News Copy – By Rob Knight
Getting the kids dressed, making sure they’ve cleaned their teeth and separating them from their mobiles are among the biggest early morning stresses, according to parents.
Researchers who polled 1,800 mums and dads with children aged five to 11, found one fifth consider breakfast to be the ‘trickiest’ time of day.
Other early morning tests include getting the children out of bed, getting them to school on time and making sure they eat a balanced breakfast.
As a result of the early morning chaos, six in 10 parents admit they struggle to find enough time to eat breakfast as a family – and one in 10 NEVER sit down to eat the meal together.
Commissioned by Kellogg’s, which has launched new 40 per cent less sugar Coco Pops, the research found having breakfast together makes the whole family happier.
Loose Women’s Stacey Solomon has teamed-up with the cereal manufacturer to discuss the challenges parents face at breakfast time and share her tips for a better start.
The 28-year-old mum-of-two said: “As a working parent mornings and breakfast time can be a whirlwind of making sure the whole family is up and ready to start the day.
“I find it’s the simple things that make a big difference. In our house, my two boys choose their favourite music and we’ll have a little sing and dance around the table – it sounds silly but it works.
“Even just 20 minutes sitting down to eat with my boys before a busy day sets us all up so much better.”
The research also found three quarters of mums and dads consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day.
But one third also said breakfast time with the kids leaves them feeling ‘stressed and overwhelmed’.
For one quarter of parents, the biggest concern is making sure their child has a balanced meal to get them ready for the day ahead.
This might be because seven in 10 believe what their children eat first thing in the morning affects their mood and energy levels for the rest of the day.
It also emerged one third wish they could eat breakfast together in the morning more often than they do.
Around half spend less than 10 minutes enjoying their first meal of the day with one another.
And one third only manage to snatch five minutes together for breakfast.
In fact, more than half of households only sit down as a family for breakfast together three times a week – or less.
Bridget Briggs, from Kellogg’s UK and Ireland, said: “We take our responsibility to reduce sugar in our products very seriously.
“And, after years of development, we’re thrilled to finally launch the new Coco Pops 40 per cent less sugar recipe.
“This change in recipe is part of Kellogg’s Better Starts plan to overhaul its cereals and help families make healthier choices.
New recipe Kellogg’s Coco Pops are now available in major supermarkets across the UK.
ENDS
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// We only want these styles applied when javascript is enabled
$(‘.gal_content’).css(‘display’, ‘block’);
// Initialize Advanced Galleriffic Gallery
var gallery = $(‘#thumbs_27494_1’).galleriffic({
delay: 3500,
numThumbs: 12,
preloadAhead: 12,
enableTopPager: false,
enableBottomPager: false,
imageContainerSel: ‘#slideshow_27494_1’,
controlsContainerSel: ‘#controls_27494_1’,
captionContainerSel: ‘#caption_27494_1’,
loadingContainerSel: ‘#loading_27494_1’,
renderSSControls: true,
renderNavControls: false,
playLinkText: ‘Play Slideshow’,
pauseLinkText: ‘Pause Slideshow’,
enableHistory: 0,
autoStart: 0,
enableKeyboardNavigation: true,
syncTransitions: false,
defaultTransitionDuration: 300,
onTransitionOut: function(slide, caption, isSync, callback) {
slide.fadeTo(this.getDefaultTransitionDuration(isSync), 0.0, callback);
caption.fadeTo(this.getDefaultTransitionDuration(isSync), 0.0);
},
onTransitionIn: function(slide, caption, isSync) {
var duration = this.getDefaultTransitionDuration(isSync);
slide.fadeTo(duration, 1.0);
// Position the caption at the bottom of the image and set its opacity
var slideImage = slide.find(‘img’);
caption.fadeTo(duration, 1.0);
},
onPageTransitionOut: function(callback) {
//this.hide();
setTimeout(callback, 100); // wait a bit
},
onPageTransitionIn: function() {
var prevPageLink = this.find(‘a.prev’).css({‘opacity’: ‘0.3’ , ‘display’ : ‘inline-block’, ‘cursor’ : ‘default’});
var nextPageLink = this.find(‘a.next’).css({‘opacity’: ‘0.3’ , ‘display’ : ‘inline-block’, ‘cursor’ : ‘default’});
// Show appropriate next / prev page links
if (this.displayedPage > 0)
prevPageLink.css({‘opacity’ : ‘1’ , ‘display’ : ‘inline-block’, ‘cursor’ : ‘pointer’});
var lastPage = this.getNumPages() – 1;
if (this.displayedPage < lastPage)
nextPageLink.css({'opacity' : '1' , 'display' : 'inline-block', 'cursor' : 'pointer'});
this.fadeTo('fast', 1.0);
}
});
/**************** Event handlers for custom next / prev page links **********************/
gallery.find('a.prev').click(function(e) {
gallery.previousPage();
e.preventDefault();
});
gallery.find('a.next').click(function(e) {
gallery.nextPage();
e.preventDefault();
});
});
