I have friends who are teachers / head teachers and they would tell you that poor dietary habits with teens are a noticeable obstacle to progress in the classroom.
For this reason, many schools have had to divert already stretched resources into putting on free breakfast clubs, in the absence of any encouragement or provision at home.
I think some people are missing the point on this thread. No, you can’t force children to eat - this is obvious. If some children don’t feel like eating until break, fine.
The problem is that a total non-provision or encouragement of breakfast habits often goes hand in hand with other issues. Teens often don’t realise they’re hungry, no. This doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from some nourishment. In exactly the same way, teens often don’t realise they are tired either - even when they went to bed at 3am. However, it’s blatantly obvious to everyine rlse in their mood, energy levels and cranky behaviour.
They may not realise they are hungry or tired and claim to feel fine but, when large groups of children are regularly not eating breakfast and then grabbing crisps or other junk late morning, this will manifest in poor behaviour and results in general and is a battle the teachers could do without.
It wouldn’t be so bad if these kids were, in fact, eating healthily the rest of the time, but in many cases they are not.
There are so many parents now who seem too willing to throw their hands in the air and shout, “Well they’re teens - what do you want me to do about it?” Kids on their phones until 2am; leaving the house with no breakfast and then eating junk later in the school day. Parents aggrieved and on the defensive if the school even dare to try and discuss their child’s wellbeing with them. It all translates into extra and uneccessary work for teachers who have enough in as it is.
I myself am not massive breakfast fan, but I do know this much - if I had an important morning ahead eg. an exam or an interview or even if I was going to do something physical / exercise related, I would make sure I had eaten something. The way I see it, every morning at school is important for our kids. No we can’t force them to eat, but we can do our best to set good expectations and habits and have the basic respect to support those who are trying to educate our children.