How Eating Breakfast Can Impact Children’s Behavior

Eating breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but many kids skip it for reasons including a lack of time or appetite. Now, a new study has found that this can have major implications for their behavior.

Focus

Eating breakfast is crucial for children’s brain function. It helps them get the energy they need to focus on school work, retain information, and stay focused during lessons. Kids who eat breakfast tend to have better attendance and behavior, as well as higher math scores. They are also less likely to miss school or be late for class. A study in Spain found that kids who skip breakfast regularly are more likely to have behavioral problems. The kids were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included 25 questions about their problems, including hyperactivity and difficulties with friends.

Concentration

Several studies indicate that consuming breakfast before school can improve academic performance, including in math, reading and science. Children who eat breakfast before school have greater concentration and work faster in standardized tests. Moreover, a higher quality breakfast is associated with improved mental health scores on the Child Behavior Checklist, a measure of psychosocial behaviors such as aggression and delinquency. In addition, eating at home is healthier than going to a cafe or restaurant, which may explain why teens who skip breakfast are more likely to exhibit behavioral issues. They are also more likely to eat processed meats and eggs, which may lead to problems with their diet.

Discipline

Increased concentration, attentiveness and classroom behavior are all possible outcomes of habitual breakfast consumption. For example, children who eat breakfast frequently perform better on test-taking activities and are less likely to miss school or report behavioral problems. And while there are a few high-quality studies that have looked at the impact of breakfast on children’s behavior and performance, most of these are in the small sample size range. Nevertheless, there have been a few interesting findings that have merit so it’s important to keep them in mind!