person.

My kids eat at home at the dining table but I have one kid who is an insanely slow eater and I could see the appeal of a car meal for her because the drive is 5 minutes and it would basically force her to eat her meal efficiently. At home it's very hard to keep her on task and eating -- she's always chatting away, getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the meal, coming back and complaining that her food has gotten cold or soggy in the meantime, etc.

But it's all a delay tactic. She's a homebody and even though she likes school once she's there, she hates leaving the house and fights getting out of bed and getting dressed. The breakfast thing is just part of that -- she's not like this at other meals.

I hate food in the car and like having kids eat meals at the table so we're not giving her car meals anytime soon, but I get the appeal. If she only had to get dressed and brush teeth and hair before leaving the house, we could get her out the door in like a 5th of the time it currently takes.

Have you tried a timer? Mine get take 45 minutes to eat, but set a timer and the food is gone in 10 minutes. After a few times I’ve gone back to untimed eating, but if I mention setting a timer he goes back to eating more efficiently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The screens in the morning started as a way to keep my 4 year old contained. He’s a swirly madman. He wakes up going 1,000,000 miles an hour and he always needs a ton of things. It was a way to contain his tornado while the rest of us got ready.

But now the older boys sit down and watch TV with him without getting ready so it’s just become a bit of a mess.

This is why you need to be done getting ready when the 4 year old is up. Then you can focus on him 75% of the time while your older ones get ready more independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not car breakfast? Tops with lids and sausage pancake muffins with berries would be my choice.

Yuck. I don’t understand the people promoting car eating. Have the kids get up 10 minutes earlier or say no screens. Or lay out clothes beforehand. Or or or. So many ways to get ready in the morning that doesn’t involve kids eating pancake syrup and sausages in the minivan.

One its muffins so contained and two, there are some tradeoffs for every choice. I don't think cereal is an appropriate choice for breakfast but you dont see me replying yuck like a 2 year old. FFS

Yuck because I don't think promoting daily breakfast in the car on the way to school is great. It's better than not eating, but really kids need to build the structure and mindfulness around eating. It doesn't take that long and is a lot healthier.

Oh yeah I thought her husband was away for a week not all the time that was my short-term suggestion.
I've done it for like 2 weeks when my husband has training and can't help with drop offorbpockupband I'm driving 20min to daycare where my infant eats breakfast and then 20min back to my ES kid school. That's 40min he can eat as slow as he wants and I'm only packing for him.

[Anonymous]

ADHD kids do really well with visual checklists and timers. One nice thing about timers is that it’s not coming from you. You could use a song instead of an alarm. Oh, hear that song? It’s telling us it’s time to put our shoes on.

1) it’s been said multiple times already, but you really need to be ready when your kids get up. That alone will probably remove a lot of stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was dropping my kids to school, we ate breakfast in the car.

Usually it was a savory lentil pancake roll stuffed with cheese, eggs & veggies and washed down with a super nutritious shake with yogurt, nuts, fruits, brewers yeast, seeds and dates.

Yuck! Also, I seriously doubt OP has time to prepare this type of breakfast.

This made me LOL. It has to be a troll. Sometimes I think people just string food words together. It’s the DCUM way.

I don’t think so. It sounds like an Indian-American breakfast. Or a hippie American mom. Sounds delicious to me but not in the car!!

There’s absolutely nothing American about that breakfast. A rice lentil pancake? Brewer’s yeast with dates and seeds? GTFO.

[Anonymous]

What time do you wake up Op? I have 3 kids as well (11, 9 and 5). We have to be out the door at 7:30. They are all sleepers and would prefer to sleep till 9:30 if they could.

Anyway I get up at 6am and am downstairs by 6:30 to make lunches and breakfasts. Then I rush to get the kids up at 7am and changed and out the door by 7:30. They usually eat in the car (15 minute drive to school).