Do you care if your kids eat Breakfast or Not?

Forums:

Just wondering for the ones with older kids if you care if they eat breakfast or not before they go off to school?

SD16 starts school at 7 in the morning. She needs to be up by 5 EVERY school day. I have told her that she is to come down stairs EVERY morning AT 6 to eat her breakfast. First 2 weeks of school she was good with all that. Now that the new school year hype has worn off, she is no longer getting up AT 5 and I don't even think she is eating breakfast every morning......

Today, I came downstairs to let the dogs out of the garage and to put them outside. I decided to check the cameras before asking SD if she ate breakfast. We have a camera in the backyard. The camera is positioned at an angle where we can view the back french doors. In the evenings we can see through the camera video if someone is inside the kitchen because the light (in the kitchen) is on. So today I figured that before I asked SD about eating breakfast I was going to check the video to see at what time she came downstairs. I was going to be able to tell by seeing the light in the kitchen on through the video. I saw the kitchen light on but that was when I was letting the dogs out. I rewinded the video all the way til a little before 5 and not once did the lights in the kitchen turn on.

So I come upstairs and tell SD that she needs to go downstairs to eat breakfast. She said that she already ate. Really, SD? Because according to the video you never went into the kitchen. SD then said that she was to tired that she ate in the dark! Whatever.......

If she didn't eat breakfast yet she could have just said so. But to tell me that she ate in the dark and expects me to believe so.......I have an issue with that. I do believe she lied and I am starting to notice she has started to fib more often, over stupid shit.

FH says that he doesn't want to get up in the mornings with her to make sure that she is doing what she is supposed to be doing because she is going to aggravate him. She is going to aggravate him more when her grades start slipping because she can't concentrate in class because she is preoccupied with the LOUD sounds of her stomach growling!

Yesterday I ended having to take her to school because she was tardy on Tuesday. Didn't say anything to us until Wednesday night. Parents are supposed to show up to school the day after you have been given a tardy slip not 2 days after. Since I showed up 2 days late, SD had to go to all her teachers and have them sign a pink slip and after school she had to take it to her Dean. SD forgot to do that! Annoyed!

Okay......so is this one of those things that I should not harp over?

Not eating breakfast is one

Not eating breakfast is one of the things that irks me too but I've had to learn to let it go. It wasn't worth the aggravation it caused me.
I'd say at 16 your SD is old enough to remember to eat breakfast on her own. If she decides to skip it, then it's her problem when she's starving later in the morning.

My SD has never really eaten breakfast since she was 4yrs old. Her idiot BM has always said "she's just not a breakfast person". I'm sorry but I believe that 4yr olds should be eating something more substantial than a plastic baggy full of dry Rice Krispies which is what she was usually sent to our house with at 10am on Saturday mornings.

I gave up trying to get my DH to make her eat since her entire diet is crap anyway. Instead I focus on my bio's meals. I make sure he's not picking up on his sister's bad eating habits.

For your own sanity I'd let it go. Or maybe you can get her some breakfast bars or something similar that she can stick in her purse and take with her on her way to school in the mornings so she's not completely starving by lunch.

The breakfast bars are a good

The breakfast bars are a good idea. I guess what gets me is that she is such a bs'er. Saying she ate in the dark because she was tired. Thats a new one.

This was a huge issue when I

This was a huge issue when I moved in. DH didn't even know that his kids had never eaten breakfast. So fast forward two years and countless arguments over this. SS know eats a small yogurt smoothie every day before he leaves. I no longer come downstairs because it was causing too many arguments and wait to come down until both boys have left. Works for us. Also, we can tell if he is eating them because we buy one package for the week he is here and it works out.

THey knew they had to eat something and we had to figure out what would work for them. I wish he ate more like BS16, but I will take what I can get.

She 16. At that age she's

She 16. At that age she's old enough to decide if/when she wants to eat. 6am is just way to early for some folks to eat.

Maybe she would rather have fruit, juice, breakfast bar...later in the morning.

I say: pick your battles.

I say: pick your battles. This one isn't worth it IMO. My 18 year old hasn't eaten breakfast on school days for a few years. She's a senior now. I was the same way - and kinda still am. I cannot eat that early.
My skids, 10 and 12, eat breakfast in the mornings before school HERE, but not at BM's.

My little ones, 3 and 5, eat breakfast very early every day before school.

We have the same problem with

We have the same problem with my ss16. He doesn't want to eat breakfast at all. He can't get up when he should so he saves time by not eating breakfast. Plus he says he's not hungry in the morning. However, he HAS to eat something because he has meds to take. He has a low dose antibiotic and an allergy pill. So we argued that fact as to why he has to eat. Then he would eat a little granola bar. I have breakfast bars that he could eat, which are better than a choc. chip granola bar but it is still a fight. He is ADD as well. Not sure if he has trouble concentrating when he's hungry but it wouldn't surprise me. He is usually a BIG eater so I'm sure he's starving by lunch time.

Sorry, no solutions here. It's a teenager thing I think! Gotta love em!

I didn’t eat breakfast from

I didn’t eat breakfast from middle school through high school and still don’t. I am never really hungry for breakfast and I ate healthily throughout the day so it never affect my weight, plus I was a straight A student in high school. Personally I think you should let it go. She is 16 and breakfast isn’t something to cause a fight over.

My DD15 also hasn't eaten

My DD15 also hasn't eaten breakfast the last couple of years. Also not one of the battles I'm choosing. Even on non-school days she doesn't care for breakfast. In fact, breakfast too early literally gags her (not as Princess-y as it may sound). She does spordaically drink one of those breakfast essentials things you mix in milk, which tides her over pretty well until noon.

I care if my DD16 eats

I care if my DD16 eats breakfast, but it's not my hill to die on.

I don't care if skids eat breakfast.

Thanks everyone for the

Thanks everyone for the replies. This is a battle that I will have to let go.....let her stomach GROWL in class while she is sitting next to that hot guy in class. Ha!

Now that you've resigned

Now that you've resigned yourself to letting it go...is it too late to throw in a couple ideas? String cheese, those "100 calorie packs" of snacks, granola or breakfast bars, or other little things to have on hand? I think I'm just saying that because I'm hungry right now.

Good ideas. Thank you!

At her age all you can do is

At her age all you can do is provide and she knows it is there it is up to her to eat you can't force her. Just let her know that there is this or that for breakfast and if she eats she eats if not it oh well. Sorry but sometimes you have to just let the kids find out for themselves if they want to eat or not. My ss14 just can't eat breakfast so I don't push it he gets sick if he does.

My point is that at the age of your sd you should let it be up to her to eat or not it is not the end of the world if she doesn't b/c when she gets hungry she will eat. I know for me I don't eat breakfast either my tummy is rolling in the morns and I just can't do it.