Shops urged to help health drive near schools

The problem is if most of the takeaways and fast food shops closed, then there would be even more empty shops. I'm afraid business rates and the supermarket chains have forced many shops to close permanently. I like to support the local mini supermarket, nice staff always ready to help, get my cat food from them at wholesale price and they recommend me to other customers. The problem is though I can get the majority of the food products two thirds cheaper by driving to the local supermarket, its not just a few pence difference it's a huge amount, they cannot possibly compete with the big boys. The other 30 odd shops in the street are either Chinese takeaways, pizza outlets, Indian takeaways or chicken nugget shops and not forgetting the hydroponics shop... that's it. A cheap childs meal will cost a parent £1.99 whether or not it is nutritious and healthy is a different matter....

Totally agree with you Barney, but with a few simple cheap ingredients you can make something much healthier for the kids to eat, just need to plan ahead.

Accept that most of us work long hours and the last thing you want/need to do at the end of the day is cook, but i do batches of food for the freezer on my weekends i dont have my son. This allows me more time with my son on the nights i see him, yet he still gets a Dads home cooked meal. 

Firmly believe that society should stop blaming everyone else for kids failures, or bad eating habits and look squarely at the parents - its too easy for them to say, its out of my hands what they do when they arent in the house, no rules, no discipline. I wasnt scared of my dad as such but knew if i broke the Law or acceptable rules of the house then i lost privileges like pocket money, treats, access to the 1 games console in the house etc