Crazy Cereal Week – Hive and Nest

Kids love having family traditions but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that a lot of traditions are a real pain for the parents (especially the mom). Being pragmatic like I am, I try to keep my job uncomplicated but I don’t want to suck the joy out of my kids’ lives. Thus we have several easy, fun traditions that the kids completely love.  Crazy Cereal week is one of their favorites and is pretty much the easiest tradition we have. We’ve been doing this for several years and they all still adore it (even India, who was too lazy to get out of her bed, hollered from her room that she wanted Lucky Charms.)

On the first Monday after school gets out for the summer* we go to the grocery store and the kids are allowed to pick out any cereal they like. I’m pretty strict about eating low-sugar cereals the rest of the year so this is the one time I say OK to Honey Frosted Sugar Bombs. Each child gets his/her own box and can either horde it or share (This year I made an exception for York because he is man-sized and wanted Oh’s which come in a tiny box. So I let him get two.) Once the cereal is gone, that’s it–the party is over.  If they are little piggies they’ll eat it twice a day, but the smart kids make it last a long time. Either way, they get to eat something fun and different and I’m off the hook for breakfast for a few days. That, my friends, is a fantastic tradition.

*The other nice thing about this tradition is that it can be done any time of year. We just picked the first week after school gets out because everyone is usually around.