Cooking With Kids, It's Childs Play

                                  My gorgeous godson Paris, looking very Harry Styles

I have several friends with young children who have problems regarding 'bed time'. Quite frankly I find it odd that parents undertake all sorts of rituals to get their children ready for sleep, when Bert was a child, bedtime was a routine, there were no tantrums, no negotiations or 'reverse psychology' techniques.

It could be argued that this problem is a result of liberal parenting where parents are too soft to impose rules or boundaries, however, I recently read about an experiment involving five-year old twins Michael and Christopher.

The twins were identical in every way, even scoring the same results in IQ tests, however,  when the twins were put on different diets, the outcome was astonishing.

Michael was banned from eating any foods containing additives and had to tuck into fresh fruit, nuts and bran based cereals. Christopher was allowed to feast on sweets, fizzy drinks and other foods containing E numbers.

Within two days Michael became calmer, attentive and less aggressive, whilst Christopher continued to have tantrums and behave disruptively. Their mother Lyn, who was sceptical of the experiment to begin with said: 'I cannot believe the changes that Michael has shown in his behaviour, normally we have rows and tantrums at bedtime, but Michael has been conforming a lot, he's develpped more of a sense of humour and is alot more communicative. As a mother it has been quite an eye opener, you don't realise until you start looking at labels just what you're giving to your children.'

The experiment concluded after two weeks in which Michael was outstripping Christopher in IQ and concentration tests by 15 per cent.

When the ban was extended to the twins' class at school, sixty per cent of parents reported an improvement in their children's behaviour, sleep patterns and ability to cooperate.

Like myself, my friend Carron raised her son Paris with discipline and boundaries, it may seem old fashioned to liberal parents who are obsessed with letting their children 'express themselves'. However, the vogue for traducing old fashioned parenting is dishonourable. Cajoling children to go to bed is a relatively new problem but apparently one of the most daunting tasks of parenthood, amongst the reams of advice to be found on the Internet, very little is mentioned in terms of diet. Studies have concluded that a variety of common food dyes, preservatives and E numbers can do as much damage to childrens brains as lead in petrol! This has prompted the British food standards agency to issue advice to parents warning them to limit their childrens intake of additives if they notice an effect on their behaviour.

For many time starved parents feeding their children processed food has become the norm, as Jamie Oliver famously quoted: 'I challenge you, go to any school open fifty lunch boxes and I guarantee you there will be one or two cans of red bull, cold McDonald's, jam sandwiches and several cakes.' The 'easy option' of feeding our children with addictive junk food is clearly having consequences and we must take back the reins of responsibility.  To quote clinical psychologist Dr Wendy Mogel: 'It is our job to prepare our children for the road, not prepare the road for our children.'

Carron has always been very careful with Paris's diet, by choice he became a vegetarian a few years ago and one of his favourite dishes is something his friend Cengiz, who was taught how to make this by his mother, made for all his school friends in a cookery lesson. Paris often makes this (under Carron's supervision) when he gets in from school, far better than crisps, cakes, biscuits or sweets, all filled with those dreaded E numbers!

                                 Holding my darling godson when he was only weeks old

Veggie tortillas

Recipe
2 tortillas per person
A large splodge of homemade or organic shop bought salsa
A handful of cheese, grated
2 spring onions

Spread the salsa over 1 tortilla

Add grated cheese

Snip onions and scatter over tortilla

Place second tortilla on top and put in a hot frying pan for 30 seconds per side
The melted cheese will stick the tortillas together

Remove from pan, slice into quarters and tuck in!

'It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.'
- Ann Landers

Love Donna xxxxxxxx