Family Day Out 2009 : Discussion on ‘Children and their Breakfast’
When I saw the pouring rain last Saturday morning, I thought to myself, UH-OH, what would happen to all the outdoor activities planned?
But then the rain was gone in an hour or so, and the scorching sun took over. And by the time we were by the Singapore River at around 2pm, it was indeed VERY VERY warm.
The crowd was pretty huge though, and it really was nice to see families everywhere, spending their Saturday together.
There I met up with the ladies from Asia PR Werkz who made all the arrangements for the discussion panel at 3pm, the one I shared about a few days ago.
Basically the topic was about children and their breakfast, and I was in this panel discussion together with two other moms, Ms Gladys Wong – the Chief Dietician from Alexandra Hospital, and Ms Lynn Heng – a family expert from NTUC First Campus.
It was more like a casual chat between all five of us and the two emcees from Gold 90.5FM.
Anyway.
Here’s a little summary of what we discussed which I thought may be useful to you all :
> Children need to have some breakfast in order for them to concentrate better at school (especially when they have to sit through topics like Maths, etc)
> Introduce VARIETY in our kids’ daily diet. The same old breakfast menu every single day is NOT good.
> Children’s eating habits tend to follow whatever that the parents and their ‘surrounding’ allow them to have since young (eg. a child may not like to eat vegetables if the Daddy also is not into vegies)
> Children do not need to be ’round and chubby’ (though grandparents may think they look ‘healthier’ this way).
> If you do feel like they should be ‘losing weight’, parents MUST NOT starve their kids. Instead, they should increase the amount of exercise so that MORE calories are burned
> Avoid sugary drinks which has zero goodness. It is much better to let our kids drink WATER instead.
> Avoid having the TV on during mealtimes. Make an effort to sit down with the kids and chat with them instead. Talk about how their day was like, their friends, what they learned at school, what they like about their friends, etc.
> Young children shouldn’t eat three large meals. Instead, they should have approx. six smaller meals throughout the day
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Perhaps you can help and add more breakfast or mealtime-related tips to the list?
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KKF:
Thanks thanks 🙂
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Sandra:
Thanks for sharing the tips about drinking milk.
I do have that mindset too .. ie. if Anya drinks only 250ml a day instead of her usual 500ml, I feel she’s missed out on the goodness of it …
But then again, my hubby often reminds me that it’s not that it happens often, and she does eat other things too .. so it’s completely okay!
Really grateful that my kids are happy with drinking milk though 😀
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Hi Christine!!
Thanks for sharing … and my my … reading about what you guys cook and eat makes what I’ve been cooking (and eating) sooo boring haha …
It’s good to have that much variety though! My husband is very much into trying all sorts of food, but I’m not that adventurous when it comes to food ..
Would LOVE my kids to be more like their Daddy though (while I subtly force myself to explore along at the same time, hehe)
Oh Leonny! How can I miss your appearance?
Thanks for sharing and I agree with you.
Just share a little about my kids eating habits. My kids are great eaters … they were taught from as little as baby that they must eat good food and they must eat what is given to them (which is most of the time proper freshly made food so no excuse for picking). Both of my girls were fully breastfed and were self weaned at 2 and 3 plus. They probably picked up all kinds of taste from the breastmilk. Jon and I love to cook, eat and experiment with all type of ingredients and herbs, so naturally our kids also learn to appreciate and develop a wide variety of palate (from simple Japanese to exotic Indian to delicate French and flavoursome Italian). The other thing we do very often is doing grocery and cooking together as a family. My 8 and 5 years old are great helpers in the kitchen. They both are taught about kitchen safety and are capable of making simple meals and baking.
Last night we dined at Brasserie Wolf at Robertson Walk. I arrived after Jon and the girls finished their meal as I stayed at an art show opening a little longer. My girls said to me: “The chef is really good. My (ham and seafood) pasta is so delicious. You must eat here.” I ordered Roast Rabbit with tagliatelle and was absolutely delighted.
Well Done Leonny! You raised interesting points – sad to have missed the event – glad to see that Singapore is becoming more family-focus & more aware & highlighting the importance of family & kids.
i would just add a little point – Asians often think that children MUST have milk everyday, esp the older generation. Although milk is good, but it’s goodness can be gotten from elsewhere too – such as cheese, yoghurt, broccoli etc… Mind you, i’m a dedicated daily milk-drinker (full-cream pasturised) even now but i don’t insist that my son MUST drink milk – as long as he takes some diary products everyday i’m happy. Just bringing this up as some kids really don’t like milk & some mums feel bad that their kids don’t drink milk – just to say it’s ok not to drink milk everyday.
thank you so much for sharing!