Establish good health routines.

Good health and physical well-being are important for both adults and children to enable them to function at optimal levels. Some healthy habits include eating well, getting an appropriate amount of sleep, exercising regularly and limiting television and movie viewing. There is a range in the families' attention to these general health behaviours. Teachers in the study report that some of these children yawn frequently in class and sometimes put their heads on their desk. They feel this behaviour suggests that these students are tired and may have been up late the previous night or they had not eaten an adequate breakfast to satisfy their nutritional needs. Some routines will now be outlined.

Healthy eating

Parents are responsible for the health and well being of their children and by ensuring that they eat nutritious foods on a regular basis, they will help their children stay healthy and grow strong. Some parents have a well-established morning routine, while others struggle to organize one or simply do not try. Julie is one parent who wakes up early each morning to ensure that she has time to prepare a good hot breakfast for her three children before they leave for school. She also makes sure they are out the door in enough time to be punctual at school.

Other parents try to organize a similar routine but sometimes experience difficulties, such as one parent who speaks about her attempts, "uh I try go get my kids out the door on time and stuff like that but you know you can't get the things together especially after the weekend on Monday…It is a hard time because the weekend and then Monday comes, and God…school…I'm not a Monday person!" Other parents did not indicate making any serious attempts to set-up a routine. One parent expresses little concern about providing breakfast for her children and leaves this responsibility to the school, "I'm too lazy in the morning and don't get up…Well my kids, they don't have breakfast home, they can have it at school [in the free breakfast program]."