Blog

Adult and Child Battles Over Breakfast Cereal

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on July 18, 2013

Parents can all relate to the fight over breakfast cereal.  The first step down the cereal aisle is met with whining, pleading, and fussing for the sweetest and least nutritious cereal on the shelf.  At the point of the child’s first scream at being denied their sweetened treat, the parent wonders why they didn’t leave the child at home. This really is not a bad idea since children’s pleas tend to thwart our best intentions.

Regardless of our children’s desires, we have to remind ourselves that the parent must make the best food decisions for our children’s health.  We need to be thoughtful about the sugar, fat, and fiber contents of our breakfast cereal choices.  Although we might want the sugary cereal as well, we need to model healthy nutrition behaviors for our children.

It is important to remember that cereal manufacturers pay a great deal of money for the most choice shelf position. Children’s cereals are placed at their eye level and they see the cereals that are offered during their television shows. Adult cereals are placed at our eye level. Many times the cereals placed at the adult eye level offer superior health claims, but do not back them up.