They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Ellen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:11:40 GMT

This is one of your best articles, Miriam.

I wouldn't have eaten breakfast in middle school if my mom gave me 10 bucks to do it. I was never hungry in the morning. I always feel a little sick before noon. (Not morning sickness!)

Yet there is no way to stop my middle schooler from eating his breakfast. I don't even have to be awake. He makes himself breakfast every morning without exception.

Maybe middle school kids who don't get themselves breakfast in the morning are big babies, and that's why they stay virgins longer. I think I'll do a study! ;-)

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Ellen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:11:19 GMT

Oh woops, not Miriam's essay, sorry.

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Ellen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:10:40 GMT

This is one of your best articles, Miriam.

I wouldn't have eaten breakfast in middle school if my mom gave me 10 bucks to do it. I was never hungry in the morning. I always feel a little sick before noon. (Not morning sickness!)

Yet there is no way to stop my middle schooler from eating his breakfast. I don't even have to be awake. He makes himself breakfast every morning without exception.

Maybe middle school kids who don't get themselves breakfast in the morning are big babies, and that's why they stay virgins longer. I think I'll do a study! ;-)

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Brett Singer — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:50:12 GMT

I don't think its silly to make your children breakfast. I think its silly to equate making breakfast with later life sex. It just seems like a very sketchy conclusion to draw. Were all of the households two-parent homes? Did they live in cities, suburbs? How many siblings? There's just not enough data there. As for the shoving of poptarts into mouths, that's exactly my point - this survey would call that "breakfast." It doesn't say "a home cooked meal". I also think that no one act, no matter how beneficial it is, makes a parent "good". Someone, a father or a mother, could make breakfast for their child and also be emotionally unavailable, or physically abusive. Or maybe they make them breakfast but order pizza for dinner every night.

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Sherry — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:41:11 GMT

Oh, please, try to think outside your own cultural box for one second. I live in Japan and the article makes perfect sense to me in light of how society views mothers and what being a good mother means here. Not all cultures think shoving a poptart in your kids mouth as you drop them off at daycare makes an ideal mom.

In Japan a good mother does things like make make sure their kids have breakfast, among about a million things you would all think are silly and meaningless but that are taken very seriously as indicators of your character in Japan. Because of the social pressure and extreme concern about how they are viewed by others, "good mothers" would make sure their kids ate. It all boils down to making breakfast is a form of being involved in their kid's life. Children who have involved parents generally lose their virginity later than kids who are left without a lot of parental involvment.

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

LogicalMama — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:07:32 GMT

What about those people that really enjoy breakfast for dinner?!

BTW, I barely ate breakfast and when I did, it was usually a milkshake or Carnation Instant Breakfast. I was out partying with my friends at an early age; stole my mom's car regularly at age 14, need I say more?! However, unlike everyone else I knew, I was not having sex and didn't until I was an adult!

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Laura — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:36:36 GMT

Jeanne: I said in my comment that liking one's parents/mom wouldn't be true in all cases. But I think that a kid is PROBABLY more likely to have a good relationship with a parent who cares for them (eating breakfast being one sign of such care) than with a parent who can't be bothered to meet his or her child's basic needs. I tried to nuance my short post. Was that not clear, or did you just not bother to read it with any degree of attention?

Also, if said daughter is not out drinking and driving, she probably isn't out having sex either! And mom and dad might be monitoring the innocent "movie-watching" on the basement couch.

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

JeanneSager — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:20:18 GMT

Laura: teenagers who are cared for by their mothers don't necessarily like them. Ask any teenage girl who has just been told she's grounded by the parents who love her so much they don't want her out drinking and driving. She'll tell you her mother's a bitch. But I bet you she ate breakfast!

re: They Say -- Kids Who Skip Breakfast and Hate Mom Have Sex Sooner

Laura — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:13:51 GMT

I think you're being unnecessarily silly. Doesn't a kid eating breakfast indicate that the parents encourage their child to do what's best (eating vs. skipping breakfast) and have enough money and time to provide their kids with breakfast? And wouldn't it make sense that a mom who cares for her children is liked by them? And isn't a good relationship with one's child important in delaying the onset of sexual activity? Perhaps not in all cases, it's true, but the "daddy issues" of which you make fun are real for some people. It might make sense that "mommy issues" are real too. I fail to see what's wrong with the sentence: "Before blaming individuals for having sex at an early age, it may be necessary to look into the sort of homes they are from."