Please let me get out of the house just one morning without hearing the words, "Mommy, I can't find my..." - fill in shoe, hairbrush, lunchbox. Mornings are tough, especially on school days. Somehow, you never seem to have quite enough time. You have to get out the door with everything you need, with your child prepared for the day and still arrive on time. Some days, you’re feeling like super mom and remember to hand your kid a granola bar in the car on the way to school and other days… you feel a little less than prepared. Luckily there are programs in place to help us out with this exact scenario!
Well, National Dairy Council teamed up with the NFL, in collaboration with the USDA, to launch a program to help families get healthy and active. Fuel Up to Play 60 is a national in-school health and wellness program that encourages youth to consume nutrient-rich foods (low-fat and fat-free dairy, fruits, vegetables and whole grains) and achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. They recently announced $35 million in grants with the USDA, GENYOUth Foundation and the NFL, aimed at helping schools update or upgrade their existing kitchen equipment. For older kids, the Grab and Go breakfast option is also available at certain schools and encourages students to quickly grab a nutritious breakfast to start their day.
A Fuel Up to Play 60 event recently took place in Kansas City in celebration of National School Breakfast Week. Part of the Fuel Up to Play 60 team and the Kansas City Chiefs mascot, KC Wolf, made a visit to a local school during a Grab and Go breakfast! Over 350 students started their morning with school breakfast, and the students participated in a raffle for an autographed Chiefs helmet!
So why is school breakfast so important?
•Three out of four K-8 public school teachers that were surveyed about breakfast reported that their students regularly show up to school hungry.*
•Breakfast at school offers kids a chance to share a meal with classmates and friends.
•Not all kids have nutritious breakfast available to them at home. Approximately one in five households with kids struggle at some point during the year to put food on the table. **
•School breakfast may lead to improved academic performance. ***
How to Get Involved!
•Visit FuelUpToPlay60.com to learn more and access Playbook resources such as Breakfast - Anytime, Anywhere or A Hero's Breakfast. You can encourage your local school to start a breakfast program and enlist support from your community.
•Find out if your school is enrolled in Fuel Up to Play 60 (www.FuelUpToPlay60.com). If not, learn how to get involved!
•Join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Just follow #FuelGreatness.
Check out how Fuel Up to Play 60 is making breakfast time fun too!
https://youtu.be/tuZew9z4ZUQ
The author was compensated for this article. All opinions are her own.
- “Hunger In Our Schools.” 1st ed. Washington: No Kid Hungry, 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
** Felling, Christy. "STATEMENT: Share Our Strength's Bill Shore on New USDA Food Insecurity Numbers | www.nokidhungry.org." STATEMENT: Share Our Strength's Bill Shore on New USDA Food Insecurity Numbers | www.nokidhungry.org. No Kid Hungry, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
*** Adolphus, Katie, Clare L. Lawton, and Louise Dye. "The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Frontiers Media S.A., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
