Supernanny tackles breakfast bothers

My toddler loves fruit and veg but she isn't keen on breakfast options like cereal, crumpets or toast. She will eat strawberries, blueberries and grapes. She also snacks on fruit throughout the day. I'd like to know if a child can eat too much fruit?

Jo Frost: It's a good 'opposite' situation to have. It's much easier to cut down the intake of one's food than to try to build it. You obviously introduced your child to fruit and veg at a young age and it's paid off, so well done. The sugar content in fruit is natural sugar and, when released, creates energy and she's getting sufficient vitamins and minerals.

It is also important for your daughter to also receive protein and carbohydrate for a well-balanced diet.

I would suggest you add the fruits that she eats to a cereal of her choice. Choose a maximum of two for this age group and complement that with plain yoghurt over her blueberries.

If you present a child with one breakfast meal, they refuse it and you give them something else; not only do you teach the child to believe they can order what they want anytime anywhere; it doesn't teach the child to make a decision and stick to it. You want her to make decisions and choices. This is plainly playing up!

Don't forget positive praise for her behaviour at the table as it seems to me that she has a good attention span when sitting down at this time of the morning and it would be wonderful if you could encourage that by doing the same with her.

My three-and-a-half year old twins will not sit down and eat breakfast and it's turning into pandemonium. They have their own bowls and choice of cereal and one of my boys will eat a little, the other won't eat any, but generally they just chase each other around. They have a drink before breakfast (part of our routine is spending a few minutes in our bed, watching CBeebies, while they have their drink and we have our tea). We don't have this problem with other meal times.

Jo Frost: I'm glad to see that you've changed your own eating habits and are now sitting at the table for breakfast with your boys. It's all part of setting a good example and it's great to hear dad is doing the same. However, what I do want to do is to change your morning ritual.

Instead of Cbeebies in the morning, and fighting with them to stay at the table (they probably want to continue watching it), do it in reverse. Set the table with a few selections of cereals and yoghurts, place their decorative bowls at the table and invite them to come and sit for breakfast. Make it very clear that once they've done this they can watch ten minutes of TV before nursery.

Turn around your morning routine, enabling your kids to get the most important meal of the day and setting them off on the right foot for the rest of the day.