I Don't Do Mornings

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

When I was a kid, my mom would get up, have her coffee while reading the paper, pay the bills, water her garden, make a few phone calls, cook me and my sister a hot breakfast, run 5K, learn a foreign language, discover life on another planet, and shave her legs all before 5:00AM. I, on the other hand, slept. And slept. And slept. And hit the snooze. And slept. And slept. And hit the snooze. Well, you get the idea. My mom would come in and whip the covers off me. I'd sleep. She flip up the window shades. I'd sleep. She spray my face with water. I'd sleep. She'd yell at me to get up. I'd sleep. She'd dump a bucket of water on me. I'd get up, but I wouldn't be happy about it and I'd make sure everyone with whom I came in contact experienced the full extent of my unhappiness.

Not much has changed. My mom still gets up before the birds. I still hit the snooze a dozen times before dragging my butt out of bed and shuffling through the house with my eyes closed. I'm thirty-ten years old. I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume I will never be one of those dreadful morning people. However, I have to admit, there's a part of me that would really like to be a morning person. I'd love to get up and have time to shower and dress before my kids woke up. I'd love to sit down with them and have a nice conversation over a hot, cooked-to-order breakfast. But that's never going to happen. I've accepted it. That's what dinner is for.

My mornings are always going to be rushed. I'm always going to wait until the last possible second to get out of bed. I'm probably always going to be less-than-pleasant in the morning. Hot breakfasts will always be reserved for weekends and special "Breakfast for Dinner" nights. But I'll still insist my kids eat something before heading off to school. Sometimes it's yogurt or a piece of fruit. Sometimes it's frozen waffles. Sometimes those waffles are even eaten frozen. Literally. Seriously, Clay ate a frozen waffle straight from the freezer and dipped in mayonnaise. Gag! But most often it's cereal. Cereal with milk is lower in calories than say, bacon & eggs, a croissant, or a bagel with cream cheese. Cereal is fortified with vitamins and minerals your kids need. In fact, I know my kids wouldn't come close to getting the recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals without their morning bowl of cereal most days.

I'd love to say that I make sure our mornings are chock-full of quality, bonding time, but it would be a big fat lie. I save the quality time for moments when I'm actually awake and functioning. Mornings are spent quietly rushing around, eating a quick breakfast, and getting out the door. Sometimes the kids even have their backpacks, glasses, homework, and shoes when they leave the house!

So, how do you make sure you spend quality time with your kids in the morning? What do you do to ensure your kids eat a healthy breakfast? For a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card, leave me a comment here and let me know how you start the day off on a positive note.

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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 http://www.loveyourcereal.com/.

Creative Commons photo is from g_kat26's flickr stream