Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-11
The SCHOOL cHILp,s BREAKFAST

The mother who sends her children
to school fortified for the labor of the
day by the. right kind of breakfast is
laying a foundation that will make for
the health and success of their entire
life. 1t is true that the Importance of
the breakfast is not generally recog-
niZed, but all experts in the study of
child life who have investigated the
problem of the school child are unani-
mously of the opinion that both the
mental and physical deficiency of the
little ones may almost invariably be
traced to the lack of proper nutrition
at the mor8dng meal. Cold bread with
butter, molasses, sugar or other sweet
as a spreait and coffee may satisfy
the cravinga1 of the appetite, but they
do not supply the right kind of build
ing materials for the rapidly growing
bodies and minds to say nothing of
maintaining the body heat and repair
ing the waste in tissue that is con-
stantly l., ling place.
Older people may stand reasonable
amount OF such abuses of the body
but children can bear very little of it,
owing to the fact that they are deVel-
oping so rlpidly that they are required
to maintain a sufficient supply of en-
ergy, with the penalty of checking the
development If this supply of working
force is not maintained. We may not
realize the fact, but the health of the
grown person largely depends on the
foods he eats when a child, and to
deprive school children of the nutritive
diet that they require is to put hand
leap upon them that will make itself
felt for many years.
nere is no meal in the day that is
so likely to be sighted as breakfast.
At the same time there is no meal
that is of greater Importance to the
child in school. In too many cases the
luncheon that this child may eat is of
the lightest eharacter-entirely lack
ing the elements that are most needed
by the body. Accordingly If the
breakfast is not a substantial meal
the child is compelled to go through
the day until dinner without any fuel
to keep the bodily engine in operation.
Children must not be permitted to go
without breakfast, or to go to school
with only a piece OF bread and a cup
of coffee in their stomachs, for the
mental deficiency of many children, as
we'll as the majority of nervous break
downs, may be traced directly to this
cause.
In preparing the child's breakfast it
is necessary that the mother should
know the difference between foods that
are merely filing and foods that are
nourishing slice of bread plentiful
ly spread with a very sweet syrup may
check the craving of the appetite, yet,
If the child SubSiSfed entirely upon this
diet he would starve to death, even
though he might never be actually
hungry. The simple fact is that this
is not the sort of food he needs 1t
is not assimlated into the blood and
does not add to the supply of force
that is needed for the nourishment of
the mind and the BODY. Each food that
we eat has a certain value from
dietetic point of view, and this value
is estimated in accordance with the
part it plays in meeting the require
ments of the body
The custom of serving fruit in the
morning is correct from a dietary
followed Immediately with hot cereal
acid in the fruit may curdle the milk,
changing it into a tough substance
that is digested with difficulty.
During the summer months there are
plenty of fruits and berries that may
be served even with the cereal, but
when orange or grapefruit is given to
children in the morning it is best to
omit the cereal and follow the fruit
with a dish that is more than ordinar-
lily nutritious.
A thoroughly cooked cereal-oatmeal,
hominy or cream of wheat-makes an
excellent breakfast dish for the child
when accompanied with cream or rich
milk Eggs are easy to digest as well
as being nutritious fish may be pre-
pared in a dozen ways. To accom-
pany the substantial dish there should
be some simple bread like whole
wheat, graham or corn muffinS. Pop
overs may be served occasionally or