Breakfast In America

Since 1964 when the U.S. Government commissioned many educational research projects on student achievement, we have known that breakfast is one of the most important factors in the success of students in schools. Even our physicians and the AMA have declared that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If we think about all the time our body functions without food in the evening until we eat the next day, we KNOW that we need to eat. Yet how many of us actually get out of bed in time to make that meal a possibility?

In many of my education classes (back in the day), we talked quite often about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's a simple pyramid design based upon Dr. Maslow's study of human behavior and learning. In a nutshell, it says that until we have our needs taken care of at each level, we are UNABLE to progress onto the next levels. The pinnacle of Maslow's pyramid is "Self-Actualization" (to become all we can be).
Basic survival is the first level. We need to know that we have food and shelter before we can learn anything more. Children going to school hungry are unable to ignore the rumbling of a hungry tummy. They are restless and easy to distract. They are not at all concerned about learning to read or how to subtract, they want to eat. And yet, knowing this for the past 40 years, what has the government done about it? Not much.

But, there is still hope! Here in summer school, we serve breakfast each day to every child without cost to the families. It takes about 15 minutes for the students to eat their cereal or other breakfast item and to drink their milk and juice, and yet, it is probably the most powerful 15 minutes I feel I invest in the day. By the time the students have finished eating breakfast, I have finished with all the paperwork and both the teacher and the students are ready to learn. We start right in on Math and we zoom through until recess. Kids can focus, they've had food AND a chance to socialize, they are ready to learn!
Until we can get breakfast in every school, it is important for families to realize how critical breakfast is for children.

So, as I ask my parents each year during parent orientation, "Please, PLEASE, feed your children breakfast before sending them to school OR make sure they get to school in time to have breakfast. It is one of the three most important things you can do to increase the chances of academic success for your child.