Are you aware of the recommended amount of calcium and vitamin D your child should geteach day? Better yet, did you know the American Academy of Pediatrics recently doubled the vitamin D recommendation for children? Approximately 75% of kids today don’t get the recommended levels of calcium and vitamin D — two key nutrients for bone growth. A great way to ensure your child gets the vitamin D they so desperately need is by feeding them breakfast cereal, which is a staple in my household, and I’m sure yours as well.
I can not express to you how excited my nine year-old was to receive General Mills Lucky Charms (with Hourglasses) breakfast cereal in the mail! After opening our package, I gave him the not-so-difficult task of tasting the cereal, then expressing his thoughts. After quickly consuming every last bite, and slurping up all the milk, his said, “I really like this cereal, the marshmallows are a really good idea.” I then told him that I, too, loved Lucky Charms cereal (and its yummy marshmallow charms) as a kid, and began pouring my own bowl.
Cereal is one of the most nutritious breakfast options a kid can eat. Most cereals have about 100 – 130 calories per serving and provide at least 10 key nutrients. And, ready-to-eat cereal is the number one source of whole grain in American diets. Around here, we not only eat cereal for breakfast, but as an after school or nighttime snack. Our grocery shopping usually consists of picking up 2-3 boxes of General Mills breakfast cereal, like Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cocoa Puffs.Overall, it feels great knowing that my son not only enjoys the taste of General Mills cereal, but is getting the nutritious vitamin D and calcium his body needs. I encourage you to learn more about the importance of calcium and vitamin D, and print your own coupons on the General Mills “Growing Up Strong” website at www.growupstrong.com.
I would like to thank the Mom Bloggers Club and General Mills for letting us try out this great cereal! Please feel free to leave comments about your child’s favorite General Mills cereal, or something you learned while visiting the General Mills “Grow Up Strong” website!
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genevieve le bel on 
Katy M on 
I'm ashamed of momspark for pushing products like Lucky Charms.
With the obesity rate of young children being almost 20% (that's 1 in 5 kids) the last product we should consider feeding our children is sugar loaded cereal.
Lucky Charms contains 11g of sugar in 3/4 cup of cereal!
Trix & Cocoa Puffs both contain 12g of sugar!
I agree that kids need to have whole grains. However, there are healthier alternatives to these poor breakfast foods. Give them cereals such as plain Cheerios or Kix. If they like their food a lil sweeter, add fresh fruit for a healthy alternative. Cheerios is only 2g of sugar per serving, Kix is 3g!
Also, the link you have provided is a spam site. Please check your sources before posting.
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Wow! Kristen (erethfamily)’s comment is pretty strongly worded to say the least. Such a shame she couldn’t make her point in a manner that invites more cooperative discussion.
Keep on doing what you’re doing. I for one appreciated the post and the link.
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My link was incorrect earlier, I apologize for that, I have corrected it.
Thank you for your opinion. We like these cereals in our household, and I am sorry that you do not agree.
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I think you have every right to post that review. I believe that the obesity problem is closely linked to parents not watching what or how much their kids are eating. My kids grew up on cereal like that (both are 19 & 15) and they are not obese!
Parents need to balance what their kids are eating with other wholesome things throughout the day. They also need to kick their kids outside for some exercise and monitor their computer, tv and video game use.
There is way too much blame being passed on to manufacturers now-a-days to make some parents feel better about their parenting skills or lack of parenting skills.
Parents need to educate themselves better on what goes into the foods that they give their kids. They can make smarter choices and then they can decide on their own on what to feed and what not to feed their kids.
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Thank you, Just Be, I failed to mention in my previous comment that my son is VERY active in sports and other physical activities, as I was growing up. We are not an obese family by any means, even though we have some sugar in our diet.
I hope I didn’t give the impression that we don’t eat healthy meals along with breakfast cereal, because we surely do.
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I completely agree with JUST BE. The sugar, calories and fat grams don’t just jump into our bodies or our kids. As moms, we do the best we can to encourage healthy eating and exercise habits. My kids are reluctant to eat breakfast (as I was as a child). So, I’ll take Lucky Charms over no breakfast any day!
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We eat General Mills cereals in our house, as well as other breakfast foods. The key is to be mindful of what the kids eat over the course of the day. If all they ate all day long was cereal I’d be more concerned about the sugar content. They key phrase in a lot of cereal ads is that the cereal is ‘part’ of a healthy breakfast and that kids should be active. I’m sure the sugar content in the cereal is equal to the maple syrup my kids like to put on my homemade fruit pancakes.
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And that’s why we have reviewers to tell us the good and the bad. Unfortunately I didn’t like that cereal as a kid and I don’t now but my kids love it. I am however a sucker for Sugar Smacks now known as Honey Smacks.
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i LOVE lucky charms. we can’t stock enough boxes in my house!! i’ll have to get the ones with the hourglass. the only problems i have with lucky charms are…1: i can’t stop at one bowl…or handful. and 2: it causes cuts in mine and my childrens mouths. but other than that…fill ‘em up full of whole grain sugary goodness is what i always say…well actually…just started saying, right this very second!
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I didn’t think that at all Amy. I just wanted to make the point that some sugary foods in our diets are not that bad. Some people would just rather blame the manufacturers and advertisers than take any responsibility for their own lives.
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We love lucky charms at our house! There’s sugar in a lot of things, take milk for example – 12 g of sugar in 1 serving. You don’t see anyone complaining about the sugar content there? Everything in moderation and lots of activity, right? Thanks for your post.
-Tiffany
http://www.babesandkidsreview.com
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Great review! Your first commenter made a good point, though. I don’t give my children sweetened cereal.
I just found your blog on entrecard. I enjoyed reading this post.
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Here’s my take. Lucky Charms is a dream-come-true cereal for a kid. Not so much for a parent. And so it is that when your child was 6-months old, you may have made all baby food, swore you would never allow sugared cereals in the house, that they would eat tofu scrambled eggs and beg for more sea salted broccoli. And then they get invited to *Jimmy’s* house, different rules, where the first taste of a forbidden Twinkie is savored and the race is on.
Fast forward 18 years. I’m a fabulous cook, love food and our family eats like proverbial kings. Sure my grocery bill is fairly large for three people, that’s OK. So when it comes to our son, I literally have no idea how he is still standing based on what he eats. And he’s an athlete. My work continues.
Take a look at my Twitter post describing the meal I served on Sunday 2/22. I’m crazy about Ingrid Hoffman and her Latin food, as you can easily tell.
http://twitter.com/BarbaraLochen
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