The breakfast rush, how to you do it with mulit-aged kids, incl high schoolers

[74Heaven]

I am finding myself with staggered breakfast schedules this school year for the first time.

 

My oldest 2 (high schoolers) and I eat about 7:30a and the 6th,4th & Ker eat about 830a with me nearby supervising and the girls starting their 2nd subject by then. THe main reason I do this is to let my youngers sleep in (we are up til 9 most nights) and my olders get an early morning start on a very (academically) full day.

 

In theory, I don't *like* this, it means 2 sets of breakfast set outs so slightly more work (they eat the same things tho - I only cook once if I am cooking) but my main concern is that I feel they could lose some valuable family fellowship that meal times bring. (Did I mention it is much quieter and less chaotic - I LIKE that!)

 

Just wondered if I am heading down a path I don't want to go on. (I am *big* on family togetherness and of course it is one of the reasons I homeschool) or if this is just a natural things that happens as those teens get older adn older and older. We eat lunch together tho the youngers get about 90 min and the olders somewhere between 30-50min.) And we eat dinner together altho the oldest is away from home about 2 dinner times a week.

 

I guess my main question is how do you do this at your house with big age spans and big differences in school workloads for the diff. ages of children.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

Lisaj, mom to 5

[TeacherZee]

I can't answer your question directly BUT we didn't have breakfast together after I turned about 12 (my youngest sibling is 7 years younger than me) because I am NOT a morning person. We also rarely had lunch together because we were in school and busy with activities on the weekends. We did however ALWAYS have dinner together (even if it was just sandwiches after a soccer game). Now that we are adults we are still very close. This is by way of me saying I think that dinner is probably enough of a together thing and that you older kids might appreciate some mom or just teen time at breakfast. I think as long as you make sure you do other things together too you current schedule (if it works in other respects) should be fine:001_smile:

[Quiver0f10]

We always eat lunch and dinner together, but my kids all wake at different times and want to eat right away so breakfast is a staggered even here unless I cook a huge breakfast and get everyone to the table together, which usually happens on only Sunday mornings.

 

A thought though is maybe give the older kids a snack first thing and then once the younger kids are awake, the older ones get a break and everyone can eat breakfast together?

[xxxxxxxx]

because I have early risers and later risers. We eat lunch and dinner together.

[FloridaLisa]

Well, to me, this is one of those decisions that you are going to have to work out according to your tolerance level and the way your family runs. Because I am not a morning person and stay up (way too) late many nights grading and working on homeschool stuff, my kids get their own breakfast. It is usually homemade bread, oatmeal, cereal or smoothie. I'm picky. :tongue_smilie: I rarely cook a hot breakfast because I don't want to clean the mess in the morning. And the kitchen is closed by 7:30. We start school at 7:30. I do the dishes while giving ds9's spelling words.

 

The only exception is the baby who gets up at 9:00 a.m. By then, I'm done teaching math so I can spend one-on-one time with her.

 

But this is how *I* like it for my family. One thing I would encourage you is to lay down the rules/schedule that work for *you* and don't feel guilty one little bit about it. I have found a workable schedule that I can tolerate helps me be a better, sweeter mom.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Jane]

I have the same situation here. I stagger our breakfasts so morning chores can be accomplished w/out all the little ones under our feet. Afterwards I wake and feed the little ones and tidy the kitchen while the big ones are showering and dressing for the day. Then we all start school together at 8:30am. This plan is working well for us right now. I hadn't considered that staggered breakfasts may become a permanent change until you posted. Looking forward, I can see my younger ones slowly growing into the routine of the older ones. Waking earlier will become a reward for maturity. I guess I'm okay with it. There is something special about that quiet early morning time w/the older ones and I didn't expect my older children to rise at 6:30am when they were little.

[1bassoon]

LisaJ -

 

I could have written your post - TONIGHT!

 

I just told dd16 that we were trying an experiment this week. She is going to get up, have her devotional, fix her own breakfast, and get going on school. Here's been our dilemma:

 

She's up and getting ready by 6:30-7 a.m. I can't seem to get folks to breakfast before 8, and by the time we eat, clean up, and have a "morning meeting" (hymns, scripture memory, poems) it's usually 9 before we get started. And often, I skip the MM due to a time crunch!

 

Here's the rest of her schedule: work 'til 11, when she has to practice piano (that's her time slot). Lunch break 12-12:45 or 1. Most days, she has to be out of the house by 3 o'clock for ballet. And we wonder why she's doing schoolwork on Saturdays??? 4 hours a day is just NOT enough for a high schooler, y'think?

 

I'll let you know how our "experiment" goes - I too put a high priority on having the family together, but something's gotta give, kwim?

[anissarobert]

Heather,

 

Your life sounds just like mine! My dd15 has ballet 4 nights per week, and 5 hours on Sat. She has not been keeping up. Like you, I asked her to get up and get going on her own. She has to eat, get dressed and I hope started by 7:30 or so. That is the only way she can fit everything in. Like your dd, she also has music practice (classical guitar). This is working so far, unless she does not set her alarm, or she turns it off in her sleep.

 

I don't get up as early, because I use the late evening hours for grading, working on our homeschool newsletter, and other tasks. Please post how it goes for you. This has been a hard transition for dd. She started 9th grade and moved into advanced ballet the same month.

[chaik76]

We eat lunch and dinner together, but breakfast is strictly a do-it-yourself affair. I feed the baby buy my seven year old is responsible to get his own breakfast and clean up after himself. I don't have as many children as you do, but I'm pretty sure this is how I will continue even if we have more children. I. could get his own breakfast by the time he was four, so it's just never been an issue. Since he cleans up his own stuff, I don't even have to worry about it.

[TravelingChris]

Everyone here gets their own breakfast or sometimes whoever is making something asks if anyone wants what they are making. I have a 19 1/2, a 15, and an almost 12. I haven't been making community breakfast times since I had two children. We also don't usually have community lunch either. We do normally eat dinner together

[Lolly]

Breakfast? What is that?

 

 

(Mine have to just get their own.)