Portsmouth children ditching breakfast for YouTube

SCORES of children in Portsmouth are bunking breakfast '“ to spend more time on YouTube and social networks.

A study of tech-frazzled working families in the city has revealed more parents are turning to school breakfast clubs in a bid to get their youngsters off their phones and tablets.

The research, conducted by Kelloggs, showed that a quarter of British children are taking to Snapchat or Instagram rather than tucking into their breakfast – with 30 per cent becoming increasingly distracted by YouTube before school.

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However, in Portsmouth the figure is higher, with some 47 per cent of children preferring to watch YouTube than have a meal first thing in the morning.

And a total of 15 per cent of parents surveyed in the city claimed they were now forcing their children to school breakfast clubs to get them away from their gadgets.

Julia Waltham, head of policy and campaigns at Working Families – the UK’s leading work-life balance charity – said: ‘Breakfast clubs are not just about cereal and toast in the mornings – they can be an important element supporting many working families in their efforts to combine work and family life when their children start school.’