- The yummiest part of school!
March 4-8 is National School Breakfast week. Here are a few words of wisdom from our own Dr. Gutierrez about the importance of breakfast for children:
We have all heard it said, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. With that in mind, the week of March 4 recognizes National School Breakfast Week.
National School Breakfast Week raises awareness about the availability of the School Breakfast Program (SBP), as well as highlights the benefits, especially academic, of eating a healthy breakfast.
My grandfather grew up very poor in South Texas, near Refugio. He tells stories of how he did not have food in the house for days. He and his brothers would survive on the oranges they picked off the trees in the neighborhood. He admits he was not a good student and recalls how he had lots of difficulty concentrating. He remembers feeling extremely fatigued as well as having terrible diarrhea due to eating nothing but fruit for days in a row. He could have really benefited from a nutritious, well balanced meal provided at school.
The School Breakfast Program started under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. This program offers breakfast to children free or at a reduced price. Currently, about 7 million children eat breakfast at school daily with approximately 85% of participants receiving their breakfast free or at a reduced cost.
According to “Ending Childhood Hunger: A Social Impact Analysis” children who ate breakfast scored 17.5% higher on standardized math tests and attended 1.5 more days of school. Now that’s powerful food for thought.
Visit the National School Breakfast website to learn more. There's all kinds of cool merchandise for sale to help support the program, and even a writing contest for kids!
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