Putting Fun into a Healthy Breakfast

Whether it's school, distance learning, or a day adventure, getting up in the morning is a scene every parent dreads. The alarm goes off; the kids pull up their covers and refuse to get up. As the kids finally rise and decide what to wear, it's time to head to the breakfast table. Whether breakfast is eaten at home or in the car, it is important for your child's performance. Breakfast jump-starts the brain and keeps adults and children alert throughout the morning. After eight to ten hours without food, the body is essentially a cold furnace waiting to be fueled. A good breakfast should include.

-A serving of protein-rich food, such as low-fat milk or yogurt, cheese, or peanut butter.

-A food rich in complex carbohydrates, such as whole-grain cereal, bread, or muffins.

-A food rich in vitamin C such as an orange, grapefruit, or strawberries.

-A small amount of fat.

Special containers make mealtime a special treat for the young child. Use clean egg cartons and fill each section with a finger food. Or fill an ice cream cone with snacks other than ice cream. Try foods such as cubed cheese, peeled apple slices, or cereal. Your youngster may find this on-the-go breakfast fun while carpooling your older children. The almighty juice boxes and bags can help to wean your toddler from his bottle. Start by filling his bottle only with water and later, let him drink juice with a straw from the box or bag. This is a pleasant diversion for your child and a convenience for you because these containers can be carried easily in the stroller or car.

Instead of serving your child plain hot cereal, set out a few small bowls of toppings from which she can choose. For instance, try yogurt, applesauce, apple butter, fruit spreads, chopped nuts, dates, raisins, fresh fruit, or granola. Your child many want to add just one topping or she might choose to mix several of them on top of her cereal to experience some new and different tastes. Some of these toppings can also be used to add creative interest to cold cereals with nutrition along the way.

Keeping in mind that creativity often means doing something in a new way, you can give your child's breakfast toast a "new look" by using a cookie cutter to make them heart shaped. This also boosts self-esteem by sending her a "you are special" message. Another way to do some creative personalizing is to form your child's initials with batter when you are cooking pancakes. Or use ketchup to squeeze an "I love you", a heart shape or her initials onto cooked hash browns. Having fun in the kitchen now should bring a love of cooking later.

Hope these tips are helpful.

Happy Parenting,

Tania

Photos courtesy of pixabay.com -- CC0 Creative Commons

W is for Weekday Lunches

The challenge, as parents, is to create lunches that are reasonably healthful and palatable to kids, that can be carried off to school or play dates and left at room temperature for hours. The place to begin is at the grocery store where children can get involved with food selection. At home, try brainstorming a list of lunches that you both agree on. And don't forget to include a few fun items that your kids can help to prepare. 

Sandwich Shapes

Cookie cutters can be used to turn a peanut butter, cheese, tuna fish, or cold-cut sandwich into something special. Since some children shun bread crusts, shaped sandwiches are an alternative to cutting off the crusts. Most children are glad to chow down on their favorite shapes, no matter what's inside.

Homemade Lunchables

Buy a plastic sectional container. Cut lunch meats and cheese into fun shapes, such as triangles or sticks. Or use small cookie cutters for stars, hearts or teddy bears. Add some wholesome crackers, fruit or yogurt. Top it off with a fun dessert. The container can be brought home and reused. This is an inexpensive and healthy alternative to prepackaged lunches, and a way to add some fun to the lunch box.

Stuff an Apple

Pick an apple or your choice and remove the core (with a little extra space) with a knife and spoon. Fill this hole with peanut butter and top with raisins. Another favorite is cheddar cheese spread topped with chopped nuts. Put this apple into a plastic bag sealed with a twist tie. Remember making apple smiles. Just follow the photo above.

Fruit Kabobs

What child wouldn't like fruit-on-a-stick? For safety reasons, skew pre-cubed fruit on a plastic drinking straw, such as those used for coffee stirrers. To keep the fruit from turning brown, dip it into lemon juice. Pack these into a plastic container to avoid crushing the fruit. Another kebab idea is to layer cubes of cooked chicken breast or turkey, ham, cheese and little grape tomatoes.

This is all for today. See you next week with the letter X. Hmmm, this may be tough.
Tania

Photo courtesy of Tania Cowling
 

E is for Eat This, Not That

If you need help deciphering which nutritional choices are best for your children, check out the handy guide Eat This, Not That! For Kids!, the kid’s version of the best selling adult book. It points out the healthier options found in fast-food and family restaurants, grocery store aisles, even your child’s cafeteria. The book offers helpful meal suggestions, label-and menu-reading strategies and a listing of the 20 worst kids’ foods in the country. In addition to that, most spreads in the book open up to two food options, one on the left page and one on the right, and it tells you point blank to “Eat This, Not That.” The choices often are surprising.  For example, if you go to Dunkin’ Donuts, encourage your child to order the ham, egg and cheese English muffin sandwich instead of the seemingly healthier banana walnut muffin.  You’ll save almost 200 calories and 11 grams of fat!

This book is authored by David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding (Rodale Books) and can be found in local bookstores and on Amazon.com.  This may be a good book to use when planning menus for your group and a wonderful resource book for parents to browse through.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

See you same time tomorrow,
Tania