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Is feeding children always going to be such a headache? In our house NJ will eat pretty much anything, whether he likes it or not, which he claims he's been trained to do from boarding through primary and high-school, then army reserves.

Jonah-16 has developed his palette from only plain pasta topped with tomato sauce, and bananas as a toddler to gradually becoming more adventurous, now giving absolutely everything a go, loving most of it and keen to increase his own cooking repertoire. Bloo-16 (not her real name), our boarder, is pretty good with most things and claims to have been so her whole young life (which I'll have to take her word for) except for pork which sends her running from our dining room retching, so we leave that for weekend meals in her absence.

Felix-6 barely eats anything. He eats 3 fruits, 3 vegetables with 2 others that can only be mixed into one particular pasta sauce, plain boiled rice, soft boiled eggs, only cheddar cheese, one flavour or yoghurt, two cereals, three biscuits, and only vegemite or peanut butter on white bread with no crusts. He only likes to drink milk or water which is no bad thing and he also doesn't like lollies and most chips. He'll eat most meat as long as it's plain grilled or fried. Forget trying to hide grated veges in the lasagne because he'll only eat spiral pasta, plain or with that one sauce. Every meal is first pushed suspiciously around his plate with his fork. He likes just enough to get his balance of nutrients, but seriously lacking in variety.

Sebastian-3, on the other hand, almost seems to have a love affair with food. I am transfixed sometimes whilst watching him eat. He expresses an interest in food right from shopping for it, watching and "helping" us cook, he observes the food on his plate before he eats it, he savours it, he immerses himself in his meals (and Felix's leftovers) with a look of utter bliss on his face.

I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years, no seafood although now I'm occasionally eating chicken. I can't go anywhere near chilli, I'm not keen on mushrooms and I don't like apples. Otherwise I'll eat all other dairy, grains, fruit and veg and I will cook absolutely anything for my family - I just won't taste it!

Despite introducing my kids to food in the same way and trying to provide culinary variety as my mum did with me, we couldn't be more different. Needless to say, preparing balanced meals for our family can be a challenge (no thanks to me and Felix)! At least we have no allergies.

There are so many questions and opinions about feeding children the right amount of the right thing at the right time. The big diet issues start even before your child is born with your own diet as you try to conceive, then during pregnancy. And whatever you decide, whenever you decide it, some one else will decide you're wrong.

You start questioning whether you did the right thing when you decided between breastfeeding and formula. One day carrots are their favourite food and the next day they will induce gagging. And you wonder what you did wrong which resulted in their inability to have a peanut butter sandwich.

Basically, while they are depending on you as a role model and provider of meals (which may not be until they leave home as adults!) you will have to make every dietary decision and may want or need to seek advice on some the issues throughout this section.

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