Breakfast of champs?

I started my week with a hot cup of coffee and some lukewarm conversation at a local convenience store. That is not my normal routine but when the conversation turns to politics, weather and sports, I have some self-imposed obligation to throw my 2 cents in.

Anyway, between the animated coffee talk, I started paying attention to the mothers and children making a mad dash through the store on their way to school.

With literally no exception, the moms were buying juice -- plus an occasional milk -- and junk food for the kids to consume in their drive to school.

It was such a routine, that it struck me enough to ask the clerk if this was a normal morning. I was assured it was.

With no exaggeration, a dozen young moms were buying all sorts of Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, etc. And more often than not, the kids were eating their "breakfast" as they exited the store.

Believe me, I can sympathize with a struggling young woman trying to corral a couple of kids who are probably reluctant to start their school day in the first place. And granted, it's a lot easier perhaps to give them a sweet treat instead of the chore of preparing something at home.

But educators tell us that kids who come to school fully fed and prepared for learning always do better than those who do not.

You can't ignore the massive issue of obesity in our society. When you examine this issue, factor in these kids as well.

Yes, many -- if not most -- schools now offer some breakfast meal for students. And many kids take full advantage of this necessity.

But I remained awe-struck and saddened that this is routine preparation for far too many students.

It was not always this way, of course.

Time was when moms would never have thought of feeding junk food to the kids on their way to school.

Yet, I recognize somewhat reluctantly that this perhaps for some is the new normal.

Society tends to blame teachers for the failure of students. And as I have said repeatedly through the years, we should look first at the parents and their actions long before we point the finger of blame at teachers.

When I asked the store clerk if this was normal, I got in return a chuckle. Then I was told that she could not count the number of young kids who start their day this way. By her unscientific estimate, 90 percent of the kids (and moms) who come in before school, load up on junk food.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

But I'm not too old to recognize a shift in society that does not bode well.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.