Obesity-proofing our children 182 very limited foods, but I don’ t believe the main job is just to grow their bodies. I see the main job for parents as instilling good eating habits in their children. I suggest that, when your children argue that they don’ t like a certain food, you remind them that not everything we eat is eaten because it tastes good. I argue that around half of everything we eat is eaten because it is good for our bodies and for these foods taste is largely irrelevant. We want our children to let go of the idea that we only eat foods that taste good. This leads to showing children how we mix blander, healthier foods with sauces and more interesting foods to make them more palatable. Teaching these principles to children is a critical part of our responsibility as parents. Parents also need to be creative in‘ selling’ vegetables and other healthy foods to their children. The younger they are the easier this is. My wife turned a food that I grew up to abhor, brussels sprouts, into one of my children’ s favorite vegetables by telling them they were dwarf cabbages normally the fare of fairies, elves and such like. Broccoli allowed them to become giants and imagine they were eating the tops off trees. Roasting vegetables is a simple way to get children to eat them. While they take longer to cook, many of my clients have recognized that because preparation time is not really much longer, it is primarily just a matter of getting them on early in the cooking of the meal. In our family there are certain things our children simply do not have a choice in. For example they have no choice on whether or not they eat at least most of the vegetables or salads served with the meal. They do have input into which salad ingredients or vegetables they prefer and often, but certainly not always, we accommodate them. My creative wife, applying her knowledge as a Psychologist, came up with the strategy of allowing each child, when out shopping with Mum, to choose a new vegetable for the family to try. To be allowed to choose a new vegetable for the family you had to eat one chosen by another family