Why are UK kids not getting a healthy start to the day?
The nation is suffering from a serious case of breakfast blues as research from restaurant chains, Brewers Fayre and Table Table, has revealed that more than a third of children in the UK are skipping the most important meal of the day, breakfast.
“The summer holidays are such a great time to start forging good habits with the kids and get them enjoying breakfast again so they will look forward to it, rather than skipping it,"
And it seems that mums and dads could be to blame for this one as many of those polled said they simply don’t have the time to give their kids a healthy start to the day. This is despite almost all of the parents polled (98 per cent) stating that they believe breakfast to be the most important meal of the day.
In addition to time pressures, other reasons for children missing breakfast include saying they aren’t hungry and that they are bored with eating the same thing every day. Two in one hundred under-15s said they skip breakfast in a bid to lose weight and 75 per cent state that they never have fruit in the morning.
Children in Glasgow were reported as being the worst culprits when it comes to skipping breakfast, with 47 per cent of Glaswegian parents saying that their children have nothing to eat in the morning. Other cities that were revealed as ditching breakfast regularly were Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham and London; all claiming that time and a lack of variation were the main factors.
More than two thirds of parents surveyed say they wish they had more time to sit down and enjoy breakfast with their children in the morning and 61 per cent of the children surveyed echoed this, saying they would like to sit down for breakfast with their parents more often, with five per cent claiming they have never actually experienced a family breakfast.
With the summer holidays about to kick off, celebrity foodie and Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon is backing Brewers Fayre and Table Table’s campaign to get kids excited about breakfast again.
“I was so surprised to discover that over a third of children in the UK are missing breakfast regularly and even more so that almost one in ten children don’t even think that breakfast is an important meal,” she said.
“The summer holidays are such a great time to start forging good habits with the kids and get them enjoying breakfast again so they will look forward to it, rather than skipping it,” Liz added.
Brewers Fayre and Table Table Restaurants all across the UK are encouraging children aged between the ages of 8-15 to make up an exclusive, new Kid’s Breakfast Taster Panel over the school summer break, to help test drive the brand new breakfast menu, with guidance from some expert chefs. Thirty children from across the UK will be chosen to join Brewers Fayre and Table Table chefs for a tongue-tingling tasting session, and armed with their taste buds, will be presented with an assortment of breakfast dishes from the new menus to cast their opinion on.