Helpful single parenting advice is often won through long and hard experience. Simple tips and tricks for getting your mornings off to the right start will help to:
- make the your day progress more smoothly
- give you more free time
- ensure three healthy meals for your children daily – prepared in a snap!
Parenting Advice: Start the Day with a Good Breakfast
Ideas abound regarding what constitutes a good breakfast. In the case of the single mom or dad, the breakfast must not only be nourishing and filling, but also inexpensive and fast. When either dad or mom is no longer in the picture, it means that your money will have to stretch farther, and that there are two fewer hands to help with morning preparations.
My favorite idea for breakfast is old fashioned oatmeal. Here, I am not talking about the instant just-add-hot-water packs of oats, nor am I talking about the cartons that proclaim themselves as “quick oats”. Old Fashioned oatmeal is less expensive, contains more nutrition and fiber, has no salt or preservatives added, no artificial ingredients – and, it is just as fast to prepare.
How Single Parents Can Afford to Feed Children Nutritious Meals
While children are washing their faces and getting dressed:
- Place a 1/3- or 1/2-cup scoop of old fashioned oats in a microwaveable bowl.
- Toss in some raisins, dried cherries or another favorite dried fruit.
- Measure two scoops of water into the same bowl, and stir.
- Place in the microwave oven and cook for 1-1½ minutes on HIGH.
- Repeat for each child (and don’t forget to make one for yourself!).
- Finally, pat yourself on the back because you haven't even dirtied a pot!
Hint: The first few times, watch the bowl carefully so that it doesn’t overflow. Different ovens, the bowl you use, and variations in water temperature will dictate exactly the right amount of cooking time.
I like to stir in a teaspoon of organic coconut oil (rich in healthy medium chained fatty acids) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. If your children find it is not sweet enough, try a different fruit or add a teaspoon of sugar or honey. Over time you will be able to eliminate the added sugar by reducing it slightly week-by-week, and they will never notice the difference.
Nutrition for Children of Single Parents
Starting your day with this exceptionally healthy meal will reap major benefits beyond filling hungry tummies. Oatmeal is high in protein, vitamins and minerals, and very high in fiber content too. The soluble and insoluble fiber in oats clean the colon, and maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Fiber also helps to keep blood sugar within a normal range which, in turn, sustains energy and concentration levels at their peak until lunchtime. Physical stamina, children’s performance in school and your performance at work will improve immediately.
Time Management for Single Parents
By the time you have finished preparing the oats, your children will likely still be searching for their socks. That means you will have plenty of time to prepare excellent and easy lunches before they even arrive at the breakfast table. And while they are still eating, you can start a simple nutritious supper meal which will virtually cook itself.
Who knew that a simple breakfast strategy could reduce so much stress in the morning, provide so much nutrition and free up so much time? Single parents need all the help they can get and this easy and inexpensive trick will help to start your day off on the right foot every time.
Reference
- The World's Healthiest Foods: Oats
- Uncovering the Nutritional Value of Oats - Retrieved from the USDA website, October 9, 2011.
Maria Blanco - Writer/Editor, Certified Family Herbalist, Naturopath, Holistic Nutritional Consultant
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