Like most health care providers, you’ve probably seen the epidemic of childhood obesity firsthand. More kids than ever before are showing up with Type II diabetes, early signs of hypertension or heart disease or another obesity-related health problem. There are many steps families, schools and communities can take to respond to this epidemic.

Research shows that participating in the School Breakfast Program is one effective strategy in weight management and in making sure kids eat the fruits, vegetables and calcium they need. In fact, school breakfasts nutritionally outperform breakfasts made at home by kids or parents. As a trusted source of information, health care providers like you have the opportunity to promote the importance of eating breakfast and the benefits of school breakfasts to families in your community.

“Prescribe” breakfast to all of your pediatric patients. Eating a healthy breakfast is a habit everyone should develop. Yet research shows that skipping breakfast is all too common. For example, 20% of California teens regularly don’t eat breakfast. Tell parents and children that eating breakfast should be a priority. While every school in California does not yet offer breakfast, most do. Encourage families to participate in this program—no matter what their income.

The Breakfast First campaign is developing resource materials to encourage parents and kids to eat breakfast at school. Click here here to participate in the pilot study.

Advocate for access to healthy breakfasts. Add your voice to the chorus of those in your community committed to putting breakfast first. Sadly, not every California school offers the nutritionally balanced federal breakfast program—even though, as you know, every community has families whose morning schedules, family budgets or other realities make it impossible for kids to eat a good morning meal at home.

Click here to look up schools in your area to see if they offer this critical nutrition support. If not, simply call the school principal, inquire about the program and urge her or him to implement this affordable antidote to morning nutrition problems. Click here for a guide to making that call.

Help make existing school breakfast programs more student-friendly. One of the top concerns for families is getting their “picky eater” to eat a well-balanced diet. Schools face the same problem every day! As a pediatric health care provider, you can help schools balance the need to provide healthy food with strategies for encouraging kids to eat what’s offered.

For example, schools may not realize that research shows kids need multiple exposures and opportunities to try new foods before they will accept them. There are also strategies (such as classroom breakfast, Grab-N-Go breakfast and breakfast on the bus) that can encourage participation. Learn about these strategies here. Then, call your school food service director, PTA or school board and offer your advice.

Get involved in your local school’s breakfast program. A new federal law requires every school district in the country to develop a “Local Wellness Policy” that includes, among other issues, policies about the nutrition of food served on campus. As a health care provider, you have an important role to play in making sure sound nutrition policies are enacted.

Click here for a tool kit on participating in Local Wellness Policy development. Then, contact your school food service director to find out how you can be useful. Schools always need breakfast champions to visit the program and have breakfast with the kids to encourage greater participation.

Bring your health care knowledge to Sacramento. As a pediatrician, you can be an “expert witness” as legislators debate policies to improve school breakfast. To sign up for the Breakfast First Advocacy Team click here.