The benefits of breakfast make it a meal worth pursuing. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Researchers have found tons of benefits from eating breakfast, and with school starting again, now seems like the perfect time to get into the breakfast habit.

Among the research findings:

• Children who skip breakfast make more errors and are slower to recall facts.

• Children who eat breakfast solve math problems more quickly.

• Children who eat breakfast do better on vocabulary tests.

• Children who eat breakfast are more likely to get the vitamins and other nutrients they need.

• Adolescents who eat breakfast tend to have a lower body mass index, even if they have one or two obese parents.

By the way, the benefits of breakfast apply to grown-ups, too.

BREAKFAST GUIDANCE

• Pick a cereal with three to five grams of fiber per serving, which a researcher says is even more important than looking for one low in sugar.

• If you can't find one the kids like, combine a high-fiber cereal with a kid-friendly one — Honey Nut and regular Cheerios, for example.

• Dinner leftovers don't have to be dinner again. Heat them for breakfast instead.

• Put together an egg casserole the night before, and slip it into the oven when you get up.

• Make extra pancakes on the weekend to freeze or refrigerate, and use them as wraps for fruit or cheese.

• Make muffins, stirring in some nuts or flaxseed to add omega-3s or dried cranberries instead of raisins.

• A cereal bar, a bagel with fruit spread, instant oatmeal, dry cereal eaten like a snack mix, fruit or yogurt can work as breakfast-to-go.

5 on-the-go ideas.

• Peanut butter and banana slices on whole-grain toast

• Cheese wrapped in a whole-grain tortilla; grapes

• Dry cereal stirred into drinkable yogurt; dried fruit

• Pancake rolled around cheese; apple

• Slice of leftover veggie pizza