In my  recent post 5  Intentional Practices for a Great School Year, the first practice listed was breakfast. We know that it is the ‘most important meal of the day’ but how  At Family and Home Works, our goal is to give easy-to-implement suggestions to make family and home work for YOUR family.  Below I have outlined a a few suggestions for the most common barriers.

1. “I’m Not Hungry”.  Humans can’t go a long time without their body needing some kind of sustenance. Hunger may not reveal itself immediately upon waking, but it will come. Our goal is to avoid hunger while trying to learn.  Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Hunger takes priority over learning. In the case of “I’m not hungry” it may be timing. Give the child time before eating, or offer a glass of water or cup of hot tea while waking up. This gives their stomach opportunity to waken before eating something more solid. In most cases, hunger will be awakened!
2. No Time.  School mornings can be rushed. With a bit of strategizing, you can make mornings a bit less hectic. Through personal experience, children can offer great ideas and solutions. Outline the problem, and ask for solution ideas to make mornings work better. Look at it as a team effort. Having a time schedule works well, and gives everyone a structure to work with keeping all parties responsible. To get started, time each task that must be completed in the morning. For example, if eating breakfast takes 10 minutes, allow 10-12 minutes on the schedule. If brushing teeth takes 4 minutes, allow 5. AND don’t forget to time how long it takes to exit the house, load the car and get out of the driveway!
3. What’s for Breakfast? Make a list of five – seven of the family’s favorite breakfast items that are easy, and not time consuming.  Create a rotating menu for school days. The grocery list stays the same, everyone likes the food, and time needed to make the breakfast becomes efficient! Make sure the breakfast meal includes three of the five food groups – dairy, fruit and/or vegetable, whole grain, and protein. Rotating breakfast duties between family members is helpful as well.
4. Prep. This goes along with #3, and is important for making this priority be a successful part of the morning routine. The night before, gather all foods and/or ingredients needed for the next day. Is there anything that can be done the night before? For example, if bagels and smoothies are on the menu, place all smoothie ingredients in the blender, set out the cups, place bagels beside the toaster. If making waffles, mix ingredients the night before, place the waffle iron on the counter. Oatmeal? Let the oatmeal soak in milk in the fridge overnight – it will cook faster in the morning.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and making it a priority for your family, helps your family work.  If you have suggestions, post them in the remarks, if you need some customized one-on-one help, contact me at kristin@familyhomeworks.com.

For the love of family….