I Love PB Poofs, You Love PB Poofs, If We Didn't Eat PB Poofs We'd All Be Lame
The kids’ standard breakfast is cereal topped with raisins and a side of milk. The milk is in a sippy cup because it seems like cereal should be accompanied by milk, but cereal combined with milk is too bizarre for my children. The raisins top the cereal to increase their daily servings of fruit, and to counterbalance the macaroni and cheese and/or chicken nuggets they’re sure to eat later in the day. The cereal is the base of the meal, but we do it a little different since I can never do the easy parenting thing.
My kids get two types of cereal mixed together. They get one part sugary stuff, and one part healthy stuff. The healthy stuff is there to give them well-balanced nutrition. The sugary stuff is there to get them to eat their cereal, and hopefully sneak in a couple healthy nuggets in their glucosian feeding frenzy.
We have about a half-dozen boxes of their cereal open at all times. They like a variety of cereal, and by “variety” I mean “two different types every day.” On Monday, they get Crispy Hexagons and Fruit Rings. On Tuesday, they get Wheat Squares and Honey Grahams. On Wednesday, they get Lightly-Sweetened Corn Puffs and Heavily-Sugared Corn Shavings.
This rotation works for the boys, but Abbie tired of the variety in cereal mix weeks ago. While she used to eat all types of cereal, it seemed no combination of sugar and neon food coloring could convince her to eat breakfast regularly. Sometimes she’d eat most of her bowl. Too often she’d feed most of it to the dog. Sometimes she couldn’t even muster the contempt to throw it on the floor.
A couple weeks ago, I noticed a different cereal in my grocer’s aisle. I bought a box of Chocolate and Peanut Butter Puffs, which are little corn puffs that vaguely taste of peanut butter and chocolate. I poured her a bowl, she gave it her standard throw-it-to-the-dog treatment, and I kept it in the rotation until we emptied the box.
After a few turns in the rotation, she started asking for them. I’d sit her down with a bowl of iridescent sugar, and she’d shout “Peanut Butter Puffs, please.” I obliged, happy that she was eating breakfast. The process repeated the next day, and the next day, and every day since then. I’ve gotten to the point where I just give her Chocolate and Peanut Butter Puffs mixed with the healthy cereal du jour. She eats more than she gives to the dog, the kids get something approaching a balanced breakfast, and my life gets a little simpler. Not too simple, though, since I still top their cereal with raisins with milk on the side.
My kids get two types of cereal mixed together. They get one part sugary stuff, and one part healthy stuff. The healthy stuff is there to give them well-balanced nutrition. The sugary stuff is there to get them to eat their cereal, and hopefully sneak in a couple healthy nuggets in their glucosian feeding frenzy.
We have about a half-dozen boxes of their cereal open at all times. They like a variety of cereal, and by “variety” I mean “two different types every day.” On Monday, they get Crispy Hexagons and Fruit Rings. On Tuesday, they get Wheat Squares and Honey Grahams. On Wednesday, they get Lightly-Sweetened Corn Puffs and Heavily-Sugared Corn Shavings.
This rotation works for the boys, but Abbie tired of the variety in cereal mix weeks ago. While she used to eat all types of cereal, it seemed no combination of sugar and neon food coloring could convince her to eat breakfast regularly. Sometimes she’d eat most of her bowl. Too often she’d feed most of it to the dog. Sometimes she couldn’t even muster the contempt to throw it on the floor.
A couple weeks ago, I noticed a different cereal in my grocer’s aisle. I bought a box of Chocolate and Peanut Butter Puffs, which are little corn puffs that vaguely taste of peanut butter and chocolate. I poured her a bowl, she gave it her standard throw-it-to-the-dog treatment, and I kept it in the rotation until we emptied the box.
After a few turns in the rotation, she started asking for them. I’d sit her down with a bowl of iridescent sugar, and she’d shout “Peanut Butter Puffs, please.” I obliged, happy that she was eating breakfast. The process repeated the next day, and the next day, and every day since then. I’ve gotten to the point where I just give her Chocolate and Peanut Butter Puffs mixed with the healthy cereal du jour. She eats more than she gives to the dog, the kids get something approaching a balanced breakfast, and my life gets a little simpler. Not too simple, though, since I still top their cereal with raisins with milk on the side.
posted by Matt at
10:55 PM
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