[un]common sense: redefining breakfast one bowl at a time

[un]common sense is a blog about navigating through everyday life, using some common sense tips to make it just a bit easier, and sometimes a little more fun. Alyssa is a wife, mother, and postpartum doula who has some tricks up her sleeve and wants to share them with the world. Well now, don’t you feel lucky?

Your child’s daily breakfast probably consists of cereal, right? And if you allowed it, so would lunch and dinner. At least in my house, that’s what would happen…cereal for every meal! My daughter loves cereal, like possibly as much as she loves me.

Most of us know it’s not the healthiest way to start our day, but I don’t know many kids who will sit down to a flaxseed and barley bowl in the morning (except my friend Julia’s kids). So what’s a parent to do?

I’ve come up with a few tricks to at least make breakfast a smidge healthier for the wee ones.

• Instead of cereals loaded with sugar (which most are), find cereals that have 8 grams of sugar or less. You can add sweetness with raw honey or fruit on top.
• Try getting your kids to eat oatmeal. Plain oatmeal. Not the prepackaged crap that’s flavored and full of sugar. Again, sweeten with honey or fruit.
• Make your own granola. I know, I know. Who has the time right? But it’s actually super easy and something that the kids can help with. Making your own allows you to control how it’s sweetened, usually with honey or maple syrup.
• If you don’t want to make your own, buy granola at the store. But the same rules apply, look for granola low in sugar.
• Try yogurt in the morning with fruit and granola. Shocker, yogurt is also full of sugar! I know how delicious the vanilla flavored Greek yogurt is, but just check out the label. Go ahead, I’ll wait….see? Go for the plain yogurt and add honey, fruit, and granola. It’s delicious.
• My final tip here is the most important….add things to the cereal/granola/oatmeal to make it even healthier. Get sneaky. Hide behind the open refrigerator door to add stuff without the kids seeing if you need to. I’ve started adding fish oil, a probiotic, and vitamin d to my daughter’s breakfast every morning. She has no idea. And I’ve had no complaints.

Side note: You can add anything you’d like, obviously taking into consideration any food allergies or sensitivities your child may have. Even if your kid will only eat frozen waffles or toast in the morning, do what you can to add some nutrition. The fish oil I use tastes like key lime pie, so I’ve used it as “syrup” on waffles for my daughter. The probiotic has no taste and neither does the liquid vitamin d. Be sure to talk to your health care provider first to make sure they approve of you adding these things. Mine is all for it.

See the video below to watch the magic unfold.

See, it’s simple. Just add all sorts of wonderfully healthy things to their breakfast and they’ll be none the wiser. Get creative with your ideas. It’s okay to be sneaky!