Kate Hawkesby: Don't demonise parents for what their children eat

It's tough being a parent these days, we're made to feel guilty about lots of stuff - the latest is that we're making our kids fat.

The fight to tackle childhood obesity is not unique to us of course. Australia's biggest soft drink makers this week pledged to reduce the sugar content in fizzy drinks by 20 per cent over the next seven years.

Britain announced this week that it's getting rid of junk at the checkout aisle in the supermarket.

Here, we've debated a sugar tax, the value of keeping kids active, and offering up supermarket junk-free aisle options.

At the end of the day though, the responsibility of what goes into kids' mouths and how often they're off the couch, does fall on us, the parents.

A Hamilton mother this week said she believes mums and dads are being caught out by unhealthy takeaways, thinking they're a cheaper option compared to cooking at home. There's no doubt good healthy food needs to be cheaper, but I wonder if compounding things, is the fact that we're just so damn busy.

As parents we've never worked harder, the 9-5 day is a myth, one parent staying at home is a rarity if you're lucky, kids are busier than ever before, so in reality, takeaways have actually become a convenience thing.

It's not that we don't want to cook at home, or don't understand the benefits of it, it's just that we're so time-poor.

The same goes for school lunches. There'll be parents who bake for the lunchbox and chop up raw veggies, and there'll be others who despite knowing better, will throw a small packet of crackers or biscuits in because it's just quicker and easier.

Our take out options are more sophisticated these days too - we've come a long way from the Friday night fish and chips on offer when we were growing up.

With the proliferation of varied ethnic places, we have options of takeaways that aren't just a mountain of saturated fat.

Yes the fight against obesity needs addressing, and yes it's on us, and too many of us do feed our kids too much rubbish, but most parents are trying to do their best.

For many families, budgeting, menu planning, diarising what kids eat and how often they exercise is a labour intensive task - especially in large families like ours of five kids or more.

Education around the merits of cooking and kids learning to cook is excellent. Starting good habits early is also beneficial, hopefully if we aim positively for more moderation in our food choices and keep pushing for cheaper prices on the good stuff (the fruit and veges) we'll hopefully start moving in the right direction without having to demonise parents.