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.

frogsoup
The link you provided is just a blog, not research. But more importantly it actually says exactly what I said, that breakfast is important! (Amd that we should avoid eating late during the day - intermittent fasting between 7.00am and 3.00pm... NOT between 12.00pm and 8.00pm).
But more to the point, it’s not because it has the Harvard logo that they are right (as pointed out by the author herself who recognises she was wrong in one of her previous blog post....)

FYI a few research artclies showing that breakfast does indeed help loosing weight or reduce the likelyhood to out weight back on
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28420112 on how breakfast helps loosing fat
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27185413on how it protects from putting weight back on
You might also want to read this article about chrono nutrition
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5969247/

I work for TfL. The number of incidents when a person faints on a train and needs to be assisted off it is very high. It is a daily occurrence. These incidents always follow the same pattern: a young female travelling WITHOUT breakfast.

Asper actually fasting is very good for you is you are fasting between 7.00am and 3.00pm. The later you are eating in the evening (and the later you are eating in the am) the less efficient fasting is.

''There is no way on earth that shoving refined, processed food (cereal bars/granola/juice/toast) into a person who isn't hungry is better than leaving them to eat at a time of their own choice, ''

This may be true, but at school it isnt possible for them to eat at a time of their choice - they have to wait till lunch or break. Better to get her up in time to have something - even a slice of toast - before school.

Some people (including children) absolutely cannot stomach eating anything first thing in the morning, and at 13 the OP's daughter knows perfectly well whether she's hungry or not. Sending your child to school with a snack in case she gets hungry mid-morning is perfectly reasonable.

The school overdid it. A call would have been enough. To preserve the peace, I would give your daughter a snack and tell the school.

I know it's a blog!!! It's not gospel but it is a summary of the latest research. It doesn't specifically mention breakfast at all, in fact it suggests 10-6 as a perfectly reasonable eating interval.

I absolutely cannot eat breakfast 🤢🤢🤢

You sound like a terrible parent.
If she ate breakfast then she would have a better metabolism and probably help her weight.
The school are right though - low blood sugar does cause dizziness.

Your attitude will give your daughter a life time of issues.

Hope the school sees this and you’re called in again!!

I actually can’t believe you have the audacity to even post it

My daughter skips breakfast and is an A* student... When I want to lose weight I miss breakfast..I think some posters are missing the point. The original point is about a 13yr old girl who doesn't eat breakfast. At thirteen she needs to be eating foods which provide her with essential nutrients such as iron and calcium - breakfast or an early morning snack us a good opportunity to do this. I think we should be encouraging young people to eat in the morning not simply say that at 13 we leave them to decide for themselves.

If she can eat breakfast then she may actually lose weight - if she had something with slow energy release like porridge then she'd be less likely to snack on high sugar foods at break time? Are you sure there isn't another reason they are wanting to see you? Maybe a heart to heart with her to check there's nothing worrying her that you don't know about.

You shouldn’t have been called into school, telephone call should have been enough. However I think that encouraging her to get up and have some healthy breakfast would be beneficial for her. Doesn’t help losing weight if she’s snacking on chocolate etc. because she’s hungry! If most of the calorific intake is later in the day then her metabolism doesn’t have time to deal with it before bedtime.
Not talking without experience. My son had some major health issues when young and was overweight at primary school. By making a few changes, mostly about when he ate, he beat the obesity problem as was much happier too.

I've never met anyone who can't eat breakfast with practice, myself included.
all I used to have was coffee and a fag, now I eat a healthy breakfast that for most of my life would have made me feel sick.
It's like people who complain they don't like vegetables, what all of them?

you have a responsibility to model healthy attitudes to eating and breakfast is no exception.
There is no excuse for children not to be eating breakfast, it may not be easy but unless you outsource morning breakfasts it's up to you as a parent to make sure they eat.

I have spells now where I get out of the habit and have to pick it up again. I do feel full for the first couple of days but forcing myself means within a few days I'm back to a full sized, smallish breaky

Pretty much everything that has ever been written about weight loss indicates that it’s important to eat breakfast to kick your metabolism off, so your body doesn’t go into starvation mode. I do get that not everyone is hungry as soon as they roll out of bed, but she needs to be encouraged to eat something in the morning. Similarly, lack of fuel impacts on concentration levels and therefore on capacity to learn.

Poor nutrition is a safeguarding issue: it’s reasonable for the school to be concerned if your daughter is feeling ill because she hasn’t eaten.

Getting called into the school for this is heavy handed - but you have to think about why they picked up on the fact that she hadn't had breakfast. Something must have been not quite right... Personally I think eating breakfast is important and science shows it actually boosts your metabolic rate to eat breakfast so missing breakfast is a bad strategy to reduce your calorific intake. My 14 and 17 year old go have never gone to school without breakfast but then I have it easy as they both have always had breakfast and wake up starving hungry so it's not an issue. At 13 kids are growing and need good food. Perhaps you could explore what your dd would be happy to eat. Of course not everyone likes cereal.. a full fat yogurt for instance..

Pretty much everything you’ve read about dieting is wrong. Starvation mode is a myth. If you really think about it, you know this. People with eating disorders lose weight. People in labour camps, also. Your body doesn’t need its metabolism kicking off. Your metabolism works on its own, independently to your decision to eat. It just deals with what you throw at it. People’s individual metabolisms work at different paces but none of them ‘need’ breakfast. We don’t need to eat little and often. It’s not what we are designed for. It overloads our bodies with sugar that it doesn’t know what to do with and stores as fat, rather than using our fat stores first as it should.

Honestly. No one NEEDS to eat breakfast. If you are hungry at that time of day, you should. Otherwise, wait. Don’t train yourself. The cornflake industry invented that shit.

I have to always eat some breakfast,and my two offspring did many ,many years ago before school.. but lots of people everywhere, do not wish to eat breakfast, so the school you mention,should get teaching,and shut up about pupils and food. I

I keep reading on here about schools and the food police, omg,its total madness... I am an oldie,as you might have guessed !!

I think we should be encouraging young people to eat in the morning not simply say that at 13 we leave them to decide for themselves

Thank God my mother didn't have your attitude, I haven't eaten breakfast except on rare occasions since I was about 5.
It makes me throw up at the thought. I can't do more than hot water. Even cold water makes me gag. Juice or smoothie or cereal or cereal bar, or toast would just come back up and then make me feel bad all morning because I threw up.
Yet I grew, I thrived, I did exams and passed them, I was pregnant, I gave birth, I got to 50 years old without eating breakfast.
I am not super skinny, but I ain't fat either.
Some people can't do food at the socially constructed times.

I really can’t believe the attitude of the OP. Firstly you should make sure your 13 year old eats breakfast. Eating breakfast should help her loose weight as well as provide the energy needed to focus. Leaving big gaps between meals and then eating too much food in a large meal- which is what happens as people are then starving is not good for your body’s metabolism or insulin. She will end up getting type 2 diabetes if she carries on eating like this. This country has a massive obesity problem and this attitude is partly why. It is also neglectful to let your child, and she is still a child, to get in to such a state that the school calls you. You should take it seriously. Give her breakfast on the go if needed. If she is getting up late, does she go to bed too late and not have enough to sleep either? Another cause of weight gain. The school has a responsibility to protect children so I would listen to what they say before you have child protection knocking on your door.

(All strident views caveated with the fact there’s no point missing breakfast then eating chocolate and crisps at break because you’re hungry, and that principles of 16:8 can work over any time period to suit you and your personal hunger and activity levels. YOU might need breakfast. Others, not at all. Not getting up in time is no reason not to have breakfast. Not being hungry enough to need to get up and factor it in, is. I don’t get hungry until 11am.)

Is anyone actually reading the thread before posting? It's going round and round and round and round ...

Why is it unhealthy? Because your body needs food for energy and to get your metabolism going. And smaller meals more regularly is good for any age, not just kids. My daughter has never been a breakfast person and was also a bit overweight but I'd always try and get her to have something, even just a little snack or make sure she took one for break. Just because it didn't use to make her light headed those first 5 weeks doesn't mean it isn't now.

I also agree with the post that says they can’t believe the op posted this in the first place. It’s quite shocking. I would be mortified and ashamed if this happened to me. I certainly wouldn’t be sharing it on here. The attitude that your child is overweight - which isn’t great either -so basically missing breakfast must be helpful to her as it’s less calories??! This is what is wrong with society and why obesity and diabetes is getting out of control. I am in shock at this post. It’s neglect. Missing the odd breakfast and you not realising is one thing but knowingly allowing a child to go weeks without eating until lunchtime is disgraceful.

Just leave it. You obviously know her. They won't listen. It's not worth the hassle.
I have never been able to eat in the first hour of getting up, except for possibly a small nibble of toast with a lot of coffee. As a little child I could only manage a tiny bit of toast and a cup of tea. You'd think I was pregnant! I seem to have morning sickness every day of my life! When I can, I have "breakfast" at elevenses time. Then a small lunch .
Even my Dad was the same and he was a Farmer! He'd have an early cup of tea, go out and do the animals, and call in around 10-11 for something then come home for lunch at 1. I really can't cope with the "one-size-fits-all" idea or the "Nanny State" and the simpletons who get so full of power and want to boss us around and tell us how we should live.
We can't all be the same.

The only time in my life I've been able to eat first thing in the morning is while breastfeeding - I wake up starving! Normally though I have to do a few hours of stuff before hunger kicks in. Lots of people are like that, it's normal.

The idea that breakfast is important is just marketing. The important thing is to listen to your body and eat when you're hungry.

CauliflowerBalti I think that’s what do frustrating (that and the use of loose instead of lose on this thread continually ).
It’s a whole load of science and facts being ignored compared to what gets peddled in take a break or the breakfast industry.
Yet more people clamour to reinforce that and one can see why the OP is fed up.