Glazed and chocolate donuts for breakfast most mornings

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to tease out whether this might be a regional thing, a helicopter vs. slacker mom thing, an educational thing or none of the above ....

I just spent a week with my sister and her family at their home very far from DC. Almost every single day, my 3 and 4 yo nephews are given a Krispy Kreme doughnut to start off the day. This is accompanied by either Hershey's chocolate milk or Crystal Light strawberry lemonade soft drink in their sippy cups.

I will undoubtedly be jumped on here for being an uptight prig who should just worry about her own kids. Fair enough. But before you do that, could I please get a cyber show of hands indicating whether anyone here feeds their preschooler a chocolate doughnut and Crystal Light for breakfast every single day? And nothing else? My sister indicated that I might be out of touch on this one. (the subject came up in the first place because my kids and her kids ate together every day).

[Anonymous]

yikes. the nutritional value of those breakfasts are very small.
no way my kids would be eating that stuff on a regular basis. guess i may be uptight too.

[Anonymous]

Well, I don't, and I'm not anti-doughnut (gotta love em). But I want my child to get protein at meals to hold him through the long day (full-time preschool).

[Anonymous]

I went to visit my sister who has a 3 year old and a 5 year old. Not once was a vegetable served with dinner. I asked my mom about this and she said that her daughters wouldn't eat them, so she doesn't serve them. Um, how do you expect them to eat them if they are never offered them. Dessert is an easy way to get my son to eat his vegetables. No vegetables = no dessert.

[Anonymous]

I'm with you--that's (obviously) super unhealthy and, in my experience, unusual. On the other hand, there is an obesity crisis in this country and someone's keeping Krispy Kreme in business. I have a feeling, though, it's not the people on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Mmmm, donuts! My child isn't of this age yet but sure as heck won't be eating this kind of empty calorie to start off the day. No way! I think letting kids eat this kind of breakfast every day is setting them up for a really bad behavior for the rest of their lives. It must have been awkward having to deal with this with a sister...my sister also makes bad choices of food for her children but I don't bring it up.

[Anonymous]

IMO - this is probably quite common which is why the majority of adults and children in this country are obese - it makes me sad.

[Anonymous]

Mmmm, donuts! Yummy. Sounds like a great breakfast to me. Unfortunately, I'm over 30, and that breakfast would kill me at this age.

However, I did have donuts for breakfast growing up, and I turned out okay. I think your nephews probably will too.

[Anonymous]

balance. donut with milk and on weekends as a treat no problem. every day, not great.

[Anonymous]

I believe in everything in moderation, and my son gets a sweet treat every day, but it sure ain't for breakfast. That said, I guess its her choice. Unfortunately lots of people have pretty rotten eating behaviors.

[Anonymous]

I would never serve donuts for breakfast on a regular basis, yet I like to bake and for some reason, if I make banana bread or pumpkin bread, I don't mind serving those for breakfast, and after all, what are those really but glorified cake? (albeit with bananas or pumpkin in them, plus some "white whole wheat" flour)

[Anonymous]

Ah, I remember the days when I had oreos for breakfast on the way to school. Wouldn't recommend it for my children, however.

[Anonymous]

the sugary drink in the sippies is worse than the doughnuts. what the hell? I hate that when we go out to eat and order milk for my son, the server always asks, "chocolate milk?"
No, we said MILK.

[Anonymous]

I know plenty of adults with this diet and even that amazes me (given that most are the same people complaining they can't lose weight). I think it's strange, but I'm sure it's somewhat common. I remember reading and article a few months back. The headline implied the article was about fixing diet plans - when the mom's thought they were serving nutritious food. The breakfast in question was chocolate milk and chocolate poptarts. The big nutritious meal of the day was chicken nuggets and canned corn. OK, the article could have been faked, but I do remember wondering why this woman could have trouble figuring out where she was going wrong.

When my son first started eating solid foods, my mom asked me constantly if I had tried those boxed gerber toddler meals. When she saw me feed my son strawberries, she laughed and said "like he is going to eat those" and then shut up after he scarfed them down. I think somewhere along the line people started assuming that kids only eat junk.

[Anonymous]

Never - but I suspect the DCUM demographic is different from the general U.S. demographic.

Once in a blue moon, my kids (12 and 9) have a donut for breakfast, e.g. if we are on vacation. I can think of fewer than a dozen occasions in their lives when that has happened though, because we usually have access to normal breakfast food.