5 Tips to Inspire Children to Eat Healthy Breakfast

You must have heard that breakfast is one of the most significant meals of the day. Breakfast makes a significant part of a child’s day, affecting everything right from creativity to memory.

If your children go hungry, they will be significantly more inclined to remain distracted. Not only will there be a higher chance to be distracted while learning, but there will also be greater chances to give up in case they face any challenge.

Research shows that the students who have breakfast perform better in the standardized tests.  They have a higher attention span, behave significantly better in class and are not required to visit the nurse’s office often.

The advantages of healthy eating for the students can be summarized as following.

• Increased grades
• Higher level of concentration
• Better behavior
• Regular attendance
• Better health as well as nutrition level

Kids Often Avoid Eating Breakfast

Breakfast skipping is not just common among the adults, they are common among children as well. Kids tend to cook up several reasons to avoid eating breakfast. The reasons offered here are quite varied though some of the most common reasons include unavailability of time and lack of appetite among the older students.

Hunger casts a significant impact on children, hindering their development, growth as well as health. In case it is a school setting, hunger can contribute to an array of challenges. The list is as varied as concentration issues, attention problem, hyperactivity as well as behavioral and emotional concerns. It’s clear that breakfast refusal in kids can land them up in serious trouble.

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What Should the Kids Eat for Breakfast?

We know that having something for breakfast is much better than having nothing. However, remember that having a few pastries or burger is not right for breakfast since they are high in sugar, calories as well as fat content.

The sugary foods get into the body of kids fast leading to a peak in the blood sugar level but this level falls down dramatically only after two hours. Dip in the blood sugar level leads to release of several hormones thereby affecting the mood.

Here are a few tips that will help you encourage children to have a healthy breakfast.

1. Get Children Involved

Getting the children involved in planning or making the breakfast go a long way in promoting a healthy breakfast regime. If you involve the children in the process, they are much more likely to have whatever is prepared.

Make sure you don’t give in to their demand for chocolate waffles or burger. Have a clearly written note specifying the options that are possible to have as breakfast.

1. Ensure Availability of Healthy Food

Children will have whatever they get. Make sure you stock healthy options on your table.

Most children are picky eaters. Making them have nutritious foods is quite a challenge. You don’t have any option apart from making the healthy option as appealing to them as possible.

According to a nutritionist, “The body requirements of children vary according to different age groups. Young children are attracted to various shapes, sizes and bright colours.” Keep this in mind while choosing healthy foods for children.

Food preferences develop early in life. So, make sure to offer as much variety as possible. Don’t nag if the child goes for an unhealthy option but encourage and praise them if they opt for a healthier one.

1. Have a Healthy Breakfast Yourself

Kids will imitate you always. A study has found that the taste of younger children is related to the choice of their mother.

If your kid is a preschooler, he will prefer to copy whatever the parents are doing. Thus, they are quite likely to mimic your meal preferences.

If you give your child an apple while you opt for the comparatively unhealthy choices like burger and fried foods, your children will develop a preference for them.

Have meals and snacks with your kid so that they know you enjoy fruits and vegetables. If there are older children, discourage them of speaking negatively about the healthier dishes at the dinner table.

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1. Add to the Fun

None of us prefer to have the same things for days at a stretch. The children are not an exception either. Having the same thing every day can get them bored. Try and incorporate new things into the breakfast menu.

You can undertake research to find the breakfasts that are have had in other parts of the world. Do this research along with the children. The opportunity to give an opinion apart from trying new dishes will get them excited.

On top of adding to the menu, you can take steps to add fun elements in the old breakfast options too. How about using some dry fruits to make a smiley in the bowl of oatmeal or arranging some colorful fruits in an amazing formation?

1. Offer Treats Occasionally

Arranging a treat occasionally is not a bad idea. You can accept the demands of children at least once a week and serve their preferred items as breakfast.

You can also consider rewarding them. Reward the kids who ate healthy through the week or consumed something they don’t like. Rewards can be anything from foods to glasses and plates with their favorite cartoon character engraved. You can ask for their opinion in this case too.

The treats are bound to make them look forward to breakfasts.

What are your ways of making kids consume a healthy breakfast? We would love to hear of them.