Spaghetti wouldn't melt in his mouth

`Look at this Mom," my six-year-old called as he pulled a funny face. "What's that?" "That's my `butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' face," he says as he smirks, knowing he's being cheeky.

"How do you know what that is?" "I heard you talking to Anne [my sister]. You told her butter wouldn't melt in my mouth. Don't you know I don't like butter?"

It's true. He doesn't. In fact, he is a very finicky eater. For a long time I've been worried about his appetite, thinking he isn't getting enough nourishment in his diet.

He is what doctors call a picky eater. He never sits to the table with a plate of food and never finishes his food. He knows what he likes, but is very slow to try something new.

I'm sounding more and more like my own mother every day, trying to encourage him to eat. "Eat your crusts, they'll make your hair curly." Or "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". There I am doing everything to coax him to eat - to eat food I think would be good for him.

The other day I was suggesting to him to try some pasta. "Yuch, that's like eating worms." He eats dry bread, raw vegetables, grilled fish - not in sauce. He likes fruit and cheese. He doesn't like eggs or custards. He likes fresh fruit salad but not creamy deserts.

In fact, the more I look at his diet the more I realise I should take a leaf out of his book. Children know instinctively what their bodies need.

Reading about diets and foodstuffs over the years, we've been led to believe too many eggs are bad for you, or growing children need plenty milk, butter and cheese for their growing bones. Yet, when we grow up, we spend years trying to get our cholesterol levels down and take supplementary vitamins in our diets.

Maybe it's time we allowed our children's natural taste-buds to direct us in what foods we should be eating. I too was a very picky eater, so my mother tells me, but somewhere along the line I got to like a lot of foods by now. "Butter would melt in my mouth."