Alison Curtis: My greatest victory? Getting a picky eater to eat a banana

"I could have cried when she finished her first bowl of porridge, and asked for it again the next day."

Pic: Marc O'Sullivan

My daughter Joan, who is 10, has always been a picky eater with three extra stomachs for the sweet stuff. I believe it is called karma, as one of my frequently occurring memories of my childhood is my parents begging me to eat one more piece of carrot or one more piece of chicken.

When she was very young Joan did eat well. I was lucky she liked a huge range of vegetables and a pretty good selection of fruits but around the age of four things really changed.