I have never been a fan of breakfast. As a kid I mostly ate left overs from the night before. Over the years I have grown to have a true love/hate with breakfast. The actual food itself is not my favorite. I am not huge on eggs, toast, grits and whatnot. I would prefer a hamburger, or some pizza (never cold), maybe some pasta from the night before. I know...a bit odd, but not unheard of.
I eventually got myself eating more "
breakfasty" things. Years later all these children started arriving and they too needed breakfast. They all LOVE breakfast, and with that information I regret to say they were unfortunately placed with the wrong mother. I have struggled with the whole first meal of the day for about 8 years now.
It may have something to do with the fact that 5 people are demanding cheerful good tasting service all moments after waking up each day. This need never seems to go away. They never wake up saying, "Mama, that dinner last night you made was so good , and I realize you just got done cleaning up from it about 7 hours ago, so I don't want you to worry about breakfast this morning. We're good!" Even on weekends , they want breakfast!
So earlier this year I really started looking at why breakfast bothered me so much. I realized that I was not really in control of the situation. I usually had no plan and I committed the CARDINAL mistake of asking the sweet hungry dears what they wanted to eat. As can be expected I got 4 different answers and I would make 4 different things. Then one day I realized I was a short order cook for about 45 minutes in the morning. People were eating at different times, different things and then occasionally one person snuck through the line twice and usually had a little bit of every ones order...but never really finishing ANYTHING (that would be my Jack)!!
I decided after one long morning of several breakfast courses that I had to stop the insanity and take control of breakfast. I would do what I do at all the other meals...be the boss. I would make a meal, serve it, expect compliance and certain quotas be met and then the meal would end with a "thanks for this great breakfast mama!"
I even took it a step further. Every night I set the table for breakfast. I put everything on the table that I know we will need. Lately we have had Cheerios every morning and then I will alternate another breakfast item in with the cereal (bagel, eggs, English muffin). So that means I have the cereal bowl set out, spoons, glasses and napkins and then in the morning all I have to do is pour a few things, make some toast with butter, and begin each persons day with a more cheerful attitude. It has made a world of difference for all of us. I no longer HATE breakfast.
As a side note...I did buy myself some cute colorful bowls to set my breakfast table with. Having these sweet bowls and pretty glasses somehow makes it easier to sit and smile at 7:00 A.M with 5 hungry caterpillars.
thank you for posting this.... i hate breakfast and hungry early morning people asking for it ruins my day lol! ok so not that dramatic but i also never a breakfast person and my family loves it ..... thank you i now know what to do....
ReplyDeleteI too, began to hate breakfast....even on the weekends. Now, I do like breakfast and all the food that IS breakfast, but because I get up and make my husband breakfast before he goes to work & then breakfast when the three wake up! No one ever offers to make Mommy breakfast.....and eventually I just get tired of making it.....
ReplyDeleteFirst, I just wanted to say "hi" to Renee--wow, another tug at my heart remembering Sitka.
ReplyDeleteAbout breakfast . . . I just recently had to exert greater control over both the first and second meals because there was too much of "what would you like?". I most often serve leftovers for lunch and often there is not enough of one thing for all 3 kids so the inevitable bickering ensues--enough to make me lose my appetite, for sure.
So I did the same thing you did, Lisa, and announced, "I am the boss of the kitchen and all meals. I will make and serve your meals. You will thank me whether you choose to eat it or not . . . and furthermore, one word of complaint will get you sent to your room and you will have nothing to eat until the next meal."
Kathy, formerly of Sitka, now of Tennessee, and who know when of Ohio.