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Are your kids eating breakfast every morning? Are you sure? The American Dietetic Association Foundation polled almost 2,000 pairs of parents and children aged 8 to 17 and found that 42 percent of white and Hispanic children and 59 percent of black children miss breakfast. In fact, 12 percent of white and Hispanic children never eat breakfast and 18 percent of black children follow that trend.
Previous studies have found that missing breakfast is associated with increased school absenteeism and tardiness, poor attention to tasks and lower test scores, said Katie Brown, national education director for the ADA Foundation, in an ADA news release.
Additionally, the survey found that 22 percent of white children, 34 percent of black children and 38 percent of Hispanic children do not eat dinner all the time. And dinner is rarely or never eaten by 3 percent of white children and 5 percent of black and Hispanic children.
What are they eating? Snacks, which are often consumed to replace those skipped meals, according to the survey. In fact more than half of the pairs surveyed said they snacked immediately after school. What do they do while snacking? About 23 percent of white kids, 30 percent of black kids and 24 percent of Hispanic kids said they often or always ate snacks while watching television.
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