Include them

No matter what age they are, you can get children involved in the kitchen. If they have been involved in the creation of food – whether by planting and caring for herb seedlings, picking out the vegetables, or chopping, mixing, cooking or serving the meal – then they will be more interested in eating it. A good book on this is Healthy Little Eaters: How to Help Your Children Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food by Wal Herring.

• Challenge your children to plan and/or cook a family meal using only foods that come straight from a plant or animal.

• Take them shopping for food with you and ask them to choose three vegetables and three fruits they would like to eat that week. You could then look up some new recipes to include them in.

• Help them look up a healthy snack recipe they would like to try. Shop together for the ingredients and help them follow the recipe to make it.