The Breakfast Routine

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Growing up, I never ate breakfast. You'd think that the daughter of a doctor would have known better than to skip the most important meal of the day, but my dad always got up later than we did, and I don't think he ever knew that his kids were sleeping in until the last minute and rushing into the car to get to school. Or maybe my parents just figured that if I ate a snack during our school's 10AM recess break, we'd be okay.

Now I'm a parent of three school-aged children, and our morning routine couldn't be more different. Okay, maybe it's not that different. My kids also sleep in until the last minute and rush to get ready. But we do sit at our kitchen table to have breakfast every single day. The benefits to mind and body of eating a good breakfast each morning can't be ignored! I had to make a real effort to cultivate the breakfast habit in myself, but now I'm just like Alfie and the kids -- I need that morning fuel to jump start my day.

It's usually cereal and milk for the kids, but on those rare occasions that pancakes appear on 3Po's breakfast plate, he sure cleans it up!

Exactly what that fuel is varies from day to day -- for me, at least. The kids and Alfie start each day like clockwork; almost every single day they have a bowl of cereal and milk, some fruit and a glass of juice or water. I, on the other hand, crave more variety. Sometimes I have fruit and yogurt. Sometimes I crave a bowl of oatmeal. Sometimes I'll munch on toast with scrambled eggs. Sometimes I'll treat myself to a croissant, or a waffle smeared with cream cheese and honey. There are even times when I have last night's leftovers! On those days Alfie can barely look at my breakfast plate, but as I keep reminding him, different cultures have different morning eating habits:

* Filipinos like chorizo and rice
* The Japanese like miso soup and fish
* Cubans like beans and rice
* Bavarian cultures like sausage, pretzels..... and beer!

It's not much different from a traditional English breakfast of bacon, eggs and tomato, is it? I figure, as long as it's healthy, it doesn't really matter what you eat for breakfast, as long as you do eat breakfast.

Does anyone want to join me this morning for some leftover pea soup?



Whatever your morning fuel is, don't forget to have some Bonggamom Finds with your breakfast! I'm partnering with BlogHer and Kellogg's to bring you some fun breakfast topics, from morning routines to cereal to family breakfast traditions and more. Join me every week through October 2010 for a new discussion -- and a new giveaway for a $100 Visa Gift Card!


Win a $100 Visa Gift Card
One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $100 Visa Gift card courtesy of Kellogg's and BlogHer. To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me what your family likes to eat for breakfast.

You can get extra entries by tweeting and blogging about this giveaway, making sure to include a link to this giveaway in your tweet or blog post. Just leave a comment on this post and share the link to your tweet or blog post. Entries will be accepted until August 16, 2010. For full giveaway rules, click here. You can also gain 24 extra chances to win $100 by visiting the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page. Good luck!



The Mom's Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids' cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit www.betterbythebowl.com.

Kellogg's helps moms keep their morning simple with cereal varieties for everyone in the family. For more information, visit www.loveyourcereal.com.

This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Kellogg's. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.