Breakfast for 5 Year Old

My 5 year old has the same thing every single day : scrambled eggs, pancakes, and juice.

I make big batches of pancakes and freeze them so in the morning all we have to make are the eggs.

protein breakfasts are the best. but i've never been a morning person, and coping with cooking on top of all the other morning things to do just didn't work for me when i was a young working mother. cold cereal was my friend. and for my devoutly non-breakfast boy (he still won't eat breakfast at nearly 30 despite a lifetime of eddication on why it's important) i broke down and let him have carnation instant breakfast.
khairete
S.

Good suggestions below - try for the same at every meal, which is a mix of protein, healthy fats (from oils or nuts) and complex carbs. Don't do all cereal or just white bread toast.

- Yogurt with granola (or grape nuts) and fruit, maybe a drizzle of honey on top
- whole grain English muffin with peanut butter or nut butter (cashew, almond, etc.)
- Mini eggwiches - scramble some eggs, put any add-ins your child will eat (spinach, chopped peppers or onions, bits of ham/bacon/sausage, chopped tomatoes, grated cheese, anything that goes in an omelet. - bake in grease muffin tins until set and lightly browned - these reheat well. You can google them for photos and more ideas. You can also serve these between 2 haves of a small English muffin for a health "egg McMuffin"
- whole wheat pancake with walnuts and fruit (bananas, blueberries, strawberries - you can use frozen fruit and just put into the batter and they will defrost)
- French toast with whole wheat bread and a batter of eggs and soy protein powder & milk, with cinnamon added. A real "holey" bread soaks up more batter which is where the protein is
- oatmeal with cinnamon, fruit (in the oatmeal or on the side) and some walnuts. Sneak in some flaxseed meal if you can.
- celery sticks stuffed with peanut butter or a spreadable soft cheese (Laughing Cow is easy to use)
- bran muffin with raisins, yogurt or scrambled eggs on the side.

Think creatively - there's no rule that says a kid can't have fish tacos or leftover pizza with veggies and cheese. Just try to make it real food, not processed (frozen) food. I used to make up bunches of real French toast or pancakes (as above) and freeze between pieces of wax paper so it was easy to pop out the right number of pieces. While those were heating, our son at his "first half" which was fruit or fruit & yogurt. That kept him out of the habit of filling up on carbs and having no room for protein and fruit.

My 5 year old likes: cream of wheat, oatmeal with brown sugar, cereal with milk, pancakes, toasted english muffin with cream cheese, fruit and cheese, peanut butter toast, grapefruit, scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, a smoothy or drinkable yogurt, regular yogurt, granola.

If your child doesn't like traditional breakfast food just make him/her whatever kind of healthy food s/he DOES like. Fruit, sandwiches, wraps, pasta, rice, soup, reheated leftovers, really ANYTHING.
My breakfast this morning was coffee and a half tuna sandwich :-)

Apples slices with peanut butter,
peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into long "sticks"
cheese cut into cubes with grapes or apple slices
grilled cheese
ham and cheese rolled up
turkey rolled up (with or without cheese)
brown & serve turkey sausage (microwave 30 seconds to defrost then inthe toaster oven for a few minutes (while you make coffee for yourself)
Leftover dinner (my son used to ask for "meat" or whateer we had for dinner the night before.)

As you can see I'm big on protein - it keeps their tummies from getting empty and help them get through until lunch time. Since traditional breakfast foods like cereal are primarily carbs and sugars they don't really hold your child through the whole morning. And I don't require that breakfast be "breakfast-y" - I figure a grilled cheese is more healthy than a donut or a bowl of captain krunch...

Waffles, pancakes, French toast, crepes, hard boiled eggs, fried egg sandwiches, scrambled eggs, toast, yogurt, cereal, muffins...Breakfast is the easiest meal in my house as the kids love all the breakfast foods!

Coffee. Oh wait, that's my breakfast. :-)

Seriously though, I don't have it in me to actually cook much of anything at the crack of dawn. They are almost never very hungry first thing in the morning, so a breakfast made up of multiple items would be wasted food.

The usual breakfast on school days is just cereal and milk. Sometimes my younger son likes microwaved oatmeal and my older son likes peanut butter toast. They also like waffles, but we don't always have them in the house. Sometimes I make a batch in my waffle iron and freeze them, sometimes I just buy premade toaster waffles.

Every once in awhile they don't feel like eating anything, so I stick a cereal/granola bar in their backpacks before they leave for school in case they get hungry before lunch.

On weekend late mornings, my husband often cooks up eggs in various forms, sausage, toast, fruit slices, etc. more like a brunch than breakfast. On rare occasion he will go get freshly made donuts from the bakery. The kids love that, of course.

My youngest isn't the biggest eater in the morning but I like them to have a
little something in their bellies before school....so here are some ideas:
-cereal
-breakfast bars
-pancakes
-sausage, hashbrowns & toast
-toast w/peanut butter
-smoothie (banana, milk, ltl sugar, cinnamon or frozen fruit, milk)
-egg burrito
-oatmeal w/brown sugar, little milk & dried fruit pieces
-just toast
-Pop Tart? Mine don't like those but yours might & in a pinch.....
-fruit?

We do
Cold whole grain cereal, milk, fruit
Whole grain waffles w fruit (make on the weekend, freeze then pop in toaster or microwave). Fruit, milk
Whole grain buttermilk pancakes (as above) with fruit
Cheesy scrambled eggs, avocado, fruit, milk
Breakfast burritos (whole wheat tortilla, scrambled eggs, beans, avocado)
French toast
Oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts
Hot cereal
Bagels with cream cheese and lox
English muffins

We always do fruit with breakfast - strawberries, blackberries, grapefruit, melon, bananas, apples, kiwi, oranges, pears, peaches, etc.

Mini bagel with cream cheese.
PBJ
Leftovers from supper last night.

Cereal is very full of vitamins and minerals. I let the kids have cereal any morning they want it. They also have breakfast at school so that's a second source of breakfast for them.

Mine liked cold cereal.

I started making a breakfast casserole that everyone can help themselves to. I just leave the 9x13 in the fridge. We all have different schedules and my kids are old enough to get their own. It has been the easiest to just get a scoop and heat it up. Otherwise we have yogurts, cheese sticks, fruit, cold cereal, instant flavored oatmeal, bagels w cream cheese, cinnamon toast, peanut butter toast and sometimes leftovers. Good luck.

Non-sugary cereal and milk
Toast
Greek yoghurt
Fruit muffins
Date scones
Scrambled eggs
Porridge

Cereal
French toast
Pancakes
English muffin with cheese
Yogurt and fruit