Top of the class

WELL, summer is almost over. Families are again gearing up for the school term, so I can return to one of my major preoccupations - the food we give our children.

Now that some of my grandchildren are of school-going age, I’m even more concerned about the endless struggle to protect them from gobbling down rubbish. What a help it would be to parents if the Health Minister, Mary Harney, were to forbid or even discourage fast food outlets from giving free toys and drinks to young children.

It would also be a lot easier to get children to eat a bowl of delicious and nourishing porridge if all the other children at school weren’t collecting toys out of cereal packets.