DO YOU ENJOY EATING BREAKFAST?
When was the last time you had a proper breakfast befor you went to work or school in the morning? Probably it was a long tim ago. Most people do not have time to eat breakfast. And many people do not want to eat breakfast as soon as they get up. Perhaps an hour later, they are starving. But by then they are at school or work and there is no time to stop and eat anything until lunchtime. However, if you could eat a decent breakfast, you would probably be able to do your work much better. This is especially true of schoolchildren because their brains are still developing. If children do not eat well, their brains will not function as well as they should. Their school work will be less effecrive. Children need iron, for example. Iron is found in bread and in many breakfast cereals and it helps concentration. Research shows that if children do not eat the right kind of food, or if they do not eat breakfast, they can have problems at school. Research supports the view that shool breakfasts help schoolchildren perform better at school. One study by Michael Murphy, a psychologist at Massaschusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, studied breakfast programmes at three schools. Dr Murphy and his colleagues found that the children who had the breakfasts provided by the school generally did better at school, particularly in Maths, than the children who had no breakfast. In one school, scores in Maths tests rose by 16 %. In another school there was a 10 % increase in Maths and behaved better than before, they were generally happier and more hard-working. Studies have shown that it is not difficult to organise school breakfasts. The breakfasts help everybody, it seems: parents, teachers and the children themselves. The children's favourite breakfasts are toast and jam, and cereals such as cornflakes. The most important thing of all is that children are happier, healthier and learn more.