Breaking out of the Cereal Rut

My kids love cereal, and I must admit, I do too. It's a quick and easy breakfast, and my kids can (almost) get it themselves. Despite the fact that I know that eating a good breakfast is important, I don't tend to have much of an appetite in the morning, so it's hard enough to figure out what I want to eat, let alone figure out what to serve everyone else. So, when they wake up starving and ask for cereal, I'm more than happy to let them have it.

The problem is, it's not really that simple.  As soon as my kids finish the cereal, they ask for something else.  They're not full, they're not satisfied and they end up eating multiple breakfasts, plus snacks all morning long.  I need a new plan for breakfast. I need filling meals- high in protein and fiber, low in sugar. I need to stop the all morning breakfast buffet.

I've been saying this for a while, but the time has finally come. I just found out that I have gestational diabetes. I will need to make sure that I am eating a high protein, low sugar breakfast and while I'm making changes myself, I might as well finally tackle the "cereal rut."

My kids are not fans of surprises and would not react well if I suddenly told them, "No cereal," so I've come up with a plan:

1.  Discuss the problem with the family. I plan to sit down with the kids this weekend and discuss the problem. They eat cereal for breakfast, but are never satisfied. They are still hungry.  We need to find some foods we can eat for breakfast that help us to feel full, and provide us with energy throughout the morning.

2.  Plan 5 meals for next week that are high protein, high fiber, and low sugar.  Shop for all ingredients and prepare as much as possible ahead of time so that my children aren't, "starving," while they wait for me to make breakfast.  Typically, if I make breakfast, they whine the whole time about how hungry they are and beg to have something (cereal) "while they wait."

3.  Build excitement about the new meals that we are going to try. Let the kids help with preparation, talk about the meals, let them decide what to have first, and post a list of the upcoming meals.

4.  Allow the kids to have cereal as an after school treat. This way, they can still have their favorite treat, but we will avoid the problems that arise from having it first thing in the morning.

5. Allow the kids to give feedback on the new breakfasts regarding taste and whether or not they felt full after eating. 

I'm excited to see how this goes and will be sure to share the results of the experiment over the next week.

Do you have any great breakfast ideas?  If so, I'd love it if you would share them in the comments!

Update:  See what I served and how the kids reacted- Breaking Out of the Cereal Rut- Day 1, Breaking Out of the Cereal Rut- Day 2, Breaking Out of the Cereal Rut- Day 3, Breaking Out of the Cereal Rut - Day 4, Breaking Out of the Cereal Rut- Day 5, List of Cereal Alternatives