Breakfast is vital to learning

Research shows breakfast is the most important meal of the day for children and adults alike. A decent breakfast provides the body with energy to kick start the brain and body for learning. Little bodies need lots of sustaining throughout the day so lots of healthy snacks in their lunch boxes is important to see them through the day and fueling their brains. It is better to have too much food in their lunch box rather than not enough. Hungry children can't concentrate properly.

Often when children start school they eat all their lunch at playtime so it pays to put a special playtime snack in a small container and train your child to eat from that at playtime and their lunchbox only at lunchtime. Always put more in especially in the early weeks of school. Encourage your child to bring uneaten food home that way you can get an idea of what they are or are not eating plus you can reuse unopened or uneaten food.

Don't forget to ask your child what they do or do not like as it can save hungry children and waste.

Extra clothes

Just like at kindergarten it pays to put an extra change of clothing in your child's bag. Children can often:

• forget to go to the toilet
• forget where the toilet is
  
• be too scare to ask to go to the toilet
• be too scare to go to the toilet alone
• get too involved in activities
• think they can only go to the toilet during interval and lunch breaks

so accidents sometimes happen in the early days even for children who have been toilet trained for years or are familiar with school and staff.