Is it okay for children or parents to skip breakfast?

    Published: 06-16-2009
    Views: 9,143
    National Research Center for Women and Families president Dr. Diana Zuckerman advises against skipping breakfast–both for children and parents.

    Host: Is it okay for children or parents to skip breakfast? Dr. Diana Zuckerman: Skipping breakfast is really never a good idea and I say that somebody who has skipped breakfast quite often, but it isn't a good idea. You really should start the day with something to eat and something nutritious and so if all you have is juice and yogurt or something really quite small that's still better than nothing. The kind of breakfasts we used to think of as healthy ways to start the day, baking an eggs or something like that is not necessarily, really a healthy breakfast. A breakfast doesn't have to be hot to be healthy. So, don't beat yourself up over not making pancakes or French toast or omelets every morning, but try to make sure that your children are getting something to eat that's healthy. Try to get some juice in there, try to get some milk in there, some calcium, some vitamins and one of the things that you should know is that there are a lot of convenience breakfasts such as breakfast bars for example. There are all different kinds of breakfast bars and the one that look healthy and that have healthy names sometimes aren't healthy at all. They are actually sometimes very high in calories with almost no vitamins or minerals at all. Many of them have no vitamins at all. So be sure you are reading the package as you are thinking about what you are feeding your children and it doesn't have to be a big meal, partly depending on when they are going to eat lunch but make sure they have something in the morning.