Is 4 Too Young to Skip Breakfast?

If she's eating something on ride that's breakfast. It doesn't have to happen at the kitchen table. Some cut up fruit, dry cereal and cup of milk is breakfast regardless of where it happens.

If she needs more sleep she needs to go to bed earlier.

No one should skip breakfast. Even if it's a piece of fruit and a glass of milk.

To be clear, she is not "skipping" it. You are allowing her to sleep in, thus she doesn't have time to eat at the table so you're letting her eat in the car. So yes, that's a problem.

My opinion is you are allowing her to set bad habits at a VERY young age. And when she gets older it will be VERY hard to break them. Start getting her on a sleep schedule and going to bed earlier so she doesn't feel like "she'd rather sleep in than have breakfast". That should not be up to her to decide. You are the parent, not her. Good luck.

sorry - I don't let my kids skip breakfast. To me? It's an important meal.

If your daughter prefers sleep?? Sounds like she needs to go to bed earlier so she gets enough sleep and up in time for breakfast.

At 4 years old? Yes. It's too early and too early for her to dictate her bedtime - if that's what is happening. Get her to bed earlier. She obviously needs more sleep.

Good luck!

If she just didn't like to eat in the morning, that would have come up before now. 4 is too young to understand that if she sleeps in, she won't have time for breakfast and may get hungry or feel cranky before snack time and that snack has no or little protein. Not sure what kind of yogurt. A 4 year old shouldn't typically have to be woken up in my opinion. She should go to bed earlier or school later. It's not "real" school yet so at those ages and until middle school, my kids were still waking early enough on their own. Preschool didn't start that early. And most studies do say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The body hasn't had nourishment in 10-14 hours.

she needs to eat something. even if its just a shake type drink with added protein. talk to her dr about what they recommend. but definitely try to get her to eat something before school. i know when my son started kindrgarten he rarely had enough time at lunch to eat a whole meal. and if he was a hot lunch he got even less time to eat. so getting her in the habit of eating before leaving will help when school starts. (his teacher did do a mid morning snack but its not a school wide thing, so other kindergarten classes didn't get snack)

Yes.
A hungry tired kid is more prone to meltdowns and behavior issues at school.
She should be in bed early enough in the evening that she's not tired when she wakes up in the morning and have enough time to eat her breakfast and then go to preschool.
It doesn't have to be a 6 course meal.
Some peanut butter on toast or some left overs from last nights dinner is fine.
A sunny side up egg on toast take me 10 min to make - our son loves it but he usually has cereal and milk in the morning.
They need to eat before going to school.
Food in the car is messy and once she's old enough to be on a bus they don't allow food to be eaten on the bus.

She needs to go to bed earlier, OR she needs a nap. She's only 4 - most kids are popping up early unless they aren't getting enough sleep.

Put away this idea of some people not being "breakfast people". You cannot make that assumption about your daughter. The poster who said that a hungry child is prone to meltdowns and behavior issues is spot on - cranky and irritable is enough to give the teachers a lot of trouble. And letting her "not eat" is training her to not want to. Mothers should never do that.

It's just not a good habit to get into. Breakfast is essential.

What matters is the quality of the food. Many parents (not implying you're one of them, just a general observation) say their kids eat breakfast, but when asked, the breakfast consists of pop tarts, sugary cereal, doughnuts, snack cakes, etc.

Good choices are fresh fruit pieces, smoothies made with yogurt and fruit (real Greek plain yogurt - nothing with sugars or flavors or cookie pieces!), overnight oatmeal in a little mason jar, and a healthy piece of whole grain toast. It only takes a minute to blend a smoothie. Chop up a banana into slices, freeze the slices (freeze them individually on a cookie sheet at first, then put the frozen pieces into a freezer bag or container so they don't glop together). Use those instead of ice cubes, and throw in apple slices, or orange segments, or strawberries or a combination of those, plus yogurt, and you've got a fast easy drink.

Cut up fresh fruit, keep it in the fridge, and give her a little fun cup of pieces, with whole grain crackers. Cheese is another good option. Melt a good cheese (not the plastic slices) on a piece of 100% whole grain toast (now they make "white" bread that has low sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, and lots of good fiber), and you have cheese toast. Cut it into little squares so it's easy to pop a bite in the car.

You can also make a batch of "breakfast cookies". There are lots of recipes online; mainly they're oats, dates, raisins, a little maple syrup or raw honey, and you can make them fairly small and easy to eat. They provide fiber, and other great nutrients to start the day, and they're portable. Plus, you and your daughter can make a weekly batch together. Let her choose golden or dark raisins, learn to measure honey, stir, etc.

The crunchy granola bars commonly sold in grocery stores are not as good a choice - they often contain additives and sugars.

Make her on-the-go breakfast appealing. Let her pick a smoothie cup with a fun color and a wide straw (lots available online). Get a little to-go bowl with her favorite princess or superhero to put the homemade breakfast cookies in.

Start teaching her that food is fuel for her brain and body, just like the car needs gas to go. Teach her that her brain and body are important. Most importantly, demonstrate these good habits yourself. She'll be inspired, hopefully.

I guess it would depend on what she's having in car - if it was substantial enough. My kids didn't always care for the snacks served at preschool some days and would just nibble. So that would be my concern. I also felt better knowing they had a good meal at start - fuel to keep them going. But whatever works right? So long as she's eating away in the car and it's nutritious and enough for her to keep her energy/attention levels up.

I would be more inclined to move her bedtime up a bit just so she doesn't want to sleep so late, and then do cereal/milk or whatever is quick. But I've been known to send them off with toast in car days we're running late. That and a banana ..

ETA: Now that I've think of this, my kids never skipped breakfast - if we did the toast in car it was just because we ran out of time. Not the norm - just the odd hectic morning we had to be somewhere. They were hungry.

If you mean dropping breakfast altogether because she doesn't seem interested and you're just getting food into her by letting her snack in car - then no, that seems like a really bad habit to get into. I hadn't read this right. I was assuming you were running late because she got up late. But if she's not showing she's hungry .. I guess I don't really relate to this because mine wake up ravenous.

One of my nieces dilly dallied over breakfast every morning and would almost miss bus before school because my sister had to force her to eat her oatmeal, etc. I stayed over one night and got her ready for school and the kid was exhausted. She looked like a zombie playing with her spoon. My sister wasn't a stickler for bedtimes. So thinking of it now, I'd get her to bed earlier. She may just be out of sorts.

In my opinion, 44 is too young to skip breakfast! So yes, 4 is way way WAY too young. Google the studies of schools! That's why there's a free breakfast program in so many schools, because it's so important. Kids are nodding off and experiencing headaches if they don't eat. And she needs protein, not just carbs. Milk helps, but it's not enough. She might be getting by in preschool, but this is a really bad precedent to set for elementary school. I'd nip this in the bud if I were you. There is no way a kindergarten teacher is going to want a child in class who doesn't eat until 10 A.M.

If she would rather sleep, then she's not going to bed early enough. She needs more rest, and you might want to look at her overall nutrition throughout the day, making sure she's getting a proper mix of fats (especially healthy ones) and proteins as well as her fruits, veggies and starches.

If she's eating in the car, that could be "breakfast" depending on what it is. But letting a kid think that a car snack is a meal is probably going to backfire on your big time. And what if you get to school and she hasn't eaten it? Do you wait in the car until she finishes? My guess is, no. And you're probably not giving her things like yogurt in the car because they're messy, so probably all she's getting is a granola bar or some dry cereal, right?

My suggestion is that you have her get up a lot earlier than usual, eat a real breakfast, and THEN have a chance to do whatever else her morning routine entails (getting dressed, watching TV, playing, whatever). If she goes late to preschool a couple of times because she wasn't ready on time, or if she has to dress in the car because she didn't get her rear end in gear, she'll likely change her habits. You can't force her to eat, I know. But you also don't have to indulge her other pursuits instead of her health. The older she gets, the harder this will be for you, as she exerts more independence and even opposition.

My son always wanted his cereal or French toast for breakfast, but we made fruit his "first half" and then he could have his "second half." He used those terms until at least the 4th grade because they were so ingrained. Today, he's a great eater. He didn't have to eat, in the sense of being forced, but he also didn't go out to play or watch TV or get to preschool on time for the "free play" stuff if he hadn't eaten. Yes, it inconvenienced me in the short run, but it set us all up for success down the road.

So if you move the yogurt and fruit to breakfast (maybe with a little cereal as a yogurt topping), then give her crackers/cheese/raw veggies for snack, you'll have to do very little adjustment or introduction of new foods.

I think you'll be glad you went through the hassle now and not later.

I don't think she should skip. I get that some people aren't breakfast people but at 4 I'm not sure she's ready to say accurately that's how she feels. Kids need full bellies at school to help them concentrate, make decisions, and cope. That's not to say you can't still feed her something in the car, although not ideal, I think we've all done it at some point, but I still think it should be something filling like peanut butter toast, bagel, fruit, etc.

All medical research shows breakfast is necessary to start the day. It gets your body moving in a good way. Why are you letting her sleep past breakfast? If she's still so tired in the morning that she needs sleep over food, she should go to bed earlier.

My kids don't always WANT breakfast, but at a minimum they have to have some fruit or something. I typically ask them to eat a protein with it too (cheese, peanut butter, eggs, etc). Something to keep them fuller through the morning.

But yes - breakfast person or not, she needs to eat something to start her day.

I have one who doesn't like to eat until he's been up for a few hours. I get it, I'm the same way. Nonetheless, I try to make sure he has something in his tummy before he leaves in the morning, but sometimes it's something small - sometimes just a single frozen waffle (no butter to make it heavy), a single egg scrambled, or a little bit of oatmeal.

I think it's important to keep as a habit, because next year when she goes to school, she probably won't get a morning snack anymore. My little one had to go from 8AM breakfast at home until a noon lunch time in kindergarten, no opportunity for snack.

I believe in breakfast. As an adult, if I don't eat one, I have a headache by lunch. I know everyone is different but I think most people need it and it really turns into a battle with teenagers sometimes. So starting good habits now seems worthwhile. I also think a 4 year old who is so tired or wants to sleep in past time for breakfast before preschool is not a good picture. It's like she's a little executive eating in the car because she's so busy? She should go to bed earlier. Most kids that age annoy their parents because they get up too early in the mornings.

Yes. She needs to eat something. If she isn't awake enough, let her eat something in the car. Or wake her up earlier to allow time for her to wake up enough to eat. I had a few years where mine wasn't hungry first thing. So had her get ready completely, then offer a few bites of something, or give something "to go." Toasted waffles with peanut butter on them works well. Quick to prep. Easy to eat.

Give her a ziplock bag of cereal in the car (with milk to drink only) if you have to.

But 4 is just too young to completely skip it.

If it's that she's not wanting to wake up, then she needs an earlier bedtime. What time does she go to bed? At 4, it should be somewhere near 7 pm, in my opinion.
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ETA: Sorry to add again.
But, looking back at a few of the previous questions makes me wonder (seriously) what time she goes to bed. Misbehavior is very much linked to lack of sleep/rest. She gave up her naps not long ago. She's ok behaving at school but not at home for you (she's more rested in the morning, than by afternoon, not to mention it's normal for kids to hold it together at school and save the misbehaving/meltdowns for their *safe* person), and this could also be related to over-tiredness in the later part of the day.

You haven't said in any of the posts I've seen what time she goes to bed. Especially since she JUST turned 4, I hope it is not any later than 7 pm. She might be better served going to bed even earlier than that, if she gets up fairly early for preschool drop off (does she get up before 7 a.m.?).

my older was never a breakfast person. still isn't, at almost 30. i finally quit fighting with him and got him carnation instant breakfast. it wasn't the healthiest option, but better than nothing.
giving her a car snack sounds like a great coping mechanism.
khairete
S.

4 is too young to skip breakfast. If she needs more sleep then she goes to bed earlier so she can wake refreshed and have a relaxed breakfast. Mom sets the tone for the day.

No, she will be fine. There are plenty of healthy things you can give her to take with her or eat in the car.

I think if you give her say a cup of milk or a smoothie (with a lid and straw) and something relatively filling to eat in the car that this is fine. As long as there is enough time to eat. But if she is not really eating it then I think you should try putting her to bed earlier and wake her up early enough to sit and eat something. Waiting till 10am for a snack might be really hard for a 4 year old...and then the snack might not really be substantial enough. What time does preschool start?

No one should skip breakfast. My daughter also isn't a big breakfast eater. She's just not hungry first-thing in the morning. I do get her to eat a small bowl of cereal, a pancake or two, just something. I think you're doing fine if you get her to eat something in the car to start off the day.

My kids are 14 and 16 and they've always had breakfast before school. It doesn't have to be a large breakfast, just some protein and maybe some fruit. In the summer, I let them decide since they usually wake up closer to lunch.

I agree with other responders...perhaps you should back her bedtime up some and then she'll have more time in the morning. Breakfast is important.

My kid has never been much of an eater....yes, she'll skip breakfast...whatever I gave her at that age (3-4) was thrown out. I finally just let her eat when she was hungry. They gave a snack at school (or we had them bring one).
I know people say breakfast "is the most important meal of the day". But I NEVER ate breakfast all through school, college and most of my adult life. I always got good grades, never had a weight problem and felt on top of my game.
Actually, I heard a radio program where they said that as humans evolved, they usually only had one or two meals a day. It wasn't uncommon for them to eat in the middle of the day and that was it. It was a cycle of eating and fasting just because they didn't always have access to food.
As long as she gets her calories and nutrients by the end of the day, I doubt this would ever be a problem.

If it's your fault then it's a problem in my opinion. If it's her choice then let her learn what it is to feel hungry a few days then remind her a couple of times what hungry feels like. Have her breakfast ready, sit her down to it. If she chooses to not eat then she has made the choice. Our kids will scarf up tootie fruities or frosted flakes or frosted mini wheats. They love cereal and milk. They also love their breakfast at school. Our girl's favorite meal is biscuits and gravy.

I can't believe they don't serve them breakfast at preschool. They even do that in Pre-K and all the way through elementary school.

One of my kids never has breakfast in the early mornings. He's like me, and will feel queasy (at best) if he eats too soon. He and I have always been this way. We can tolerate something to drink, but no solids. I keep a cereal bar or similar in his backpack in case he gets hungry at school before lunch. If eating makes her sick then I say to listen to the biological cue. No good would come from forcing it.

However, if the issue is that she just doesn't want to get up in the mornings but otherwise eats just fine shortly after waking it's probably a matter of setting and following routines. Eating in the car is not something no-breakfast people typically do.

My no-breakfast kid still has to get up at the appointed time. Your daughter may need a slightly earlier bedtime if she is resisting getting out of bed in the morning. Don't let her choose to sleep longer when you go in to wake her. Up and moving, kiddo!

My concern is not with the act of eating in the car as much as with the concept of your 4 year old calling the shots!! Yes, 4 is too young for her to tell you she is not a breakfast person. (Next thing you know, she'll tell you she's not much of a bath person either, etc etc.) She should have a routine of being up and eating at the table in a not-too-rushed amount of time before school starts. In high school, she can grab something as she rushes out the door to swim practice or whatever. At 4, she should have a normal seated breakfast.

ETA: I know you're not saying that she literally told you "I'm not a breakfast person". I meant just that she is too young to set her own schedule that way.