I have a question. This is getting on my last nerve already! Sometimes I feel like I might be being to mean to my kids. But I know in the long run it is good for them.

My kids REFUSE to eat breakfast when all there is, is cereal with little to no sugar in it!! They will let themselves starve before they eat any kind of cereal that doesn't have sugar in it.

I try to never have real sugar in my house. However, I do have some here but it is hidden. So the kids have no idea. I would prefer to throw it away. One of my questions are... I use splenda... are these sweetners ok for kids to use? I really don't want them eating the real sugar and going over board.

What would you do.... buy the kids junk cereal or let them go without breakfast everyday? I have 6 boxes (they were on sale big time) of cereal without any sugar in it!

Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice. I sure appreciate any and all I can get on this.

Well I remember as a little kid i loved lucky charms, absolutely obsessed, wouldn't eat any other cereal.

My mom somehow convinced me that peanut butter toast with banana slices was delicious and i became fond of toast for breakfast. Maybe you could try other foods than cereal?

Try not to buy it.
If you notice junk food is so much cheaper than the good stuff seems they know their market really well.
I would tell them like this depending on their age.
Mine is 12 and I tell him he can eat what I have here or find something himself that he will eat. Because there are a lot of people right now who dont have a home who dont have a bed and dont have the food. Your lucky we have those things. We are adjusting his taste buds and weaning him off the sugar. As the great Jack Lalane would say sugar is white death. And thats the truth. Bottom line is coupon cutting and just not buying the stuff thats bad for them. They will need to learn that they have to eat what you make or what you have for them to eat. They didnt have a problem eating what you gave them as they were babies they just have a better vocabulary now to say that they dont want it. Good luck and they will come around, they have no choice.

You could try dumping your splenda into a emptied sugar bag? lol
My kids eat toast too.. with lots of butter on it. Im very fond of toast and pp on it, so are my kids.

There is NO sugar cereal in my house. I loved it growing up to. But I don't want them to used to all of the garbage. I want to know healthy choices now so they will eat right later. My kids get very upset with me every week because I will NOT buy junk foods anymore. All I buy is fresh veggies & fruits, frozen veggies, meats, yogurts, and that kind of stuff. I try to keep ALL garbage foods out now. They totally hate it. But, I have tried to keep garbage cereal gone for a long time and it has just been a huge argument for forever.

I have no sugar cereals here. The absolutely REFUSE to eat any of it! I have like 6 boxes of it because they were on sale for less then $2.00 a box... which is an awesome sale! And they are real sized boxes!

They don't mind Splenda at all. But they abuse it. They thing EVERYTHING needs sugar/splenda on it! I just don't want them to deal with the addictions I have had to deal with as an adult. It is a major bummer. Plus, diabeties runs in my hubbies family and so does obesity. My oldest daughter already is bigger then she should be. And I don't want to make it any worse.

My fear is the school will say I am neglecting my kids because they don't have breakfast. I have breakfast for them, they just REFUSE to eat it. But I am afraid that would be considered wrong in the school's eyes and they would make a fuss about it.

I wish healthy eating was easier. I eat things I don't much like either. But I still eat them because they are good for me. I wish my kids would open there eyes and see this. Maybe one day.

There ARE good cold cereals out there with little or no sugar in them.

Cheerios
Kix
Puffins (which come in four different flavors)

Just a few off the top of my head.

Kids don't do "cold turkey" very well. Instead of going from one extreme to the other...why not *gradually* wean them off of the junk cereals - to stuff that is less 'junky'.

Personally, I don't have a problem with kids using Splenda, especially compared to the drawbacks of too much sugar - obesity, tooth decay, and so on. If you want to limit their use of Splenda, buy the one that comes in individual packets, not the 'loose' pack.

Adding sliced fruit - such as bananas and strawberries - can help too - your kids might like the new Special K with Red Berries or the Corn Flakes with Bananas. I wouldn't call them "diet food" but it's better than Capn Crunch or Lucky Charms. You can also buy the dried fruit separately (forgot the brand name but I saw it in the cereal aisle this weekend) to add to cereal, etc.

And don't forget to add some protein to their breakfast - like a hardboiled egg or something.

Mrs. Jim,

Oh yeah.. I get Cheerios and Kix all of the time. That is what I have bought for years. But my kids go visit my parents and fall in love with all of that sugar garbage. My parents don't think there is anything wrong with sugar. And they think that not allowing the kids to have it (more then they would ever need) will make them hord (sp?) it later in life.

I was not sure about splenda in cereal for kids. I did need another opinion on that before I allowed it to much. I was thinking about using light brown sugar but I am not sure how that would be on cheerios. I use it in oatmeal but that is it really.

When I put fruit in the cereal they just pick out the fruit and eat that and leave the cereal. I realize cold turkey is not something easy for kids. It has not been like that at all. I just fear the same problems happen with my kids as the family... sevear obesity, diabeties and so on.

I don't buy the loose splenda. I only buy a small box of loose splenda for cooking. Other then that I buy the packets. I have more control with the packets for myself as well. Yes, I used to be a sugar addict! I used to go through a 4 or 5 pound bag of sugar in 1 week! And 1 large can of coffee in a little over a week!! I am doing much better now! No sugar for me.. just to much splenda and coffee.. which I am working on.

I think I will try and give the kids 1 splenda for a serving of cereal in the mornings and see how that goes. I had them where they were fine eating cereals that has less sugars in them. But that was thrown in the air this summer. Thanks for the heads up on giving the kids splenda. I was not sure if that was a good idea or not. You know, now that I think of it... the juice I have been buying them is made with splenda! Duhh me!!!

Oh Tracy, I hear you with the kids cereal and junk food in general!! My kids where brought up on good foods and now that they are teenagers, have jobs and have their own money they go down the road and buy junk there. I've never EVER allowed those sweet cereals in the house but they eat Crispix which has no sugar but is crap in my books because it's white stuff... They are eating some oatmeal in the packets with the sugar AND add extra sugar on top of it!! But I give up sometimes, specially on the oatmeal because at least this cereal has fiber...

It's an uphill battle honestly. My kids were raised on whole wheat bread and now refuse to eat it. Although, DS since he's a lifeguard now and going to the gym, I see him eating more WW breads than before, he's 17.

DD at 15, I've resorted to making her breakfast again and her lunches because she will grab anything white she can if it's not prepared for her. She has gained about 10# this summer and it show!! AND I'm worried...

One thing I keep telling myself is that I didn't start eating healthy till I was 20 and started reading and such about healthy eating and exercise when I started to gain weight. Hey I'm 48, and I'm still learning!! So I guess what I'm trying to say is we just have to lead by example and do the best we can... EVENTUALLY all the speeches and preaching will sink in.

Eventually, yes .... my dd just called (she's 21) and was telling me about going swimming on Friday and Saturday and going to the gym yesterday and today and how she'll have to get up at 8 to go tomorrow before work .... Eventually ....


after I hit send I thought of something. My kids loved french toast. My youngest didn't realise it was eggs until he was about 14 And they never cared if was white bread or brown.

Ilene,

Your right! And I am starting to as of 8/25/05! Thanks to everyone on these boards! My kids are going to get upset when we TOTALLY STOP going out to eat!! They love that! But as we eat out and I am counting calories I am finding that NOTHING from fast food places are low in calories or good for you! It is sad. And everyone is wondering why our country is getting so obese!! I think they should just look at all of the junk places to eat on each corner of the road, all of the junk EVERYWHERE through out the stores!! The answer is right in front of our faces!!

Boy.. Ummmm.... I think I have actually learned something and instilled it into my brain in the past couple of weeks! Lol.

I beleive there is always something we could all learn. Life always brings new things for us to learn each day. We just need to decifer (sp?) what is right or wrong/good or bad. And with a good background on health, fitness, etc.... we will make the right decisions later in life.

I understand what your saying about your kids. My kids were always raised on wheat bread! I was raised on white and didn't like it when I met my husband. But I ate it, got use to it, and now that is what I prefer. Like I said, my kids were raised on it. My mom eats white bread though. So when my kids came home from there visit my daughters decided they hated wheat bread!! They came home with several bad habits!! Not like my old habits aren't bad enough lol.

Hopefully we can successfully guide them to the better choices for now and later they will automatically choose what is best. I am starting to believe that is basically all we can do. But examples always help! And I am going to be a good one!

I use Splenda/Equal on my kids' cereal. They'll even eat Raisin Bran type cereals that way. I use it to sweeten their kool-aid and their oatmeal, etc. Of course, I'd love to wean them of the sugar flavor all together but I just don't think that is a reasonable option at their age. They are still very young but spend plenty of time at friends' houses, school activities, etc. They are very AWARE of the dangers of junk food though and I am pround that they tend to make healthy choices for themselves most of the time.

One thing you might consider is blending a healthier cereal half and half with a sweeter one (plain cheerios with honeynut cheerios maybe?). Or, introduce a different breakfast than cereal all together. There's no rule that says they can't eat a turkey sandwich and a piece of fruit first thing in the morning.

FRENCH TOAST!!!! Oh man... I love that stuff with texas toast!! Lol. I am thinking that, that is not a healthy choice now lol. I can only imagine the calories on that!

jawsmom,

Thanks for your reply! That is an excellent idea.. mixing the cereals! I am definetely going to try that. Fruit in the mornings they like to. They do get that. But sometimes I fear there still hungry and hate sending them off to school hungry. But I supposed if they were really hungry they would eat. I am going to try that cereal mixture though. That is really a good idea.

If you left out the odd yolk, used low fat milk, used good bread, pan spray .... and could stop at one slice ..... Oh well ... it might be a good choice for kids.

This is an interesting dilemma and I can give you the KIDS' side here...

I grew up with no sugar in the house, all healthy and wholesome foods. The upside is that I love my fruits and veggies, brown rice tastes better to me than white half the time and I genuinely like tofu.
The downside was that this ban on sugar made sugar a prized commodity and led to eating in secret for me. Because my parents dissapproved of sugar I would hide candy bars in my drawers and save allowance money to buy treats. So, happy medium is good. LOL

I'm obviously not saying any household without sugar will lead to binging but it's the same as telling your teenager not to go out with that boy... just on principle it can obtain the opposite of your desired outcome. There's also the fact to consider that the world is FILLED with sugar and fatty treats. It's valuable to teach kids portion control and to eat responsibly rather than just saying no to anything white. This gives them valuable tools for when they are out in the real world making their own food choices. Again, it all goes back to balance IMHO.

That being said, you bought all that cereal and my pov is that they could either eat it or start fixing their own breakfast. Mom does not mean "short order cook" in any language.

Good luck with this no matter what you decide!!