Bite size: teach your child to eat healthily

YOU’RE passionate about healthy eating for your child and you keep treat foods to a minimum. The only problem is that he’s offered junk food when he goes to play at his friends’ houses.

Should you follow the online advice of one concerned parent, who sends her child on playdates, armed with a list of ‘forbidden’ foods? Ruth Charles, paediatric dietician with the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute counsels against it.

“It’s very difficult to put these requests — or ‘commandments’— in place. If you’re on the receiving end of this list of demands, it’s going to be very hard for you to stay impartial and remain true to the visiting child’s needs.”