Breakfast Can Help Your Child Get Better At Math

Make breakfast a habit for your child this summer, and the payoff may be better math grades during the school year.

That’s the conclusion of research in which 81 children ages 8 to 11 were tested on their math skills. The young participants looked at math problems on a computer screen, calculated the answers in their heads and selected one answer from three choices on the screen. Then, during a 40-minute break about half the children ate breakfast and half skipped it. When they took another math test after the break, sensors indicated that the children who didn’t eat had to exert more effort to perform the mental math and stay focused. Breakfast eaters used less effort, stayed focused and improved their scores over the first test, according to the study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.