cereals
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35913
Printed Date: 24 July 2025 at 9:27pm
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Topic: cereals
Posted By: lizzle
Subject: cereals
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:07am
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let me pre announce that my children have always been good eaters, they are only fussy when they are not hungry and will generally eat whatever I tell them to.
IN our house we only have weetbix and porridge for breakfast. I have cornflakes and rice bubbles, but more for baking,. was reading about a health recommendation that stated kids should basically eat only these two cereals (and patted myself on the back smugly) BUT then, DH and I were talking about the breakfast club they have around the place and a question came up: Is it better for a kid to go to school with NO breakfast, or to have eaten the so-called "junk" cereals (cocoa pops, honey whatsits) and in that respect, is it better to go to school with a lunch box laden with chippies, muesli bars etc, or to have no lunch at all? What do you think? |
Replies:
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:14am
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I guess it depends on how fussy your children are, I know of plenty of parents that as long as their kid is eating something it better than nothing.
It's knowing when to pick your battles, I guess and when its ok to bend your own rules to accommodate your children. How long would it take for a child to go without breakfast or lunch before they eat what was put in front of them? I'm guessing not very long. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:29am
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I had a similar discussion with a mum when McDonalds were in Starship, she'd had a sick son and her thoughts were that having him eat something even if it wasn't the healthiest option was better than not eating anything.
I think its easy to generalise about what I will or wont do when it comes to feeding my child, until I actually get there. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:41am
| true. i also know how luck y i am having kids that will eat anything, so the problem for me is moot. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:45am
My husband is fussy enough I'm waiting with baited breath to see how his daughter will be.  ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: caraMel
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 8:48am
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I think something is always better than nothing and if your child refuses point blank to eat anything other than fruit loops or honey puffs then giving them a bowl of those rather than sending them to school hungry is preferable.
In saying that, I would not be bending over backwards to cater to fussy tastes just so I was reassured my child had a full tummy. If a cereal they had deemed acceptable (and I had too, of course) in the supermarket was then refused, it would be that or nothing. As for muesli bars and chips etc, for me it is everything in moderation. I'm very lucky in that their school and kindy make sure that they eat sandwiches and fruit before anything else as part of their healthy eating policies though, so I know they are actually eating the better stuff first. I know how busy E is at school and as a result she is very hungry, I can't imagine how hard it would be for a child who had had nothing to eat, so once again I think something is better than nothing. How can they learn if they're too tired and hungry to think? Mind you, I guess it depends. I remember kids who would come to school with nothing except a bag of big-uns and a bottle of Fanta, I doubt that benefited their learning much? ------------- Mel, Mummy to E: 6, B: 4 and: 
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Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 9:00am
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I think there is a balance in all of this. If it isnt in the house they wont eat it as they wont have access to it. But you cant expect them not to want it if it is right there or you dont eat the healthy things.
However if it is there and they wont eat anything else (and depending on situation) I will feed them it. Although it is easy for me to say as my kids prefer the healthier options and due to not having artificial colors in their diet they cant eat most of the "bad" stuff. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 9:22am
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We're starting with the idea that chocolate is an adult only food be interesting to see how long that lie lasts. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: E&L+1
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 9:48am
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Hungry kids can't learn and are disruptive to other children as they get grumpy and tired.
Honestly I'd rather have a child eat than have them hungry regardless of what they had (obviously things like lollies don't count but chips, biscuits etc do). When I was teaching we'd provide food for kids who had no breakfast/lunch or inadequate food. Otherwise the day would just be awful for teacher and student. We encourage the kids who brought things like sandwiches, yoghurt/dairy food, fruit etc and generally the kids wanted to get the praise for it so would ensure that there was at least one healthy item in their lunchbox. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 10:48am
The girls' father is extremely fussy. I got round it by giving the girls anything and everything, from when they started solids. They have a more varied diet than he does, and it's very rare that they will turn their noses up at anything...thankfully! I even give them food that I personally don't like, because I don't see that it's my choice to decide that THEY won't like it...hence they eat avocado  I didn't want them to end up like their dad, because it was a PITA finding food that he would eat, I didn't want to try to cater to them as well!!
For the original question though...I would probably make sure they had breakfast (even if it was one of the crap cereals) and then make sure they had a very healthy lunch without crap. Easy to say that though, might be different when the time comes hehehe I would prefer they had Weetbix or porridge though - healthy filling food. I don't buy the other stuff for myself (I have Weetbix or toast), so it's unlikely that I would buy it for them. |
caliandjack wrote:Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 1:28pm
DS1&2 have weetbix for b'fast. DS3 is a pain as he won't eat it & wants sugar only 
DS1& 2 also had toast, so in the morning I spent ages doing b'fast for them & they eat way to much.....so from now onwards (starting in school hols) they will have weetbix only & fruit if they are still hungry. I will add rice bubbles or cornflakes in in summer but not the sugar loaded crap ones. I am no longer going to put crap in there lunch boxes, so these holidays will be to get them used to the food they will now be eating. We are going healthy healthy healthy  
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Posted By: Kalimirella
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 3:02pm
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I would rather she have something BUT, I plan on only making healthy foods available with chocolate and chippies as a "treat" allowed for lunch once a week however, hehe shes only 5 months old so I might have changed my mind by then.
+ it seems she is quite happy eating anything at the moment, she chows down on everything and anything. Caliandjack, lol chocolate as adult food, I should sooo try that. ------------- Kiara is 3 and Teagan is 2, now we're expecting our long awaited 3rd! http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 3:51pm
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DS and DD either have toast and a banana for breakfast or weetbix and a banana. I dont buy any of the other cereals, except maybe somtimes as a treat for DH and I.
I also wouldnt send DS off to kindy without any breakfast, kids need something to eat in the morning, whether that be the crap cereal of a healthy one. ------------- |
Posted By: linda
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 3:54pm
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There is some nutrients even in junk food so I would say that junk food is better than no food.
Our boys have nutella on toast which is probably not the best but they like it, eat it and best of all make it themselves which really helps our busy household. There lunches are pretty standard but they do get a little packet of chips on a Friday and there school do Subway one day a week and also ok with that. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Alex 6 and Harry 8 |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 6:22pm
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if it were my kids then they would get no breakfast if they demanded a "junk" cereal like fruit loops... and their lunch always has a sandwich and a piece of fruit in it...
other peoples children though i dont know... if their lunch supplied by home was a pie and chips with fizzy drink then that is better than not being given any lunch, but as Mel said a bag of big uns and bottle of fizzy wouldnt help them much... and probably wouldnt fill then up much either. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 6:43pm
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Junk cereal is a treat in our house. In the school hols because I normally have the kids with me in the supermarket they get to choose a cereal. However I don't let fruit loops etc in the house as I have a son sensitive to food colours so a line has to be drawn somewhere. There are plenty of non-coloured junk cereals.
Normally it is weetbix, cornflakes or ricies. We do have some nutrigrain as my DH likes it and the kids have started having it occasionally when I can justify the price. It actually only has 9gms of sugar which is a lot less than most. I was surprised. I think everything in moderation. |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 7:12pm
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i actually like nutrigrain for the simple reason that it has more iron that most other breakfast cereals and taine is iron-deficient. i end up often making it into little snack packs for daycare though as it is pricey.
funny, at my school the kids had a go at me for being "mean" and only letting my kids have soft drink every birthday or special occasions. they say they have softdrink available every day. the next week we had the dental nurse in, and she said out of all the school in palmerston north, we are probably the highest decile, but had the worst tooth decay she had ever seen. |
Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 7:19pm
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We always have Weetbix, Rice bubbles, Cornflakes in our house. They are for breakfast & for baking.
Too me Rice Bubbles & Cornflakes arent "bad" cereals. I have occasionally brought Coco pops for DP but DD doesnt get them. At the moment DD will only eat Ricies. She wont eat weetbix no matter how hard i try  But she is big on toast. We normally have one morning ricies, then next morning toast. Then she has fruit etc for morning tea.
We will never have the issue of DD eating junk cereals because i refuse to pay those prices. There is NO WAY i will ever pay $5 + for cereal. Ricies & cornflakes you can get for under $2 -------------  
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Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 7:39pm
| Just as a side note we got homebrand honey puff things the other day and the kids love them. $3.99 for a huge box. It was a good priced treat. Haven't looked to closely at the nutritional info as it is the school hols so it falls into one of the treat cereals. |
Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 10:01pm
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Hey, even junk cereals have milk on them, right
Obviously I'd prefer my children would eat a wholesome, well rounded diet, but we'll jump that hurdle when we get to it. I don't even eat a wholesome, well rounded diet though 
I don't believe foods like fizzy, lollies, chippies etc should be "everyday food" I'd prefer to keep them as a treat. I know a Mum and her child doesn't even know about mcdonalds or anything, at 9 years old she's never had it, so doesn't know what shes missing out on. She's also never had fizzy or chocolate. A little extreme IMO but it works for them. If I remember rightly she gets grain waves and stuff like that for treats. |
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 25 September 2010 at 10:30pm
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Mum's rule for my younger brothers and sisters is that they can choose whatever breakfast cereals they like in the school holidays. In term-time, they have to eat the standard ones. That works really well for them, the kids get goodies from time to time, but mostly they eat healthily. -------------   
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Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 12:41am
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DD eats generally healthy but I admit to giving her a biscuit when she is nagging at me because she is hungry. She signs when she is hungry which is uber cute! lol
I would rather she eat healthy obviously but I have moments when I don't eat that great. In saying that at 14mths she has never had lollies, or fizzy which she doesn't need and has had a couple of bites of a cheeseburger and chips rarely! In laws tried feeding her taro and chips and she wouldn't eat them she preferred the dry kruskit I don't eat cereal so not much of a chance of her having anything other then weet bix toast or cornflakes as thats what I would buy for her. I used to buy the fruit weetbix for DP so she would probably have that for a treat lol. No chance is she getting coco pops or anything like that! Especially while she's still in nappies I don't fancy changing a glow in the dark nappy lol.
As for the original question. I guess I would rather them eat something and go to school with a full tummy then go hungry. I don't think its fair making a child go without food, I know I can go a day without food but I don't think its fair on a child who can't do it for themselves. I would be questioning though if a child was consistently going to school with rubbish in their lunchbox AND eating an unhealthy bfast and probably dirty bird for dinner YUK! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: kiwikid
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 7:24am
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Weetbix and Shreaded Wheat are the staples in our house for DS (2.2yrs), DH might have something different but so far no issues with DS wanting it. DS is usually so starving by breakfast he inhales his cereal so I cannot imagine him ever thinking to stop long enough to demand something else but he's only a toddler still, plenty of time!!
We usually have breakfast round two an hour or so later which is toast. I dont usally do fruit at breakfast, that comes at morning tea time. If I had a school age child giving me grief on breakfast then maybe I'd allow toast and nutella just to get some food into him. ------------- 
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Posted By: snugglebug
Date Posted: 26 September 2010 at 3:20pm
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Of course it is better for them to eat something than nothing. I teach at a decile one school and the impact of children having no breakfast is huge. They can't focus or concentrate and they certainly can't learn.
The same goes for lunchboxes. We had a healthy eating policy at my school which said no chips or muesli bars etc but if the kids did bring those things I didn't stop it because if they didn't bring what they could afford, they wouldn't bring anything at all and to me that is far far worse. Each to their own, and I don't plan to give my child sugary cereals but I also don't want to feel bad if I end up doing that for whatever reason. Sometimes I have sugary cereals! I think everything in moderation and as long as you're doing the best you can most of the time, that's enough in my opinion. In a world where a box of home brand cocoa puffs is like $5 for 700g or something compared to the same price for healthier cereals that have half the size in them, it's easy to see why people make that choice. Being healthy is the ideal but for some people it's just not always possible and I don't think they should eat nothing instead. ------------- Me 28, DH 29 DS born 20 Nov 2010 (4 years old) #2 due October 7 http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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