Things my children have eaten today in no particular order:

• a raw crumpet
• a bowl of nutrigrain with milk
• a whole mango
• a banana
• a bowl of yogurt
• a packet of instant noodles
• a whole punnet of strawberries
• half a bag of bacon cheese ball (crisp/chip type things)
• two strawberry milks
• a piece of cheese
• two pieces of toast with bovril and honey
• a bowl of rice bubbles with milk sprinkled on top
• four homemade mini-chocolate muffins
• two homemade sausage rolls

My girls eating habits leave a lot to be desired at the moment. Amy is constantly hungry but only wants to eat certain things. Its actually easier to list what she won’t eat, which is plenty and includes: cheese, cereal, yogurt, soup and most of the delicious nutritional snacks that I bake.

Stella is easier to please, she will eat cheese and yogurt but she refuses most dinner type meals, preferring to graze on fruit and crackers. Most days I am organised, packing a full lunchbox for morning tea, making sandwiches for lunch and offering fruit or cheese before biscuits or chips but then there are days like today when both girls are just constantly whining about being hungry and I give up and just offer them a selection of items they can eat when they feel like it. See above list.

I don’t want to fight about food with my children. I do enjoy cooking and baking and meal planning and even grocery shopping. I like talking to my girls about the nutritional value of food, what is good for you, what isn’t, how we use food to fuel our bodies and what we enjoy eating. But I won’t make my dining table a battleground.  Instead I will continue to try and make it a fun and happy place and hope it pays off!