I started trying to teach my daughters the importance of having colour in their meals. I told them a variety of colours meant a variety of nutrients.

“What are nutrients?” my 4-year old, Lauren, asked me.

Ah, kids. They’re so cute. They’re so smart – so sometimes I forget how much they still need to learn.

Lauren was game for a bunch of colours once I sort of explained what nutrients were. My 6-year old, Anna, started shouting out different foods that she wanted in her lunch.

“Pear! White cheddar! Rice cakes! Penne!”

All basically one shade. I managed to sneak in a few different colours this day. Here’s what they ended up taking:

• Sugar snap peas (We grew these in our garden one summer. The kids loved them. I think they like knowing they grew them all by themselves. But this past summer, the rabbits destroyed our plants.)
• Organic sea-salt pretzel sticks & hummus
• Apple slices
• Half a sandwich (they’re loving good ol’ sunbutter and jam lately)
• Rice crackers

Not as much variety as I would have liked, but at least it wasn’t all one shade of food. Getting Anna to explore colour may be a challenge…