To wonder why so many children go without breakfast

[Sunnydays999]

Iv seen these adverts Kellogs are doing - it made me wonder why the situations so bad ?
Now I totally get some children won't eat breakfast - totally different .but not to be able to afford it on a regular basis ? Breakfast has to be the cheapest meal of the day. Not the best but value bread for toast is penny's ?
If parents can't afford breakfast what's happening with tea

Left over chinese from the night before yum yum

never thought of the sausage mcmuffin thing.

I worry i would get judged as bad for offering leftovers even though it makes sense.. cant she afford a loaf of bread for her kids sort of shit ...

I live in Asia and breakfast in most places is soup or sticky rice, very rarely do people eat toast... Yet people eat if they can afford to.

The primary school that my son used to attend used to run a breakfast club where children entitled to free school meals would get a free breakfast and everyone else used to pay 50p. In reality the families that used breakfast club were all paying 50p and used breakfast club regularly as it started at 8.15am so provided an alternative to morning childcare.
The school also gave free fruit to every infant child at break time which was useful for those parents too lazy to get out of bed early enough to make breakfast or to drop off at breakfast club. Unfortunately the junior aged children only got fruit if there was leftovers from the infants.

I like the idea of trying to help reduce child hunger as it isn't the children's fault that their parents have other spending priorities or can't be arsed to get out of bed, but I don't think free breakfast clubs really achieve their sim of reaching the most needy children?
I also think that if a child isn't being fed due to parental laziness then social services should be involved because clearly the parents are incapable of prioritising their children's needs.

My dd who's nearly 3 (so may be a bit young for this) doesn't eat breakfast and its not for lack of me trying, she's just not hungry enough to want it, on a morning she has a glass of milk and if I push her enough maybe a banana or some fruit. Even if I take the milk and fruit away she still will not eat toast/porridge/anything I offer or make.

I feel guilty about it. She will eat at the childminders tho about 8.15 just not when she gets up at 6.45 I am hoping this will change but seems unlikely.

I can't eat too early on a morning as I end up feeling sick, so eat a bit later, normally between childminder drop off and getting to work but it's not much (fruit or breakfast biscuits)

I never ate it because DM didn't eat it and it was a chaotic household. We both eat it now that I'm an independent adult living elsewhere, and she's retired! In fact when I stay there I get up early with her before anyone else and we eat together and talk. It's nice.

Not to rag on her, but it was symptomatic of larger food issues which I'm sorry to say she did pass on to me. I will be doing my best to make sure my future DC have breakfast.

I'm being cyclical here but I think it's a clever marketing campaign, Kellogs profits are down 16% in America as consumers are turning away from a sit down breakfast of cereal and opting for healthier yoghurt and fruit or are turning to breakfast sandwiches which are seen as a healthier on the go option to cereal bars.
There is a lot of socially ethical marketing think of Ghandis sandals, Toms shoes, Pampers nappies for vaccines.
There is also the health promotion within this advert, trying to turn attention away from the amount of salt and sugar in Kellogs cereal and cereal bars.
Finally Kellogs is an a American company perhaps there are far more kids in the states who are jot receiving breakfast and they're building on an already successful campaign.
I'm pretty certain Kellogs aren't doing this just to improve the breakfasting well being of children.

Everything housebox said.

The bit about the campaign i hate most is that Kellogs (or any boxed cereal) is a really rubbish breakfast but we've been brainwashed into thinking it's what we "should" be giving our dc.

Cereal better than nothing but almost anything else would be better - especially leftovers from a proper meal cooked the night before

So what's the answer to hungry children in school without breakfast? It's been an issue for as long as I've been teaching, and breakfast clubs are a relatively new thing. Teachers feeding children is not, sadly, along with other social care issues.

I'm shit in the mornings, really, really, shit. I don't cope well with waking up as I have a sleep condition that means I don't get the restful part of sleep at least 3 nights a week.

I still manage to stick some cereal and milk in a bowl or some bread in the toaster.

During the times we've been on our arse skint I've made porridge from value oats and water and whatever scrapings of jam/honey that happen to be lurking in huge cupboard.

An egg, a cup of milk and a cup of flour will make pancakes. I often have flour lurking after a baking experiment.

There really is no excuse not to feed your kids ffs.

I teach in a (secondary) school in quite an "affluent" town. Our local food bank comes in once a week with fruit, cereal, bread, milk etc. They gave us a fridge as well. The reasons kids come for food really varies...mainly that they get up too late for breakfast, or don't fancy it (I rarely feel like eating first thing) before school. We try and 'target' the fsm kids (in a non-obvious way) and you can tell that a few of them probably haven't eaten since lunchtime the day before. Having said that, I find Kellogg's campaign a bit disingenuous - reminds me of Walkers Books for Schools, or the supermarket vouchers. If these multinationals really wanted to help, they'd just donate the money instead of making you buy their product first. No such thing as altruism here!!

Downbytheriverside for some families who aren't feeding their children due to laziness social self ices involvement would probably be more effective than offering breakfasts at a time when the parents are still in bed.
Other things that are worth a try:
A)Providing healthy snacks at break time rather than before school (because the children are more likely to be at school at that time).
B)some basic living skills classes for children so that they can learn to make themselves a piece of toast or pour themselves a bowl of cereal. Even young children will be able to master sorting out cereal. Of course the parents need to actually buy some cereal though.

To be honest though I do think some families need social services intervention in order to learn how to put their children's basic needs first.

If Kellogs are that bothered, then why don't they donate the breakfasts. Bloody capatalist pigs

How about regular, compulsory parenting classes once a year on a weekend with childcare provided? Covering all the ages, so if you've got a 7 year old child you get a different checklist to a reception.
And check ups, like mini Ofsteds to make sure that you are covering the basics?

Neither of mine eat breakfast I think because we are on the road with the school run at 7am. Children go to school 35 miles apart. I do offer croissants, yoghurt or stuff that can be eaten in the car but it is usually left. I do try to make sure they have a snack at break time but usually ds comes home without eating either snack or his packed lunch. He eats his lunch in the car on the way home.

I get very annoyed when cereal companies start going on about healthy eating. Especially Kelloggs who sell a certain cereal that contains 37% sugar. Maybe they should look to clean up their own act before starting campaigns on healthy eating.

In almost all cases where children aren't being properly fed ss are already involved - they don't have a magic wand and their level of involvement will vary from case to case according to the other issues the family has

It has been said already but I came from a chaotic household as well. We never had breakfast or clean uniforms and we always late for school.

My sister started taking us to school when she 8.

Er no to the regular compulsory classes. Wouldnt work for those families who have to work weekends. Or is only for feckless families who claim fsm

Might be a naïve question but I was wondering was how they make sure that the right kids are given breakfast (ie the ones who actually wouldn't be getting a breakfast otherwise).

Frontier I doubt very much that SS are involved with nearly every child that isn't fed properly. There are just not that many social workers and where do you draw the line between feeding sufficiently and over feeding or under feeding. What works for one child will not work for the next. Mine will eat breakfast in the holidays when we have a more relaxed start to the day but during term time breakfast is a write off.

No, I think the classes would have to be for everyone, and if they were compulsory then employers would have to give their staff time off.
SS are way overloaded, so it would have to be MNetters who stepped up to the need, and other like-minded citizens.

ghost - not even then. Most partents claiming fsm at the school i work at are in(low paid) work

I wouldn't go to classes! Why should I when I use my common sense and human compassion to treat my kids well and meet their basic needs?

That's my point Mandy. Where the school is aware a child is regularly turning up hungry ss will have been told (if a chat with parents didn't resolve issue) Often ss will have to prioritise other cases but to say "involve ss" isn't the answer because in most cases the school already has.