I have a 4 year-old daughter who refuses to eat breakfast. I am concerned because we get up very early in the morning (6 a.m.) and she arrives at school at 7 a.m. She goes to kindergarten so unlike preschool there is no morning snack there is simply lunch which is eaten at noon.
We currently live in Okinawa so she is attending a Japanese kindergarten which unlike American schools have very strict rules that they follow and there is little to no room for deviation so even sending a snack and telling her to eat if she gets hungry is out of the question.
Though she understands some Japanese (she just started school last week as their school year begins in April and not August like in America. And she attended a Japanese preschool for 3 months prior to entering this school), she is not versed enough to say that she is hungry (there are no English speakers at this school I must bring an interpreter).
But she will not eat breakfast. I know that not eating breakfast becomes a teenage thing so having this habit start so early really freaks me out. Should I not worry about my daughter eating in the morning? Any advice is appreciated.
Try having her drink something like Ensure (a liquid nutritional drink). Also, have you tried sitting her at the table while you eat breakfast in hopes that she may imitate you. Also, what about a piece of fruit on the way to school? Just some ideas.
I suggest you let her do it her way and see how it goes. She won't suffer any lasting damage from going without food until noon. Most likely, she will learn a valuable lesson and become more responsible because of it. Plus, the parent-child struggles over this will end. I know it's hard because you want to protect her, but this will help her learn. Give her lots of choices and she'll feel good about herself. Good luck. You may want to check out www.loveandlogic.com. I love their parenting books.
I agree! www.loveandlogic.com You can't force her to eat breakfast. If she doesn't want it, that's okay. Maybe once she gets hungry enough, she will. Just let her do it her way. She'll learn much better that way.
My oldest son (now 46) did not like breakfast...starting about 4 yo...so I would make him milkshakes with banana, milk, peanut butter & honey...blend very well and he loved drinking this with a straw. He had no idea that was breakfast.
