A typical morning for me is one where I wake up looking a bit frazzled from staying awake into the night or waking up intermittently to either feed or take a sleepy child to wee.
Getting an entire family up and ready for the morning can be a daily stressful occurrence for any parent – and having 3 kids Niki (Kasinma), Stephanie (Amanda) and Michelle(Golibe) aged 5, 3 and 1 respectively, I am familiar with the struggle.
I know you’ve probably heard or read that ‘Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day’ and knowing that, I try my best to make it work as much as I can.
Although, I would totally admit that over the years, it kind of takes getting used to. And now don’t give me the ‘Hey, you think you rock’ kind of look though because sometimes, I still grovel for dear life. LOL! You just can’t help it when you have toddlers and preschoolers all under one roof.
So usually, if I don’t want my whole day to be ruined due to waking up late and all (you probably don’t want to hear this), I just have to wake up before the kids do and amazingly, it works like magic because the mornings always go smoother that way.
Sometimes, I even have enough time to take a quick shower before starting breakfast because trust me, once the kids wake up, the CHAOS and RAUCOUS begins. Trust me when I say this; you don’t want all the sibling rivalry and drama to get in the way.
It makes things easier in the mornings if the more arduous tasks are already taken care of. You could consider preparing some of the food the night before, as it will save a ton of time and energy in the morning (depending on the sort of breakfast you like though). My kids love cereal breakfasts and beverages a lot. So what I do is give them interchangeably. They also love fries. Hubby is more of a tea fan.
Here is what their breakfast menu looks like in a week;
Monday- Beverage, sandwich and boiled eggs (they hate fried eggs, veggies and toasts so I just use bread spread-jam, jelly, butter -blue band brand). I would also recommend sardines, cheese and avocado spreads, although my kids dislike those too.
Tuesday – Cereal breakfast (they love corn flakes, coco balls, cerelac and golden morn). I give them that with a glass of milk- they can drink milk for Africa!! Geez!!
PS- The girls generally won’t take fruits as part of their breakfast… so I either process it as juice during the week ends (as I would explain further in the ‘weekend special’ paragraph) or pack it up as part of their lunch for school. The menu for the days of the week is subject to change though at my own discretion. Noodles are deliberately not included in the weekly menu because I try to give them those as sparingly as possible (personal thing), although they love it a lot. And after all said and done, they end up eating it more often than I would have wanted. Though, not as breakfast most of the time and I garnish with boiled eggs, sardine oil, sausages, carrots and green peas. If they had their way, they would eat it bland. They dislike oats too so I just have to find a way to work around the food they love to eat. My girls are the worst picky eaters ever!!!
Wednesday – Fries and egg sauce/ketchup. Sometimes, I serve with yogurt but not often (I must have sliced and washed the fries the night before and keep in the refrigerator so it’s easier to fry the next morning and sometimes, make the sauce too and just microwave in the morning). Life is soooo easy when you have the tools #winx
Thursday – Cereal breakfast with their beloved milk as usual. They always always love their cereal with milk.
Friday – Pap. Did I forget to mention that? The girls absolutely cherish it that I always have to process it myself. I add lots of milk, milo, soy bean powder (which I also process myself) and a little sugar. The meals aren’t always taken in this format though. For instance, they could end up having pap on a Monday or something…
For now however, Michelle is still a cereal, pap n tea kind of baby. She also takes fruits in liquid and pureed form occasionally and yogurts too.
And then the weekend special; (which you could prefer to prepare during the week , it’s totally up to you)
This is where my ‘Ibo girl’ expertise comes in… LOL! On Saturday mornings, I make bean cakes traditionally known as ‘moi moi’ … the girls pronounce it as ‘miyo miyo’ whatever that means or I make akara balls or Okpa (from bambara nuts ). They absolutely enjoy it, especially the Miyo Miyo.
On Sundays, they prefer to eat pancakes with banana or banana fritters. And then have their home made fruit juices or sometimes, hibiscus drink (zobo). If you don’t have time to do it from scratch like I do, you could get the already made batter in powdered form from the shops.
These ‘weekend specials’ as I choose to call them are what they look forward to and also everyone’s favorite.
Most times, it still takes a lot of cajoling, storytelling and singing all the nursery rhymes you can think of in order to get my picky eaters to gobble up some of these foods, which I prefer to prepare myself in contrast to leaving it for the help… as it may end up being burnt or undercooked or not turning out the way I would have wanted. She tries though, when compared to other helps of today. So I prepare breakfast while she assists with dressing up the girls.
These days, I noticed that making a promise to read a bed time story or two to them at night actually motivates them to eat willingly. The story reading used to come more often in the past years until recently when I no longer do it as religiously as I used to. I really have to keep up with that because I feel so guilty sometimes. Is it just me???
Anyways I’m just hoping this new tactic won’t come to an end sooner or later like others before it because believe me when I say hubby and I have practically done everything to make the girls eat voraciously– from threats (that’s from hubby of course LOL) to cracking jokes, taking multivitamins, making lots of promises we can’t keep track of and even dancing – You have no idea!!!
When it’s built into your routine and you do it every day, it’s easier… without a lot of stress. The most important part of establishing a good breakfast routine is CONSISTENCY.
Once your kids start doing the same thing every morning, it starts becoming a routine and you won’t have to nag as much because your older kids will just know what is expected of them… and of course, the younger ones will always tag along eventually.
XOXO,
Yours Truly.
Nikimandi
