Breakfast helps all students reach their potential. For any number of reasons, not every child eats a healthy breakfast at home. Barriers could include lack of available food, limited time, or not being hungry first thing in the morning. The School Breakfast Program dismantles those barriers and provides nutritious meals, available to all students.
You can celebrate this important program during National School Breakfast Week from March 4-8th, 2024, by having your child eat breakfast at school. School breakfast not only benefits individual students, but the school, families, and greater communities as well.
School Breakfast Benefits Individual Students.
Research shows children who participate in school breakfast are more likely to:
- Perform better in reading and math.
- Score higher on standardized tests.
- Have improved memory and concentration.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Get more of important nutrients, like calcium, dietary fiber, folate, and protein.
School Breakfast Benefits All Students.
All students benefit when their classmates are well fed and ready to focus and learn. Less disruptions in class means more time for teachers and students to focus on the lessons and learning. Explore the details in this article written by Registered Dietitian and school meals super-fan, Dayle Hayes.
School Breakfast Benefits Families and Communities.
Consider the following advantages of participating in school meals:
- School meals provide high quality nutrition to students.
- School meals are affordable, and you can save time and money in the morning.
- Higher participation in school meals brings additional funding for schools, which is then reinvested to provide a higher quality program.
- The school nutrition program creates and supports local jobs in your community.
New England Dairy Supports School Breakfast.
New England dairy farmers have supported initiatives and grants to promote and increase access to all school meals, including breakfast, for over a century. New England dairy farmer and parent, Alison Kosakowski Conant from Conants’ Riverside Farm in Richmond, VT, explained her reasons for supporting school breakfast, recognizing that farmers can do more than just produce the nutritious foods that go into a great school breakfast meal, they can be advocates so that all children have access to a nutritious morning meal.
