CAN I just urge parents not to follow the advice of Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum to pay children to eat their greens.

While desperation to improve childhood obesity figures is completely understandable, paying children on something this basic starts a very worrying domestic trend that parents will quickly regret.

Children are quick to gauge the urgency of parental requests and sharp enough to take advantage. Pay them for this and you’ll need to fork out for everything from getting ready for school to washing the dishes.

There simply has to be another persuasion currency than hard cash.