The Importance of Eating Breakfast Together

How often does your family sit at the dining table at breakfast time?

Given how hectic mornings can be this was never a priority for me, I just wanted to feed the boys and hurry them along, getting them ready for school. I'd let them sit in front of the TV, watching Pokemon or some other nonsense while they ate their toast, and then once finished I'd nag them to death to make sure they weren't late for school.

This routine resulted in lots (and lots) of arguments. BP didn't like switching off his TV in the middle of a programme, LP didn't want to move from the sofa, there was always something, some reason for "5 more minutes".

A plaque that says "Good Morning, Let the stress begin..."








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Each morning before the boys got up I would sit and have my breakfast, I'd watch BBC News, find out what was going on in the world, and drink a hot coffee. Once the boys were up my relaxing morning was over and it was time to get started rushing around.

All the arguments, and horrible mornings got me thinking "there must be a better way".

And there is...


Have a morning routine.


Over the last few weeks I've got up at 6:30am, done some chores, and woken the boys (all of them, including the Hubby) up at 6:50am. At that point they have 10 minutes to get out of bed, I have breakfast ready for them by 7am. 

At 7am we all sit down in the lounge, with BBC News on the TV, and eat breakfast. 


Brown leather sofa, in our lounge


We *could* sit at the dining table but I think we're all still waking up at this time so it probably wouldn't work very well.

Sitting together, eating breakfast, while watching the news has had a surprising effect on our mornings.

For a start BP has said he enjoys watching the news, something I never thought I'd hear him say. A few weeks ago we ended up having a discussion about the EU referendum. It was a lovely talk and I was pleased because I felt like he was actually listening to us.

LP isn't quite as interested (he is only 6) but he does comment on some things he hears, like the weather. He spotted Nottingham on the map once and got all excited because that's where we live! It was quite amusing.

Some mornings we sit, watch the news, and don't discuss anything but I think the point is that we're all together enjoying breakfast. If the boys want to talk they can, if not they don't have to.

The other thing is that they're seeing what goes on in the world.

People may disagree with me allowing my children to watch the news, after all there can be scary stuff on there, and it's real. But for me that's the point, it's all real, they can ask all the questions they need to. I don't want to keep the real world from them.


Our new morning routine has had a great effect on the boys and as long as we keep it up I think things are only going to improve.

I'm looking forward to more interesting discussions with my boys over breakfast.

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