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Much more than breakky
4 September 2007
According to research release by the University of Sydney, up to 40 per cent of Australian children regularly skip breakfast. The incidence of this is believed to be higher in disadvantaged areas. It was for this reason that Red Cross launched Good Start Breakfast Clubs in Victoria in 2004.
Janet Beck, Vice Principal at Richmond West Primary School, says there can be many reasons for children missing breakfast at home. Sometimes, there is simply no food available at home. Others wake, get ready for school and leave their flat long before an adult will wake. Some are escaping the responsibility of feeding and changing the nappies of their younger siblings. Sometimes mum or dad may leave home early and it's more convenient to have breakfast at school. Many love to have breakfast with their friends.
Richmond West is special in that many children come to the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club to experience a typical 'Australian' breakfast - Sanitarium cereal, toast and fruit.
This inner Melbourne primary school is host to kids from a diverse range of backgrounds, including Chinese, East Timorese, Vietnamese and Northern African - just to name a few. Many are recently arrived refugees and migrants. Many live in Public Housing commission flats nearby.
Many children benefit from the positive adult role modelling that the volunteers, such as those from ANZ, provide. These volunteers are people that the children may not cross paths with in their everyday lives. Students may have little knowledge of life outside of their commission flat. No understanding of the life of a 30-something Caucasian man who works as a Bank Teller and lives in Caulfield.
Similarly, many volunteers at Richmond West may have trouble understanding what life is like for a child raised in a world very different to theirs. |
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Children at Richmond West help to prepare their own breakfasts.
Image: Lisa Fitzgerald |
According to ANZ employee and long-time Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club volunteer Dawn Harbort, there is a lot to be gained by volunteering with this program.
"It's amazing seeing the children develop and getting to know their individual personalities," said Dawn. "A lot of the children come from backgrounds that are very different to mine. I grew up in the same house with a stable life and family, whereas so many of these children have come from war-torn countries. I've learnt so much from them."
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