by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com. I carry them in my car with me, so if you see me, you can purchase directly from me or contact me on email, etc.)

Train up a child…

 About Breakfast for Children

         Have you every wondered why all the fuss about the importance of breakfast for children? Well, what they say is true.  Children really do need a good breakfast to start the day and a good breakfast really does help a child in school.  The very word “breakfast” means to break the fast of the long night hours with no food.  When children get up in the morning, their stomachs are empty and need to have something put in them.  The “juices” of the stomach are ready to work, but there is nothing there for them to work on unless something is added.  If children don’t get breakfast, they become weak and listless and cannot function well.  Also, without breakfast, children may have a tendency to eat more at later times and this can be a contributing factor to obesity.  

         With so many parents working, it is often difficult to provide an adequate breakfast, but with a little planning it can be easily done.  Some children can use a peeler to peel apples.  Add water and a handful of red hots cinnamon candy and delicious applesauce is produced.  It can be done ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.  In addition, there are many things on the market now that make breakfast much easier to fix. Such items as instant oatmeal and frozen waffles or pancakes that can be popped in the toaster are things that children can do for themselves.  There are good ready-to-eat cereals and bad ready-to-eat cereals.  Cereals high in sugar should be avoided.  One can easily check the label to determine the amount of sugar in the cereal knowing that 4 grams of sugar equals one teaspoon of sugar. Since vitamin C cannot be stored in the body, children need juice or fruit every day. There are many drinks advertised for children that are loaded with sugar and are not 100% juice.  Giving those “juices” to children is somewhat like giving them flavored, sugared water. Real juice or fruit is best. 

         When children continually get too much sugar, the pancreas simply wears out and eventually the child can get diabetes.  There are two types of diabetes.  One type can usually be avoided with proper diet. When children get up in the morning and eat a pop-tart or heavily sugared cereal, they get energetic for a period of time; then, the brain signals the body to take care of the sugar and the body goes to work to take care of it.  This may then result in a “low”.  Repeating this process over and over strains the work of the pancreas that secretes the substance to work on the excess sugar.  The diabetes most often doesn’t occur until late adulthood, but the excess sugar in the diet is a contributing cause.  

         Ideally, a family should sit at the breakfast table together to eat a nice meal, but realistically, we know that usually doesn’t happen in today’s world. Some families make sure that the family is together for a nice breakfast on Saturday mornings when the children don’t have to hurry to school, or the parents do not have to hurry to work.  This is a good idea.  If it is a pancake breakfast, extra pancakes can be made and frozen to be popped in the toaster the next week. (Freezing extra homemade pancakes costs much less than buying them frozen.)  The children can help do the cooking and cleaning. This can become a custom to be pleasantly remembered for years to come.