Hauled into school because dd had no breakfast

[takeastand]

Got called into school as dd(13) felt unwell and it transpired she hadn't eaten. I don't encourage her to eat breakfast although I don't stop her - she rarely gets up early enough to eat it during the week. I honestly thought the school would be sensible about this but what an absolute waste of everyone's time. I thought once I explained that she wasn't neglected or malnourished we could go on our way. Instead a load of hand wringing, unsubstantiated and unscientific bollocks about how important breakfast is and how clearly this is the reason dd felt light headed, even though she hasn't eaten breakfast before school the entire five weeks and this is the first day she has felt unwell.

For context - she is overweight. I'm not going to force another 300-400 calories that she doesn't desire or need at the only point of the day that she doesn't seem to be starving hungry! I make her a cup of tea each morning, she drinks plenty of water. Her house is first for lunch so she eats at 12ish!

It's half term next week and I'm not sure whether I should say anything to the school tomorrow or just let it lie.

You can easily change her routine it wouldn't take her long getting used to getting breakfast, breakfast gives your energy, energy helps you loose weight and concentrate. When I lost weight (over 3 stone) my most important meal when breakfast and I grew up never eating it. It's worth education yourself and your over weight daughter on why she should eat breakfast. I don't care if my son is hungry or not I know breakfast gives him energy so that's more important to me.

"If I was you, I’d be looking what the recent research is actually saying on the subject. (Hint, it says that if you want to loose weight, you need to eat breakfast!!)"

Shall I post it again? The Harvard medical school blog disagrees with you! www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156 (Hint, I think they are quite good at reviews of medical literature).

A 13yr old girl will benefit from good nutrition to include foods rich in protein iron, calcium...it isn't just about losing weight, staying slim etc. A small simple nutritious breakfast or snack for later in the morning might be a sensible idea.

Sashh bringing someone’s blood sugar up with orange juice is going to then make there blood sugar crash and leave the worse than if they’d had nothing at all. Giving an orange to eat would be completely different

The only time I have lost weight and maintained it was when I stopped eating breakfast. Eating breakfast actually makes me more likely to snack before lunch as well. Not eating breakfast doesn’t affect my concentration.
Everyone is different which I dont think schools seem to get. I wouldn’t not give my little kids breakfast though. Not sure about a teenager.

If your daughter is over weight then she should be eating something at breakfast. A bowl of porridge is perfect.

I don't feel hungry if I don't eat breakfast.

Eating breakfast wakes my stomach up and I just end up eating 3 meals per day

I started putting on weight when I got quite ill and the doctor insisted I should eat a proper breakfast lunch and dinner.

Before I was only eating Dinner.

I was 7.5 stone.

Days when I don’t eat breakfast and lunch and have a big dinner are days I lose weight.

But now I am used to eating 3 meals per day and my weight has gone through the roof.

Our mum would never of forced breakfast either as we didn't like it. Your child and her choice. Ignore them.

can she take a snack in for break time? maybe she would be more hungry then? even a granola bar and some trail mix?

Whilst I dont think its great to miss breakfast I do think your daughters is 13 and old enough to get what she wants and you couldnt force her to eat anyway.waste of time.

I cant eat first thing, I cant even face more than a glug of water without feeling sick. Takes me about 2hrs to 'wake up' enough to eat, I try and combat that by getting up and doing EVERYTHING else first, so eating is the last thing I do before leaving the house.

OP, I know you dont actively encourage, and thats fine, but it wouldn't hurt just to ask, occasionally, if she's sure there isn't something she'd like to try?

My middle one (16) didn't eat breakfast until this September - only because she now has a really long day and physical day.

Rarely used to eat lunch at secondary school unless you class a brownie as lunch?!

School shouldn't have got quite so involved!

@frogsoup thats a really interesting link

It's interesting, I rarely feel hungry in the morning and my kids are the same. They do eat breakfast before school but at weekends if we aren't going out they'll naturally gravitate towards food only at about 11am. As a family we are all on the slim side. It seems insanity that on the one hand overriding our natural appetites is acknowledged as a key cause of obesity and on the other people on here are still advocating stuffing yourself with porridge or toast in the morning regardless of whether or not you're hungry, all for the sake of mythical ideas about metabolism! The ops DD is not 5, she should be listening to appetite not ignoring it especially if she is overweight. If I eat breakfast it kickstarts my appetite for the day and the times I've put on weight have always involved eating breakfast. I've officially started 16-8 fasting recently and have effortlessly lost 2kg in under a month.

A bit over the top if they called you in because she hadm't had breakfast. Or was it because she was't well?

Isn't it, Sushi - it certainly convinced me!

She is 13 and you can't be arsed to give her a healthy breakfast yet you are unable to see what the issue is OP?

I don't make my teens eat breakfast. One does and the other is always late(she's18) so goes without. She's an A* student so there's no issue there. I used to do intermittent fasting and often felt sharper without breakfast. Eating it can be like stoking the appetite.

Tbh, she’s overweight coz she’s not eating. I get you but I don’t think you’re doing her any favours by not giving or advising her to eat breakfast. Does she get peckish around mid morning? Tea is full of calories - not very healthy. Water is great! Drunk throughout the day not in one gulp so to speak. Please please advise her to eat a good healthy breakfast - not too much fortified cereal, not too bread with water. Juice isn’t great as it’s sugar too.

Schools have a duty of care towards children and if they are coming into school having missed breakfast and feeling ill then they have every reason to “haul” in their parent/guardian. 13 years of age maybe deemed as “old enough” to some people, but it’s also important that as parents we ensure our children are eating a healthy breakfast in the mornings.

@takeastand you feel that the school wasted your time by calling you in for a meeting. What could possibly be more important than the wellbeing of your own child? The school have every right as they have to consider if she is truly being neglected. Better safe than sorry. I’d be VERY concerned if the school HADN’T called you in..

My daughter is 4. Shes like me and is not a big breakfast eater. Would i let her leave without any?no. I put her to bed earlier get her up earlier so shes got plenty of time to wake up before i put food in front of her. Just get her up and give her time to wake up and she may eat something.

I’m sorry but I also think YABU for sending a child to school with an empty stomach. not far from being an adult? she’s only 13.

@Gwenhwyfar Kind of missing the point of the thread, but would you be surprised to hear that some people in the north of England eat after 7 PM, too?

It's usually about three hours or so before I'm ready to eat anything. I'm certainly not getting up three hours earlier to have a breakfast I don't want.
Breakfast is always available in my house. If you want it you eat it.
We really need to get away from this idea that one approach suits everyone. There are better ways of helping an overweight teenager to lose weight than insisting they eat breakfast.