Another thing to fight over — who gets to eat their week’s worth of sugar in one go while having the box in front of them

IS it only me, or is Shabbos cereal just another thing  parents buy to harm themselves?

I’m not even referencing the normal arguments it brings in its wake. (Does “He has more than me!” “Her milk is more chocolaty than mine!” “I want the white bowl!” “She’s looking at me!” sound familiar?) Oh, no, I’m talking about next-level issues.

Baruch Hashem, I have a houseful of mostly shul-attending boys who don’t eat before davening, so the Shabbos cereal-eating time gets a bit more complicated. We eat right when they come home from shul, so in the summer months, it becomes Seudah Shlishis, and in the winter, it’s Melaveh Malkah.

But the real issues start when they forget to have their cereal on time. Enter the cereal-bowl currency negotiations.

It goes like this: “I don’t want to eat this plate of chicken, rice, and salad. Instead, I’ll cash in the bowl of Shabbos cereal I didn’t have three weeks ago, please.”

I’ve also overheard my kids swapping jobs for their portions: “If you unload the dishwasher instead of me, you can have my bowl of Shabbos cereal next week.” Followed by, “I’ll top his one bowl of cereal for the one I still have from two weeks ago plus next week’s — if you take out the garbage!”

I can hardly imagine what these UN-style discussions would look like if we had more than one cereal option; fortunately, my kids share a universal preference. Our family’s cereal of choice? Trix®!

For any moms who are unfamiliar with this rabbit-plastered red box of sugar and preservatives, Trix cereal is shaped like neon-colored fruit but has zero resemblance in taste or nutritional value to the real thing.