Motivating your children to eat well can feel like an endless battle, and with child obesity on the rise many of us are concerned about our family’s diet.

Nagging your kids about their future health will do little to motivate them. As a parent you need to understand that nutrition is not a priority in the mind of your child. While you may not be able to control food choices outside of the home, there are lots of things you can do as a family to lay down the foundations of a healthy lifestyle.

Children need extra nutrients to support growth. Approximately half of adult bone structure is deposited during adolescence. Both boys and girls need minerals such as calcium, iron and zinc to support increasing bone mass, muscle mass and a larger blood supply, especially during those teenage years. Whatever you do don’t bore your child with these facts, the truth is they simply won’t care, the best thing you can do is to become a role model and ensure your whole family is leading a healthy lifestyle.

A decrease in physical activity is the main reason that children and adults are becoming heavier. Labour saving devices like remote controls, cars, escalators, even electric windows and bread makers all add up to less incidental activity. Compared with our ancestors we burn up to a third less calories in a day.

Take stock of your pantry, fridge and freezer. Food manufacturers are very clever in their marketing of so-called healthy snacks. Just because the crackers are ‘baked’ and ‘not fried’ does not mean that they are lower in fat. Certain foods like soft drinks, ice cream, biscuits and chips should be treated as occasional food and not pantry staples. Encourage your children to snack on fruit if they are hungry.

Snacks can be liabilities if they are high in sugar, fat or salt. Thinking of snacks as mini-meals can help you make better choices. For example fruit toast and jam, baked beans on toast, home made pasta with vegetables or even a boiled egg and soldiers. A glass of milk or low-fat yoghurt with peanut butter on wholegrain bread is far more nutritious than a bag of chips, a muesli bar or a biscuit.

Conduct a screen time audit in your home and get the whole family involved. It can be frightening to see how much time we all spend in front of the television or the computer. Set limits on television time and stick to them. Spending hours in front of a screen is unhealthy for all of us.

Never underestimate the importance of a shared family meal. Switch off the television and eat at the table. Limit takeaways to less than once a week and where possible involve the children in food shopping and preparation. Children are more likely to enjoy vegetables if they can help choose and prepare them.

Buy a dog, get a trampoline or go exploring in the weekends. There are lots of ways you can increase your activity over the week and still have fun. If you have an overweight child, try not to single them out or put them on a diet. The whole family deserves to be active, fit and properly nourished so make it a family affair to get healthy.