If you’re a PARENT, making decisions is a full-time job. So here’s some advice to help make life easier, courtesy of Real Simple magazine.

• Donuts for breakfast or nothing? If those are your only two options – go for the donuts. That’s the advice of registered dietician Ellen Satter. She says your child needs calories to go on. And getting something in their stomach comes before any argument about whether the food is “good” or “bad”. But add some milk to the meal. A glass of 2% milk will help balance out a sugary breakfast, providing protein, fat and carbohydrates for longer lasting energy. Ideally, your child’s breakfast should consist of a bowl of high-fiber, low-sugar cereal or oatmeal, fruit or 100% juice, and a glass of low-fat milk.
• At bedtime, should you insist on “quality” books, or read them the boring ones they ask for? Anita Silvey is the author of a book called "100 Best Books for Children". And she says if it’s the Care Bears they want – let ‘em have it. You and your kids don’t experience books the same way – they see things in it that you don’t.
  Silvey says as long as they’re reading along, that’s the important thing. And remember, just because something’s a classic, that doesn’t mean it’s right for your kid. Listen to what your kids say. If they think Where the Wild Things Are is scary – it can wait.
• Should you enforce matching outfits, or let them dress themselves? Wendy Mogel is a clinical psychologist and she says kids have a lifetime to feel the pressures of conformity. So try to grin and bear the way they choose to express themselves when they dress. If your 5-year-old wants to wear his superhero cape to the grocery store, why not? He’s never going to get to do that again.