I was talking with a dear friend who teaches in the younger grades at a small school north of Detroit. “The kids are bouncing off the walls by 9:30,” my friend says, and I think to myself that maybe their blood sugars are starting to fall. Nine-thirty in the morning is pretty early. He says that a snack often helps. Yup — it very well may be their blood sugars.

My friend says that, in his humble opinion, two of the biggest obstacles to learning that he sees on a daily basis in his classroom are 1) sleep deprivation and 2) the lack of a nutritious breakfast. Parents are busy, not to mention that the onslaught of targeted marketing makes it a lot harder to buy nourishing food. But white flour, corn syrup and sugar do not fit the bill, and we compromise our kids’ ability to learn when we let the food industry decide what constitutes “breakfast.”

So my friend and I enlisted the help of a few more friends to make up a list of morning meals that might appeal to kids and their parents:

1. scrambled eggs.

2. sweet potato (microwaved) and peanut butter.

3. avocado slices, lightly salted, in a whole-wheat wrap.

4. yogurt (organic, plain, whole milk) with your choice of berries, nuts, oats, maple syrup.

5. salmon and cream cheese on a whole wheat bagel.

6. apple slices and sunflower seed butter.

7. melted colby cheese on whole grain toast.

8. steel-cut oatmeal (½ cup oats + 1 cup water + 1/4 tsp. vinegar + optional raisins) left on the counter all night, and heated in the microwave in the morning for 30 sec.

9. leftovers from dinner — why not?!

Write in with more ideas in the comments below, and we’ll make a list that includes something for absolutely everyone! Give them choices, but make those choices count. As I told my own children many years ago, “I’m not saying you can’t eat white bread at school, and I’m not saying you can’t have any snack you’re offered at your friend’s house. I’m just saying that, in our house, on our watch, this is the kind of food we’ll be serving from now on.”