Kid-Friendly Breakfast: Serve It the Easy Way!

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Kid-Friendly Breakfast: Serve It the Easy Way!

Want to serve up a kid-friendly breakfast? Learn how to encourage independence, healthy food choices, and autonomy with this easy way to offer breakfast.

Breakfast was a juggling act in my house. Yes, I know it’s the most important meal of the day, but that doesn’t ease the difficulty of nourishing four children on different schedules. Or four kids with different breakfast ideas.

Take our average school day. One child leaves at 6:45 am, two at 7:05 am and the last one at 7:55 am. I am up and down the stairs, waking children, checking their schedules, and reminding them of the daily agenda.

And…I admit… taking a breakfast order.

Kid-friendly breakfast, served the easy way!
A breakfast smorgasbord!

What happened to one meal for everyone?

Weekends are no better. Swim practice at 5 am and 8 am; a teen going to work at 10 am and countless other competitions, meets and travel sports commitments.

Breakfast had morphed into a “catch as catch can” circus rather than the “sit together and eat the same meal” it once was when the kids were younger.

I realized our breakfast system needed to change.

Because, let’s face it, the kids and their schedules had changed.

Need An Easy Way to Serve Breakfast?

As children grow, the schedules, time demands, and interest in breakfast can dictate the success of this important meal.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

I don’t know about you, but I need easy and fast when it comes to serving breakfast to my kids. A kid-friendly breakfast approach.

Maybe you feel the same way?

I also want easy, healthy breakfast ideas that get my kids energized for the day.

The easiest approach is the diplomatic approach.

Similar to the Dinner Bar (parents choose the items for the meal, prep and laying them out, then let kids pick and choose their own combinations) or family-style meals, I decide the meal items (what they are eating).

Then, I lay them out on the counter or table. They choose which foods they will eat and how much.

Sometimes, the kids all eat the same thing. This morning, for example, everyone ate the cinnamon roll bread. (I think that was because it was an entirely new item in the house!).

Frequently, however, my kids pick and choose different items based on their preferences and appetite.

A Healthy & Kid-Friendly Breakfast

What I love about this kid-friendly breakfast method is this: You get to determine the breakfast options. When you place place breakfast food on a table or the kitchen counter, it sends the message of abundance and choice, something that is psychologically positive for kids.

The simplicity of placing healthy food options on the table allows you to optimize variety and get as many food groups out there as possible. Your kids get to be in charge of their appetite, amounts of food, and honor their food preferences.

How to Serve Breakfast Food to Kids

Build Autonomy at Breakfast

I think it’s a perfect way to optimize choice (and keep the Division of Responsibility aligned) when it comes to feeding your child.  This can help him do better with eating.

If your child chooses the same thing to eat every day, you can curtail that by making sure you don’t get stuck in the rut of offering the same breakfast food items every day.

Offer one familiar, liked item, but change up the rest of the breakfast foods.

If your child shies away from new or unfamiliar foods, this kid-friendly breakfast will expose him to new foods without pressuring him to eat them.

I think this is an easy way to serve breakfast to kids—easy on you, and easy on your child.

How do you handle breakfast on busy mornings?

Breakfast Recipes for Young Athletes

Need More Help?

Check out our booklets, trainings, and classes where you can learn about nutrition and feeding.

Need some new inspiration for breakfast ideas? You may enjoy my breakfast recipe book! Even though it’s made with the young athlete in mind, there are some great recipes and food combinations for the whole family. You can find it here.

This article was originally published in July 2017 | It was updated in November 2020.

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