Tots to Teens: Healthy lunches, Harvest Festival, and a Belfast fairytale
Children on the Lidl farm with nutritionist, Orla Walsh
Some 56% of parents include biscuits, crisps, chocolate and sweets in their children’s lunchboxes. But it’s not because they want to. According to research by Lidl Ireland, 39% struggle to get their children to eat healthier foods, and 29% find healthier food too expensive.
Registered dietitian Orla Walsh has teamed up with Lidl Ireland to remedy this problem by suggesting five cheap, nutritious foods to add to children’s lunchboxes.
- Chopped peppers: add colour, flavour, and crunch, and are chock-full of vitamin C and folate to support immune function and counter tiredness and fatigue.
- Bananas: These portable snacks are high in carbohydrates, vitamin B6 and potassium.
- Sliced or smashed avocado: It's rich in healthy fats, fibre, potassium, vitamin E, and B vitamins, which are essential for growing bodies.
- Greek yoghurt: Its high protein and calcium content promote growth and bone development.
- Oats in the form of a flapjack or sprinkled over that yoghurt: Its wholegrain carbohydrates deliver the energy children need to power through the school day.
If you have a little one who struggles with anxiety or who needs sensory input or help with emotional regulation during the day, these mini sensory hand tiles from littlekneaders.com could be just the thing to help.
Little Kneaders are Wexford-based specialists that provide emotional wellbeing support for neurodiverse children and adults. They also sell a range of products, such as these tiles that children can carry in their pockets to reach for and rub at times of stress.
A set of ten costs €15.99
The Waterford Harvest Festival takes place this weekend, from September 5 to 7, transforming the city into a fiesta of food and a celebration of culture.
Families will enjoy events such as the Junior MasterChef competition, ukulele and drumming workshops, arts and crafts activities, storytelling sessions, and numerous opportunities to enjoy delicious food.
This year, the festival has taken a step towards becoming autism-friendly, incorporating a dedicated sensory area, separate queues at food stalls to reduce sensory overload, and a social story that helps attendees prepare for the event in advance.
Find out more about what there is for families at this year’s festival by visiting waterfordharvestfestival.com
The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season is fast approaching. This common virus causes respiratory infection in children and adults and is particularly dangerous for babies. During the winter in Ireland every year, one in two babies gets RSV, with many requiring medical care from their GP or local emergency department — some four in every 100 end up being hospitalised.
However, the nirsevimab immunisation programme can provide these babies with protection. It was introduced last year and resulted in a 65% drop in the total number of RSV cases and a 76% drop in the number of babies who had to be hospitalised.
Parents of babies born between now and February 28, 2026, will be offered the option of having them immunised in hospital soon after they are born, while babies who are currently aged six months and younger can get them immunised between now and the first week of October by booking online here.
by Mel Carroll is a fun-filled picture book for young children. It retells the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff in a Belfast setting. Fluffy, Duffy and Scruffy are three kid goats who decide to go to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic, but on their way home, they have to figure out how to get past the angry troll under Albert Bridge without him gobbling them up for his dinner. Their adventure takes them to some of the city's best-loved locations and is told in colloquial Belfast slang that is both charming and comical.
A Belfast Fairytale costs €14.99
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