If your child is tired and grumpy by mid-morning, it's time to take a closer look at what they're having for breakfast.
I'd always counted orange juice as the healthy part of Sam's breakfast. Reading the label made me consider a simple swap: a chocolate milk drink with eight vitamins and minerals in the juice's place.
My son, Sam, is seven. One Saturday, he was in tears over a missing felt-tip pen before we'd even got to lunchtime. He'd eaten breakfast barely two hours earlier.
A note from school that week said he was struggling to concentrate. After pick-up, he'd lie on the sofa with his coat still on, too tired to tell me about his day. By bedtime, even asking him to brush his teeth could turn into an argument.
I kept wondering whether I needed to be firmer. Then I'd hear myself snapping and feel awful. I loved this little boy. I didn't want every ordinary part of our day to feel like a battle.
So I started with breakfast. I made it for him every day, usually without giving the ingredients a second thought.
I started with the breakfast I made on autopilot.
Coco Pops, a glass of orange juice, sometimes toast. Quick, filling enough, done. I saw an empty bowl and assumed we'd got breakfast sorted.
I didn't expect a different drink to explain the school note or fix the difficult evenings. I wanted to understand what I was serving, how much he'd eaten and whether there was enough variety across the week.
Before changing the meal, I read the labels on the foods and drinks I bought each week.
The orange juice was the part I'd never questioned.
I poured it because it was fruit. The bottle said no added sugar, and I took that as a reason to feel good about the glass beside his cereal.
Then I looked at the serving size. A 150ml glass of the smooth orange juice I checked contained 13g of sugar. It also supplied vitamin C, so I could see why I'd chosen it.
The NHS counts the sugars in unsweetened juice as 'free sugars', the same category as sugar added to food and drinks. The sugar naturally present in plain milk isn't included in that category.
I wanted to look beyond 'no added sugar' and find a breakfast drink I could feel good about serving and Sam would enjoy.
I'd already tried swaps he wouldn't touch.
I'd bought things that looked better on the packet before. Sam would take one sip, pull a face and push the drink away. Then I'd be left with another almost-full packet in the cupboard.
Reading the ingredients was only part of it. If I was going to replace his juice, Sam had to want to drink what I put in its place.
I couldn't add another job to the school run.
At half past seven, I'm finding a clean uniform and reminding Sam to put his shoes on. I'm not going to weigh out five ingredients or negotiate over a new breakfast.
I wanted something I could mix into the milk already in the fridge and put down beside his cereal. The rest of breakfast could stay the same.
Bonjour Kids caught my eye. Would Sam drink it?
When I came across Bonjour Kids, the vitamins and minerals caught my attention. Then I looked at the Facebook comments to see whether children enjoyed drinking it.
Those parents' comments encouraged me to look at the recipe. Whether Sam would like it was something I'd have to find out for myself.
I found a simple way to add nutrients to breakfast.
Bonjour Kids is a chocolate drink powder with eight vitamins and minerals: B12, C, D3, E, K2, calcium, zinc and selenium. It also contains acacia fibre, cocoa and vanilla.
The powder has no added sugar. A mug made with milk still contains the sugar naturally present in that milk.
I could mix Bonjour Kids into the milk already in our fridge and serve those nutrients with breakfast. The chocolate flavour made it worth trying as a replacement for Sam's juice.
UPGRADE THEIR BREAKFAST DRINKI could change the drink and keep his usual breakfast.
I could mix the drink while his toast was in the toaster, then set the mug beside his cereal bowl. It would replace his usual glass of juice.
The instructions say to mix one serving into 250ml of milk, warm or cold. Stir the powder into a little milk first, then add the rest. I'd check the serving directions on the pack before making his first mug.
I wouldn't need to plan a whole new meal. The cereal and toast could stay while I chose a different drink to go with them.
Would it taste like the chocolate drinks he knew?
I was still wondering whether its chocolate flavour would feel familiar to Sam. These parents described how it tasted to their children.
"My kids love this rich chocolate taste"
"Great taste, the children love it and they think it's regular chocolate drink."
"My children love it - they think they are having a hot chocolate every day"
