Mother of Invention: Quick Breakfast Trick

We’ve been trying to get into the swing of things with our back to school schedule. Mornings seem to be just about the craziest part of the day. By the time we get the kids up, dressed, lunches packed, backpacks ready, teeth brushed and hair fixed, it feels like we’re running late almost every single day!

I know that the kids need to eat, but it’s so hard to get anything in them as they’re running for the door. I thought of a quick trick today that turned out to be fun for the kids, too.

The idea came to me from something that one of my best friends from home used to do. She had this thing, that rather than putting salt on her French fries, she would shake the salt into her ketchup instead. Her reasoning was that this way, the salt wouldn’t fall off of her French fries, but would stay safe in the ketchup instead. It may not have been the healthiest of ideas, but it sure was fun to do.

Fast-forward to this morning’s breakfast. The kids wanted to have cinnamon toast. If you’ve ever given a nine year-old and seven year-old boy butter, cinnamon and a sugar shaker, you know firsthand how big of a mess they can make. That’s when it hit me: why not combine them? I shook some sugar and cinnamon into a bowl with some softened butter, and creamed it all together. I told the boys that it was a new kind of butter-“cinnamon toast butter”-and they couldn’t wait to try it. When their bread popped out of the toaster, each of them was able to spread the butter on their own pieces while I finished packing their lunches. Win/win.

They made their cinnamon toast with no mess, grabbed a handful of strawberries, some milk and ran out the door!

As we get more into the swing of things for this back to school season, I would love to try having more nutritious, sit-down breakfasts, but who am I kidding?

I’m just glad that I came up with something that the kids can be involved in, while having fun doing it all by themselves. I’ve been racking my brain all day trying to figure out what else I can put together.

Hmmm…what to do…what to do? Mamapedia moms–will you please share ways you make mealtime fun for your children?

Thank a million!
Bea

Bea lives in North Carolina with her husband Adam and children Christian (8), Ethan (7), Preston (4) and Lauren Elizabeth (3). Read more amazing stories by Bea at Peanut Butter Hair.