Mornings can be tough for everyone. But when you add kids to the mix, things get really hairy. Going from slamming the snooze to getting out the door on time can rival the hardest challenges you see on Survivor. You don’t just have to worry about yourself, you have to manage a perfectly executed assault for multiple people.
If you don’t? Breakfast is not eaten, teeth are left dirty and permission sheets are once again forgotten. Let’s not even talk about having the brain power to think about what is for dinner in 9 hours. It’s controlled madness in our house. Little talking, lots of doing.
We have it down to a science for the most part, but has always the one variable that can throw it all out of whack are the kids.
Well the happy people at Quaker Oats understand this morning challenge and wanted to draw attention to the hard work put in by parents as they try to own the morning. They also asked if I wanted to share some interesting stats and of course my experiences with the morning battle. Quaker even sent me a morning kit to help with my #spoondrop moments.
You’ve heard of the “mic drop”, well they decided to give parents the chance for “Spoon Drop” moments. We all get them. That moment of pure accomplishment when did something that seemed like it wasn’t going to happen. Most mornings, this would be getting out the door on time.
It all Starts With Breakfast
For our family it all kicks off with breakfast. I can’t even imagine how people can walk out the door without breakfast. For our boys, it is their favourite meal of the day. The eat a lot of breakfast. Cereal, fruit, yogurt, toast, juice and whatever else is available. It makes us less worried about all the food they are not eating at school.
One thing that we learned while looking for the little wins in our house. Our boys actually love granola cereal. Usually it’s something sugary but they ate the granola like it was popcorn at the movies. Now that is a spoon drop moment for the ages.
—————————————————————————————-
89% of parents agree that having their children eat breakfast is one of the most important morning to-dos.* With the versatility of Quaker oats, Canadian parents can serve a breakfast worth bragging about.
Providing a variety of breakfast options throughout the week is a common challenge for more than a third of Canadian parents (37%).*
—————————————————————————————-
No Sleeping In
We all have alarms now. The funny part is, we all like to hit snooze or ignore the alarm. It still seems to work out though. As long as the first person up keeps to their timing, everything falls into place. The boys only like alarm clocks because they do silly things like a robot. However fun you can making waking up, odds are much better it will be easy to get your kids out of bed on those cold and dark mornings.
Of course some mornings they just ignore it all and you have to literally pull them out of bed and carry them down to breakfast. I guess you can’t always be winning when it comes to sleepy kids.
—————————————————————————————-
For nearly all Canadian parents (90%), getting their children out of the door on time is an important aspect of their morning routine.
Most Canadian households (82%) take between two and three hours to wake up and get out the door in the morning.* With a little planning and the power of Quaker oats, a wealth of delicious solutions can be assembled quickly, helping families get out of the door in a little less time.
—————————————————————————————-
Finding Time To Also Get Ready
So you get the kids ready. They have eaten and are dressed. Perfect. Now what about the parents. They still have to get ready for work, pack lunches, think of dinner, put out the garbage, find that pair of socks and of course keep calm. We find that letting the kids watch a TV show before school allows us to do all the things without them in the way. I also don’t think it is the worst thing for them to have some mindless entertainment before a long day of learning. It works for us.
Prepare the Night Before
Oh man, this is just like when I was in school. Anything you can do the night before to prepare helps achieve all those Spoon Drop wins the next day. One of the biggies for us is organizing clothes so I don’t have to hunt for shirts of pants when getting the kids ready. Every few months I even find time to fold and put clothes in the drawer for each kid. Major Spoon Drop moment for dad.
Quiet Time During the Chaos
Once the kids are ready and I am ready, it’s such a treat to sit down, enjoy my tea and read something. It is usually only a few minutes, but it’s the best few minutes that I look forward to from the time I wake up. It’s like crossing the finish line of a wild morning race. Then I can walk out the door with a smile on my face and ready to take on the day.
Every parent has these Spoon Drop moments every morning. What are yours? Would love to hear some of them.
METHODOLOGY:
*From June 27th to June 30th, 2016 an online survey was conducted among 1,010 randomly selected working Canadian parents with children 2 to 12 years in the household. The respondents were recruited through the Angus Reid Forum online panel. The invites were balanced on region and gender to represent Canadian parents of 2 to 12 year olds.
Recipes
Want some Quaker Oat recipes to shake up your breakfast routine? Head over to the Spoon Drop website for all kinds of tasty options.
Bonus Spoon Drop Song
This post was sponsored by PepsiCo and Quaker, but as always, opinions are my own and not even the most tasty breakfast treats will change that.