Whilst on holiday I was gobsmacked by the sight of children watching films on portable DVD players whilst eating dinner with their parents. Meal times are tough for most parents with young children, we had many a screaming tantrum over the buffets endless treats, but this is crazy. I saw one child aged about 5 or 6 with a dummy in and the DVD player on. How's that for a message of be seen but not heard?

The 5 a day mantra is embedded in most parents minds, despite this most of Britain’s children are not geting enough of the vital vitamins and nutrients included in fresh fruit and vegetables, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) warns. The charity suggest that this could influence their risk of developing cancer in the future. Official figures show that children aged between five and 15 have an average of three portions of fruits and vegetables a day.

Asking a child to apologise when they've done wrong can be a tricky thing. You can't force someone to do something they don't want to do, otherwise you end up in a stand off. "Say sorry to Tommy" "No, I don't want to" "Right then, you will not be allowed any friends over to play for 2 weeks" (or any other punishments you can think of on the spot) "Sorry, Tommy". Does this actually teach a child to say sorry and mean it?

Teenage girls eat more unhealthily than any other group in the population, ­government research has revealed. The study from the Food Standards Agency is designed to shed light on the nation's eating habits shows that despite multimillion-pound government initiatives to encourage us all to eat more healthily, obesity levels in the UK have barely changed in the last 10 years. Find out more, and what as a parent you can do to help your daughter.