The Breakfast Squeeze

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Schoolday mornings at our house tend to be Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma'am! affairs. I prefer to snooze in bed until I absolutely have to get up -- and then stay in bed five minutes longer. The kids don't start getting ready until I do, so we have 40 minutes at most to get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunch, and walk to school. It's a mad rush, but I swear there is order in the chaos.

Weekday breakfast? Um, yeah, in your dreams. Or in Alfie's dreams, anyway.

Having a quick breakfast is a crucial component on schooldays -- my routine assumes that the kids make their own breakfast and clean it up themselves, since I use that time to make their lunches (and to wash whatever bottles or sandwich boxes I was too lazy to wash the day before). That means the kids eat milk and cereal almost exclusively from Monday till Friday. Sometimes they ask for oatmeal, and on good days I'll make it for them, but on bad days I look them in the eye and ask them, "Oatmeal?? Look at me! I don't even have time to get my own breakfast! I'm doing all this stuff for you. Do you really think I have two extra minutes to microwave your oatmeal?!" (imagine a low-pitched voice, rising gradually in an operatic crescendo, ending on a hysterical note). They usually get the picture and head for the cereal cupboard. Yes, I'm a tyrannical Morning Mommy Dearest, but my morning routine is like a finely-tuned precision instrument: throw a cog in it (like discovering we've run out of bread for sandwiches or realizing that The Pea didn't do her homework the night before), and everything falls apart. And when the morning routine falls apart, mommy falls apart and turns into a crabby, stressed haridan. So the kids pour themselves Special K and Mini Wheats for breakfast -- along with a bright-eyed, smiling June Cleaver Mommy. Whatever you eat when you're in a rush, don't forget to make time to enjoy some Bonggamom Finds on the side! 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 your favorite go-to breakfast when time is tight and you're in a rush. 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 September 6, 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. 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.