Many a parent has experienced a showdown in the cereal aisle. You want your child to eat breakfast, so do you buy the sugary one he's begging for or a whole-grain option? "Making sure your children get enough fibre for healthy digestion can sometimes be a challenge. But it's worth the effort," says Alyssa Rolnick, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. "Research shows that fibre can help reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity." We asked the Colborne family (mom Lorelei, dad Wayne, Sarah, 12, and Jessie, 9) of Harmony, N.S., to tell us which cereal was breakfast-worthy.

Quaker Life Multigrains - A

Nutrients per serving (30 g): 120 calories, 1.5 g fat (0.3 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 105 g sodium, 23 g carbs (4 g fibre, 5 g sugar), 3 g protein, 30% iron. $4

Family says: Dad Wayne liked this brand for its appealing texture and taste. The family liked the sweet, oat flavour and thought it had a nice crunch. Lorelei said she'd buy it because it's low in fat and high in fibre.

Dietitian says: All of these cereals can be considered healthy choices as they all contain more than 2 grams of fibre and have less than 6 grams of sugar per comparative serving. Of the cereals tested, Kellogg's All-Bran offers the most fibre and the least amount of sugar, while Life Multigrains was the lowest in sodium. These types of cereals may not always be children's first choices, so encourage them to mix higher-fibre cereals such as these with a sweeter one (9 grams of sugar or less). Or alternate varieties — the whole grain on Monday, the sweet variety on Tuesday and so on.