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.

why is it important?

Because if you last ate at 6pm (or earlier), you need something to fuel the morning with. If you leave it to 12pm, you’re going 18 hours without eating. Cramming a full day’s calories into 6 hours isn’t great either, is it? Loads of energy, not much time to be using it meaning you are adding to the overweight issue.

Theres also an anorexia crisis in teenager's OP, I was one of them.
I would have got help sooner if my school had asked questions and spoke to my parents instead of of just believing that I'm not hungry and don't like eating first thing in the morning.
I actually can't believe that you are angry the school is trying to support students and help your dd because one time it mildly inconvenienced you so now you think they just should bother. What about the kids with eating disorders? The ones being neglected and refused breakfast? The ones who can't afford to eat breakfast?
And what else are you doing to help her loose weight? Eating breakfast wasnt the cause of her ending up overweight so skipping it isnt going to be the solution. She needs to eat proper healthy meals and exersize properly, if that doesnt work she needs to go to the doctors.

If you read up on fasting etc, you'll see it's actually not the end of the world to not eat breakfast.

Sorry but you are wrong and the school is right.
Research has confirmed that breakfast is ESSENTIAL.

People who are eating breakfast, esp a nice big breakfast and have a lighter evening meal are LIGHTER than those who skip breakfast. (With the same amount of calories of course).

It’s not because she has never been light headed before that the reason she was today is not because she didn’t have breakfast. So many other things to take into account, incl how much she has eaten yesterday and what.

Besides, research has also shown that pupils are more able to concentrate and learn when they’ve had breakfast. Which makes sense. No calories for 17 hours (7.00pm dinner up to 12.00pm lunch) will do that to you...

If she isn't eating breakfast and is overweight they she must be binge eating later in the day just before bed which is why she is not hungry in the morning.

You really need to get her into healthier eating habits. Breakfast before school will probably help address some of her issues and get her back to a healthy weight.

I mean we are talking a banana and a glass of fresh orange. The school are right to be concerned.

I can't believe school contacted you about it let alone call you in
Well idea the dd has actually been physically unwell, enough to attract the teacher’s attention, I think it’s fair enough that the parents are contacted.
So many reasons why the dd couod feel light headed like this. Malnutrition, anorexia, not enough food in the house altogether (NOT unheard off atm :(), or simple abuse. The school clearly needs to double check the welfare of a teenager who is nearly passing out...

I've had this done to me before. My son is normal weight. I couldn't hAve a fight forcing him to eat the moment he woke up. However, he started taking medication and if taken on an empty stomach he would be sick. So I give him a bar chocolate for breakfast, like a wispa, which he realised was better than being sick. The rest of the day is healthy. Not everyone can eat cornflakes at breakfast.

Got called into school as dd(13) felt unwell and it transpired she hadn't eaten.
you got called into school because she felt unwell.
i used to never eat breakfast but would fell very sick on the bus on the way to college,
and later on, starving on the way to work.

encourage better habits op.

People who don't eat breakfast-do you usually have something before lunch?

If so, isn't that your breakfast?

There is masses of evidence to show that missing breakfast has no negative impact whatsoever, also.

If I eat breakfast I'm just eating an extra 300 calories minimum per day. Eating breakfast has no impact at all on what I eat the rest of the day.

I didn't eat breakfast as a teen, and often don't now. Even my toddler doesn't like to eat before 9/10am.

I wonder if the light-headedness could be too do with her periods - either in its own, or because sometimes (for me anyway) you need to eat more when you're on, and she hasn't realised this yet. It may be the one time in the month she really should have breakfast.

To answer your question Diddl - I like to have an early lunch, around 12-12.30. Sometimes that's not possible. I quite often don't eat anything at all until 2pm.

Hyperbole, no? "Hauled" into school? What's wrong with "called"? You should be grateful that school is concerned about your daughter's health.

My teens don't like breakfast when they first get up either. Dd takes two chocolate chip brioche with her to eat later (I know we won't get any awards for good nutrition), and ds buys a bacon butty from the school canteen during morning break. Meh - what can you do...

@A580Hojas

We're not talking about you though. We're talking about statistics and trends. Given what we know about her daughter- skips meals but still overweight - then we can assume she falls into the category of an unhealthy snacker. Part of beating that is introducing regular meals.

Sorry I just need to read the replies, have been making dinner

How can you actually force a 13 year old to eat? Neither of my children eat breakfast, both leaving the house by 7.30. They feel sick, one has a long bus ride that is worse with food inside, and she just can't face it. I have tried and tried- I've cut up apples, cubes of cheese, all manner of cereals, even tried just fruit. They don't want to eat at that time.

I would be happy to be called by the school to ask about it, as I have nothing to hide. But you simply cannot make teens eat, otherwise there would be no anorexia if you could just pressure them to do what you wanted.

Perhaps the school thought it best to inform you in case they thought she was skipping breakfast to lose weight? Do you think DD might have said something more to them to make them think this? Do you have breakfast foods available if she does fancy them as I can imagine them worrying if the conversation went something like ‘I didn’t eat any breakfast’ ‘Was there nothing in the house to eat?’ ‘No, Mum didn’t get anything’

But as for a PP saying it is lazy parenting? DD never ate breakfast. If I’d woken her up early when she was 13 and said come on you need to have some breakfast she would’ve just said no I don’t want any? I could hardly force her. By 13 she was old enough to get herself up and off to school, I wasn’t going to stand around hassling her and making myself late. I just always made sure there were things like fruit, bread and breakfast biscuits available on the off chance she did fancy something on her way out.

My dd, who is an absolutely dedicated breakfast eater (takes after her dad) and starts assembling her breakfast before even putting the kettle on for tea in the morning, also had spells of dizziness and being lightheaded at 13/14. Tests revealed severely low ferritin levels and she was on iron tablets for a couple of years.

Research sponsored by cereal companies have shown breakfast to be essential maybe...
Read Jason Fung on fasting and the insulin response. Missing breakfast doesn't make you hungrier either.

People who are eating breakfast, esp a nice big breakfast and have a lighter evening meal are LIGHTER than those who skip breakfast. (With the same amount of calories of course).

I have always eaten breakfast, and have a very light evening meal. My two sisters never ate breakfast, still don't, and have a full "dinner" in the evening. My sisters have been very overweight since age 12, I have always been thin and am the same size at 55 as I was at 20.

Anecdata, but this is my experience.

YABU. She was unwell, she told them she wasn’t eating breakfast, they were checking that with you.

Needing breakfast is a con, invented by Kelloggs to sell cereal.

I freuquently skip breakfast but never make up the calories. Today I’ve eaten a cheese sandwich, chocolate brownie and a pork curry with rice

My ds3 ( aged 15) is always going feint at school and many days he doesn't eat breakfast as he doesn't want any. Can't say I've ever been called into school though.