The Warburton's Breakfast Challenge

Mums have to juggle twice as many tasks as business owners, directors and decision makers during the breakfast rush hour, according to new research.

The findings from family baker, Warburtons, reveal that between 7.17am and 8.30am each weekday morning, coined the ‘Breakfast Rush Hour’, busy mums face a constant series of domestic tasks and chores - from tactical strategies to get their children and partners up and helping children brush their teeth and hair, to orchestrating the family breakfast, getting outfits ready and managing the school run.

And while the scope of tasks and outcomes may differ, mums have to tackle an average of 9.8 challenges during this busy 73-minute window - compared to an average of just 4.2 tasks, which senior business people (men and women) face in their first hour and a quarter at work.

Phew!  It's no wonder I feel like I'm on the verge of a heart attack every morning.  I don't know what breakfast time in your house looks like but mine is pretty damned manic.

The Other Half is always long gone, left for work at about 6am, so the hellish morning routine of getting ready for school falls to me.  I've never been able to stomach breakfast first thing, so Ruby eats hers on her own, usually while I'm screaming around the house trying to get dressed/feed the dog/empty the dishwasher/check my emails/drag a brush through my hair.

My breakfast of choice on a school day would probably be a large gin and a bottle of Valium - or is that the other way round?  But apparently this is frowned upon by Foundation Year teachers and school gate mums, so I make do instead with a cup of builder's tea accompanied by screams of "hurry up, we're late" and "where are is your other school shoe/book bag/PE kit/lunch box/wellie boot?

I tell you, by 8:45 I'm ready to go back to bed again.

At least Ruby manages to have a slice of toast or a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice, oblivious to the chaos going on around her.  To be honest, she's usually too engrossed in Nick Jr to notice that we should have left 10 minutes ago.

Next week is half term, and we're going away.  We'll be on a canal boat holiday, forcing us to slow down to a snail's pace and one of the things I'm most looking forward to is a relaxing breakfast each morning.  Luxuriously relaxing breakfasts of scrambled eggs on muffins with smoked salmon, bacon sandwiches on toasted wholemeal with brown sauce, hot buttered crumpets...

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day - what people usually fail to mention is that it's also the most stressful.

What does breakfast look like in your house?  Are you super-organised?  How do you cope with the morning rush?

Warburton's are compiling a book of tips and advice on how to cope with the stresses of family breakfasts, and if you submit a tip on their Facebook page before Monday 18th February 2013, you might even win a prize.

Head over there now.

Me?  I'll be waiting to read the book when it comes out in April!

Disclosure: Warburton's sent me a hamper of products to promote this campaign.