I had porridge for breakfast this morning. Well, summer seems to think it is the new autumn and a bowl of oats is as good a vehicle for berries and a dollop of cream as any summer pudding. My children had porridge too, but according to a recent survey they might soon be in a minority with a full third of their contemporaries already skipping the most important meal of the day.
Of course in the holidays when the fruit bowl and fridge are nearby and the closest your child is getting to intellectual activity is counting his pocket money in the hope of affording an Xbox by next weekend, skipping breakfast might not seem to matter. But come the new school term it really does and there are a plethora of studies showing that kids learn better if they have eaten a good breakfast.
In fact, it is so important for all children to receive a decent breakfast to set them up for a day at school that charity Magic Breakfast has in the past 10 years delivered over a million healthy breakfasts to school breakfast clubs in primary schools with more than 50% free school meals, where children are at a real risk of malnourishment.
But the pressure has been piled on parents to be responsible for their child's health and size themselves, and with the confused marketing out there, they could be forgiven for wondering what to do. We take it for granted that cereals are a good breakfast choice but as Felicity Lawrence puts it in her book Eat Your Heart Out "… One of the earliest convenience foods, processed cereals represent a triumph of marketing, packaging and US economic and foreign policy and somehow they have wormed into our confused consciousness as intrinsically healthy when by and large they are degraded foods that have to have any goodness artificially restored"
Notwithstanding the addition of artificial vitamins and minerals some cereals have a nutritional profile that would see them better placed in the biscuit aisle of the supermarket, even the big name cereal manufacturers are realising that they have to cut the sugar content of the most popular children's cereals if they are to contribute to efforts to cut childhood obesity.
Recently Kellogs announced it was cutting the sugar content in its range of popular Coco Pops cereals by 15% from a whopping 35% sugar to 29.5% sugar. The move came after the brand was criticised for a recent advertising campaign suggesting children not only eat Coco Pops for breakfast but snack on them after school as well. (I must admit I do remember envying a friend pouring herself a big sugar-laden bowl of cornflakes for a post-school snack; it was a revelation to my 10-year-old self that such a breach of meal etiquette was even possible).
Given the fact that over a quarter of Kellogs' advertising spend is targeted at the under-12s it is no surprise that my six-year-old son's most (unsuccessfully) begged-for breakfast cereal is a bowl of chocolate-flavoured balls, but as a recent Which report showed, other brands of cereals are no better, with a third containing more sugar than a chocolate bar and more salt than a bag of crisps.
And it's not just the problem of obesity. Mainline a load of sugar first thing in the morning, especially when you're a sensitive youngster and a few hours later your blood sugar will come crashing down, just in time for literacy hour, making learning impossible and classroom behaviour hard to control.
Camilla Barnard from Rude Health, producers of breakfast cereals using whole grains and natural sugars explains how you make a cereal that keeps blood sugar levels steady:
"To keep you going all morning, breakfast needs to provide slow release energy. That means using only whole grains and not adding over-processed ingredients, especially refined sugars, which will give you a quick spike of energy then leave you craving more sugar ... we mix flakes of barley, corn & spelt, no wheat as we all get plenty of wheat. Then we add a drizzle of maple syrup & honey, which have nutritional value and give a depth of flavour as well as adding some sweetness."
So maybe instead of letting your child pour themselves a sugary bowl courtesy of their favourite cardboard cartoon character, you should try switching to slow-releasing grains like oats either warm in porridge, apparently the breakfast choice of celebrities, soaked in Bircher-style mueslis or even toasted in a granola with plenty of nuts and seeds, sweetened with natural sugars and served with a creamy spoonful of natural yogurt (a little bit of fat with your breakfast slows down the speed at which sugar is released into the bloodstream). Failing that a naturally sweet, banana-based smoothie with berries, milk, yoghurt and maybe some sneaky ground seeds is a failsafe choice for reluctant breakfasters.
Better still include a bit of protein in your first meal of the day. It was only in the early 20th century when the health-conscious Kellogg brothers advocated a diet based on grains rather than the popular meat breakfasts of the time that cereals became popular and protein-rich breakfasts were abandoned. It is now accepted that a little protein at breakfast will sustain you for longer than a quick hit of refined carbohydrate.
With this in mind my other standby breakfast for the whole family is eggs – boiled with a few toasted soldiers is a youthful favourite that even a grown-up can't resist; or follow the advice of Dr. Seuss and whip up some eggs (green colouring optional) and ham And if your child won't forgo toast, make sure it's got some protein-rich nut butter on it.
Actually, why be orthodox about breakfast at all? My daughter, capricious two-year-old she may be, but there is nothing she likes better for breakfast than cold Bolgonese sauce preferably standing at the open fridge, spoon in hand. Initially I balked but then thought why not? It's got iron-rich meat, carrots, onions and tomatoes, I even do as the Italian mama does and include chicken livers and sometimes add milk as in the Chez Panisse Café Cookbook version; pretty nutritious really.
So tell us what do your children eat for breakfast? Do you have battles over brands or veto children's cereals in favour of muesli or Shredded Wheat (the only cereal to gain a green light for salt and sugar levels)? Do they refuse anything that doesn't 'turn the milk chocolatey' or happily gobble a boiled egg? Or maybe you look to other cultures - I'm thinking of emulating my son's Japanese friend who eats rice and seaweed before school. Lastly, what's the weirdest thing your child wants for breakfast?
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