Cereal for Kids
When I started blogging, back in July of 2009, one of my first posts was about Cereal for Grown-Ups. I wrote about it because one of the most frequently asked questions I get, once people learn that I work for NuVal, is about cereal and how it scores. People want to know about Kashi, Shredded Wheat, and other popular brands of cereal that adults tend to eat. This is true for kids’ cereals too. A lot of moms ask me about brands that they choose for their children, most notably Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Kix. Let’s face it, most of us mothers start out by feeding our kids Cheerios but by the time the kids are 5 and they are walking the grocery store with us and they are beginning to read words (like Lucky Charms!) they start asking for more than just plain old Cheerios. Add one of their favorite movie characters to the front of a box of cereal and it’s Meltdown In Aisle Five.
So, yes, I admit. We’ve been experimenting in the cereal department. In our cabinet right now are the following brands:
- Frosted Flakes
- Golden Grahams
- Cheerios
- Shredded Wheat (mine)
- Cinnnamon Toast Crunch
- Honey Nut Cheerios
I can tell you that the Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch made it into the basket because they had Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs characters on them. I have no idea how the Frosted Flakes made it into our cart and then into our cabinet. No idea. Perhaps one of my kids threw it in when I wasn’t looking? No idea.
Last week, my son had a half-day of school, so I brought him along on a Price Chopper visit that I had scheduled. We met up with my new colleague, Tina, to walk the store, to see some scores on the shelf and to try out some tools that we’ve developed at NuVal for teaching store employees about the system. I gave my son a Scavenger Hunt to do. He had to write down his favorite cereal and then go find it on the shelf to see what the score was. What did he pick? Frosted Flakes, of course. He found it on the shelf and wrote down the NuVal score: 24. Then I told him that he could go find another cereal that scored better than Frosted Flakes and that we would buy it. He was so excited about this little game. He is so used to being at our local grocery store with me (where they do not have NuVal), asking me to buy sugary, colorful cereals and getting the big NO. It was his big chance to show me that those Kid Magnet cereals really were healthy, Mom!
So, my son quickly found Lucky Charms (nope, NuVal score of 23), Fruity Pebbles (uh uh, NuVal score of 24), Apple Jacks (no, sigh, NuVal score of 24), and Cap’n Crunch (no, no, no, NuVal score of 10). My poor son! He was so deflated! It reminded me of A Christmas Story, when Ralphie so deperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun, but everyone, including Santa keeps shooting him down. ‘You’ll shoot your eye out kid.”
Finally, my son found a colorful cereal that had a NuVal score better than that of Frosted Flakes: Fruity Cheerios. NuVal Score: 28.
Notice that he does not look overjoyed. It wasn’t that exciting. Fruity Cheerios have been resident in our cereal cupboard in the past. However, it was cool to see my son empowered with the NuVal scores to choose his own cereal – as long as it was above a certain number. In case you’re curious, Cereal scores range from 4 – 100 on the NuVal score, but the median score (half are above it, half are below it) is a 25.
Last week General Mills announced that it will be reducing the sugar levels in its cereals marketed to children. That’s great news. After the reformulations, NuVal will rescore those cereals and I will be sure to blog with an update.
On a bright note, the kids have been asking for Fruity Cheerios as a snack. The good news is that they’re munching on a little baggie of O’s which score a 28 while watching PBS Kids. Hey, it’s better than Cheetos. The bad news is that they have very sticky hands. This week, I’ll be sure to throw more hand wipes in my cart!
Posted by: Melissa 7 comments
Posted in: Kashi
Tags: Cereal for Grown-Ups, Cereal for Kids, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Kashi, Kix
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I love this NuVal system. Eating by nutrient content is typically my gameplan, but companies don’t label all of the nutrients in a food. Having a NuVal score right in front of me at the store will make shopping so much easier. Any hope that it will be coming to SC soon?
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Never ever tried Fruity Cheerios. But I will now! I’m certain the rainbow colors will cause my kids’ eyes to glaze over in delight.
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 11:13 am
So what is the Nuval score for Kix, and how can we find out Nuval scores for cold cereals other than the 11 listed on the site?
Last time my daughter and I shopped together, we chose Kix as our new cold cereal (we also use frosted mini wheats) because it had a relatively low percentage of sugar, by weight, than many of the other cereals (I think it was around 20%). She loves it! Just wondering how it compares, Nuval style, with frosted flakes and lucky charms, which count as treats (not a meal) in our house.
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Kix gets a score of 29. Right now the only way to see all the scores is on the supermarket shelf. NuVal is in 3 supermarket chains: Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and Meijer. NuVal is coming to United Texas chains in the first quarter of 2010. If you do not have NuVal in a chain near you, you can fill out a suggestion form on http://www.nuval.com.
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 11:38 am
That sounds like a great game. I’m glad he found something.
Is there any plan to have all NuVal scores available online? I know they’re at my local price chopper but when I’m away from home on campus I can’t find anywhere with those scores.
on Dec 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Why set the bar so low for your kids? Why not ask them to find a cereal that scores around 90 – like shredded wheat – and teach them that cereal for kids is candy (and let them eat it when they would like some candy)? Think they won’t eat it? Research shows that they will. It’s a matter of what they get used to.
Dina
http://www.itsnotaboutnutrition.com
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I loved reading this post. I hate how sugary cereals are targeted and marketed it towards children. You are lucky you have the NuVal scoring. I wish some west coast stores would get on the ball. It would make shopping a lot easier for families.