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Kids Should Eat Healthy Breakfast

Dietician Says Parents Should Set Example

POSTED: 5:34 pm EDT April 18, 2005

Before the school bell sounds, have your kids had breakfast? Probably not.

Jeanette Thompson, a ninth-grade student, says she's not into eating breakfast.


Try Creative Breakfast Ideas

"I just don't want to eat anything," said Thompson.

Toya Holt said it's just too much of a rush in the morning.

"I don't have enough time. I never have enough time to eat breakfast in the morning," said Holt.

Parents, it's time to pour the cereal, crack some eggs or microwave some oatmeal.

"Breakfast is very important," said Letitia Warren of Children's Hospital of Michigan.

"It gets your day started. Lots of research shows that kids who eat breakfast do much better in school," said Warren.

Warren, registered dietician at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, states variety is key and parents should try and offer their children options from different food groups.

Pat Karimalis believes breakfast made her son a better student.

"I believe it. When I gave my son breakfast every morning before school, he was on the honor roll," said Karimalis.

A study at Massachusetts General Hospital came up with the most powerful evidence that breakfast really does affect children's grades in school.

For four months, students were offered a free breakfast and when the study was over, students who ate breakfast more saw a jump in their math grades, and a decrease in absenteeism, tardiness and hyperactivity.

What is the most important thing you can do to encourage your child to eat breakfast?

Warren said parents need to set good examples by eating breakfast.

More than 40 percent of kids whose parents ate breakfast likely ate breakfast themselves.


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