Running a stylish B&B (thank you to the writers of The Guardian Travel Section for that wonderful accolade) I have always considered breakfast to be the most important meal of the day. My Indian Grandmother always said we should eat like a prince in the morning, like a priest at lunchtime and like a pauper at night. I quite agree…, I strongly believe that a good breakfast will set you up for the day . Call me old-fashioned, but I have always tried to instil this mantra into my reluctant daughter, however Kelsey gets increasingly bored with what I would call regular breakfast food, and I have recently seen her cook herself some fresh soup or pasta for breakfast, rather than toast or cereal. I have given up objecting to her fussiness over the contents of her first meal of the day – especially when I pointed out that (as a B&B) we have so many types of breakfast breads in the house, numerous varieties of cereals and a large assortment of fresh yogurts. After a few years of offering Kelsey our full breakfast menu selection, which satisfies American golfers, Canadian sightseers , but clearly not Irish teenagers, I finally gave up and now I don’t really care what Kelsey eats for breakfast, as long as there is sensible food in her stomach before she heads off to school.

“Your brain needs food, to take in all that knowledge,” I say, as she rolls her eyes and pulls that face, that only a teenage girl knows how to do.

My insistence on good-food-before-school began earnestly when Kelsey was four years old and starting nursery. No matter how busy my morning was, we sat down together for breakfast, at the kitchen table at 7.30am on a school day, before leaving the house at 8am (we still do) . However breakfast was becoming somewhat of a Mexican stand-off with Kelsey taking a laborious 30 minutes to eat one single crustless slice of toast…despite my ingenious ‘games’ of taking a bite of my toast and guessing what the shape resembled (a boat, a castle, a space ship) and then Kelsey would take a bite of her own toast and guess what shape the remainder looked like too – funnily enough, it usually looked like an untouched slice of toast! 30 minutes to eat one solitary Weetabix. Seriously.

30 minutes to chase a handful of coco pops around a tiny little bowl.

I tried bribery, “If you eat THIS before the big hand of the clock gets to the 12, then THAT is the yummy treat that goes into your lunch-box today. Nope.

I tried reverse psychology. I even tried cruelty, “If you DON’T eat this before the big hand of the clock gets to 12, then your lovely treat comes OUT of your lunch box and goes into MUMMY’S lunch box. Nope.

My darling cherub would then look at breakfast, glance up at me and ask politely what her lovely lunch box treat was today, and then said, “I’m not bothered about a Twix today Mummy, you can have it!” Grrrrrr.

Nothing seemed to work to persuade my little darling to eat a proper breakfast and when Kelsey’s said to me, “But Mummy, my tummy is just not awake yet” I was stopped in my tracks.

Oh. ….I hadn’t thought of that.

My own mother was the same…her tummy doesn’t wake up until at least an hour after she is up and about, and had two strong coffees so perhaps I was being unfair…Perhaps my wee Kelsey simply wasn’t a breakfast person.

Hmmmmm, call me a cynic, but I decidedly smelt a rat.

And so I decided to put Kelsey’s admission of a somewhat sleepy tummy to a culinary test. The following morning, as we sat down at the kitchen table together before leaving for school, I put a large dinner plate of breakfast in front of the 4 year old Kelsey.

Her eyes widened, as she gazed in amazement at the sugary feast before her little blue eyes. Kelsey’s plate was heaving with bright Haribo, sticky jammy dodgers, colourful Smarties, bright orange Cheesy Wotsits, mini Jelly Babies and all topped off with a glass of fizzy lemonade, sporting a colourful straw and cocktail umbrella.

Wee Kelsey looked up at me, in puzzlement and delight, “Is this my breakfast?”

“Yes sweetheart, I thought you deserved a treat…this is your breakfast today.”

Her smile widened and she tucked into her huge pile of confectionary, crisps and E numbers, guzzling away, as I sat opposite her, with my granola and coffee.

Within ten minutes, a triumphant Kelsey announced loudly and happily, “ Finished!!” as she put down her empty glass and showed me her gleaming clean plate. There was an awkward pause.

One of those awkward pauses when a child knows that they’ve probably done something wrong, but they are not quite sure what that thing is, and they are beginning to feel slightly uneasy. “So,” I said slowly, ”Did your enjoy that?”

“Yes mummy and I ate it all up.,” she beamed proudly.

“Aren’t you a good girl? (huge pleasing smile) So…your… tummy…. Is…. awake.”

The angelic little girl opposite me, pursed her lips, and then looked down.

Sweetheart , you’ve just been busted – said the look on my face.

Round 1 to Mummy.x