Dr. John Sharry:

That is a great question because the focus of the Parents Plus healthy family programme which is currently in development is on intermediate behaviours associated with health. Parents rate themselves on behaviours such as whether their children only drink milk and water during the week at home. That would be a healthy behaviour, with fizzy drinks restricted to weekends.

Another healthy behaviour is targeting whether we take time to eat a home-cooked family meal. We start with small portions in our family. Vegetables and fruit are on offer during meals, etc. One makes a list of all these healthy behaviours. The parents rate themselves on ones they do already and ones they would like to increase. They set a target, for example, that they would like to increase the number of home-cooked dinners they have or that there would be a bit more time for dinner. There is research to show that rushed food, rushed eating and eating in front of the television are all poor behaviours associated with health problems. We are looking to increase those behaviours which are associated with healthy families.