Start your children off to a good school day with breakfast

August 23, 2008 04:53 pm

— New clothes, backpacks, notebooks and pencils are important and fun things to have for the start of the new school year.
However, don’t send you children off to school without a good breakfast. Breakfast has been dubbed the most important meal of the day.
However, breakfast is the most commonly skipped meal of the day.
Breakfast is important for academic performance and may also help with maintaining a healthy weight. Also, research suggests that children who eat breakfast are more likely to have healthful nutrition behaviors and make healthy food choices such as eating more fruits and vegetables than those who do not eat breakfast.
Here are a few ways you can make breakfast a part of your family’s daily routine.
First, be sure that as the parent you set a good example and eat a healthy breakfast every day. Parents serve as role models for healthy eating behaviors to their children. Be sure that your children see you eat breakfast, make it a family activity.
Like any meal, breakfast takes planning. Prepare for breakfast as much as you can the night before. This might include slicing fruit, mixing frozen juice or packing lunches for the next day at night so that you have time to prepare breakfast in the morning.
Also include breakfast foods on your grocery list. Stock your kitchen with healthy breakfast options such as milk, juice, yogurt, fruit, whole grain cereals and breads, or hot cereals such as oatmeal and grits.
You might also need to wake up a little earlier to make sure you have time for everything you need to do. Your children may also need a few minutes after waking up before they are ready to eat breakfast. Even though this means you are up earlier, you and your children will feel better. You will have energy to start your day and will enjoy time together as a family before leaving the house for work and school.
Some ideas for a healthy breakfast include peanut butter on whole wheat toast, low-fat yogurt with granola, toasted waffles with fruit, bagels with cheese, grits, hard boiled eggs, or oatmeal with dried fruit or nuts. You might also try something unconventional such as rice and beans with fruit or a grilled cheese sandwich.
Just remember, breakfast matters!
u
Kathy Smith is the Parker County extension agent. Her column appears Sundays. She may be contacted at (817) 598-6168.