PURPOSES FOR GOING BACK TO SCHOOL: NO CHILDREN WITHOUT BREAKFAST

The long-awaited (or feared) return to school has arrived, we have been two days and the boy goes to school without breakfast. It may be early to worry, we all need a process of adaptation to the new situation. Among the purposes for this new course, we could propose, if we do not have it as a habit, make a good breakfast before going to school, for your health.

Breakfast should cover 25% of daily caloric needs. So many hours of sleep in which the body has not taken any "recharge" must be followed by a good breakfast, which includes a dairy, cereals, fruit and some fat in the form of olive oil and proteins with non-fatty sausages.

However, more than half of the children do not make a good breakfast, and to scarce or incomplete breakfasts all those children who go to school without breakfast have to be added.

But let's look at other reasons why, without economic problems at home, a child can go to school without breakfast.

Why do they go without breakfast to school?

According to the AEPed, there are many reasons why children and adolescents do not eat breakfast or do not do it correctly, but the ones that most frequently explain are the following:

Because many are not hungry just after getting out of bed.
Due to lack of time for breakfast: the morning rush. This is especially common in teenagers.
To lose weight, especially girls.
Because they prefer to have lunch during recess, with their friends.
To this we would add the cases of insufficient or bad breakfasts (They include industrial pastries and sweets, without milk, packaged juices ...).

Luckily, the issue of being thinner still does not concern our young children (although we can already know that it is false that skipping breakfast thins, on the contrary), but we can make some appreciations regarding other points. Can they be changed?

Can we do something to change their habit?

The best thing is that, in these cases, there are ways to change the habit and get used to making a good breakfast. The first thing to keep in mind is that, since they grow up and even if they don't go to school, the first meal of the day is essential.

If a child has become accustomed to having only milk for two years, it will cost us later to change that habit. Therefore, a full breakfast must be introduced according to the child's age (once the complementary feeding has been established), with smaller amounts, but a full breakfast.

Take time to have breakfast

Another issue to consider is one of the good purposes for going back to school: the rush is over. We cannot pretend that, after the summer, during which it is most likely that the schedules have become more flexible and we have not had breakfast in a hurry, from one day to the next it can be radically changed.

It is normal that, especially at the beginning of the return to school, we need more time, to have breakfast, to dress, to prepare the backpack ... If the time of breakfast is more relaxed, you will enjoy more, and it will not look as much as an "obligation". I know it is complicated (we have been home for two days at breakfast), but you have to keep trying to reach a certain normal level.

Also so that the appetite enters, if it is the case of children who do not feel hungry when waking up. And if we don't want them to go to sleep during the morning because they got up early, the solution is relatively simple (with the proper adaptation process): the children have to go to bed earlier.

Offer variety and not force

Another "trick" so that children do not leave without breakfast is have a varied breakfast, and that they enter foods that are gratifying to them, trying to avoid those that taken daily can harm their health. That is, if we have to do some "extra", let's leave it for the weekend.

The child may not like many things, but let's think about the variety of fruits, or cereals (we talk about bread especially, but also about homemade cookies, muffins ...; industrial breakfast cereals are not too advisable in excess).

As we have said many times when talking about this topic, if the child comes with good habits from an early age, if he is used to trying different flavors and has been offered a variety of foods, he will continue to expand the range of his meals.

Finally, let's give it time, let's not force ourselves, let's think that if they don't eat the fruit for breakfast (or drink very little) they can complete the ration at lunch they will take in a few hours at school. But never on an empty stomach, because during those hours that pass without taking anything to the mouth the body is suffering from deficiencies.

In short, a good breakfast is important for the physical and intellectual performance of children, so we must ensure that children do not go without breakfast to school. We hope that in a few days we have all picked up the pace and get them ready for the school day, and for the whole day.