Treats can be key to kids eating their greens

As a nutritionist and food advisor for Superquinn, Paula Mee knows what kids should be eating, but as a mum to five-and-a-half-year-old Cian, she understands that compromise and moderation are what makes life work.

"Moderation is key. I'd be conscious of making him feel different if he just had raw celery and lettuce sandwiches in his lunchbox. I do try and make sure that he has a balanced diet, but he does know what sweets are."

A young man's world is full of temptation in the form of grannies and aunts proffering sweets and ice-cream and Paula doesn't object as long as both sides know these are occasional treats.

At five-and-a-half, Cian is already grasping the basics of nutrition. "I would talk about the benefits of his glass of milk and he'd say things like 'that's full of calcium and that's good for your bones', or 'carrots are good for your eyes and oranges are good for colds'. I wouldn't actually drum it into him but he would know the value of the food groups."

At this time of year, Paula is much sought-after to advise on what to put in children's lunchboxes. School-time staples are a sandwich, fruit and a drink, but getting the selection right is trial and error, she says; a little home experimentation is needed before infiltrating the lunchbox with something unusual. "I'm a great believer of not surprising kids in their lunchboxes."

Including a small treat makes a cheese sandwich and a banana a little easier to swallow. Paula usually manages to slip in something reasonably healthy like a cereal bar, but she doesn't always win the battle. "I'll give him a little box of raisins as a treat and he'll usually be happy enough with that, because of the package. But it's increasingly more difficult to convince him it's a treat. It used to be easier when he was four, starting off. So on the odd occasion he'll get a pack of mini-Maltesers, which he loves."

Like many children Cian has a nut allergy and he understands he needs to be careful about what he eats. "When he was very small he'd bring sweets up to me and ask, 'does this complain nuts' because he couldn't yet manage the word 'contain', but he's getting to know what he can and can't have, and he's not disappointed now if I say 'no'."

The Mees have an early start, getting up most mornings at 7 a.m. to be down at the local pool at 7.30 a.m. After the swim Cian and Paula have breakfast together, then it's off to school and work. "Superquinn is flexible and I bring a lot of work home, so most evenings I'd be working on things to keep the weekend clear for Cian."

Paula is separated from Cian's father, Pat, but he spends a lot of time with Cian, regularly picking him up from school and looking after him when Paula is away on business.

Despite her busy life Paula still feels it's important to cook a meal in the evening. "Cian and I would sit down in the evening to have a family meal. You can have a good, healthy, convenient meal made in 20 minutes. The odd time I won't feel like cooking, then it will be cheese, brown bread and smoked salmon with a salad, and he likes that. It's just important to sit down together."

While Cian is a good eater, he isn't terribly interested in the whole cooking process just yet. "Pat is quite good in the kitchen, so I hope he'll inherit that, but at the moment he'd much prefer to run into his room and play while I cook the dinner."

He's also quite an adventurous eater and is happy to eat the same things as the adults around him. "I hate this idea that kids' food has to be chicken nuggets and chips. Once they're eating, children should have what the adults have. It shouldn't be automatic that every time you go out you get a kids' menu with nothing but variations of burgers."

Paula's job involves the occasional television appearance and Cian has become accustomed to seeing his mum on screen.

"I appeared on Den 2 with Socky and Dustin and he absolutely loved that, he was absolutely enthralled, but that was the only time, 20-20 doesn't really make the same impact."