Why Kimberley Walsh's kitchen efforts for her son are no longer a 'thankless task'

But of course it all balances out with their cheerful, enthusiastic eating of all those lovingly prepared, cooked from fresh, not-an-additive-or-preservative-in-sight meals we spend hours making to ensure they have the best start in life and healthily fully tummies...

*Cue hollow laughter*

Well, fear not - it would seem that last scenario does eventually happen - hurrah! And it's not just us mere mortals who struggle to get our toddlers to eat our home made chow (or anything at all) either.

In fact, former Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh has just today shared how she has spent months making all her 2-year-old son Bobby's food from scratch with little thanks on his part - until now.

Writing in her column for Hello!, Kimberley said that she decided to start cooking from scratch after discovering she was pregnant for the 2nd time back in June:

"I always loved cooking but over the last year juggling work and taking care of Bobby has meant I’ve been mainly relying on convenience food for me and Justin and prepared baby food for Bobby,” she wrote (as parents everywhere nod vigorously in agreement - sometimes those ready meals are a God-send, right?).

"Once I became pregnant again I started thinking about what I was eating and started to become more wary of the things added to pre-packaged food," she continued.

Kimberley then went on to say that she eventually wanted to make sure she knew 'exactly' what was in Bobby's food and decided to start making it all herself - even though introducing her toddler to the new regime wasn't entirely easy to start with.

Most of it, she admits, didn't get eaten at all (sound familiar?)

That, she said, was a 'bit of a thankless task when you go to the effort and it ends up in the bin' (yes), but her perseverance has now paid off, and little Bobby is not only eating all her meals (hurrah), but is also doing his own bit in the kitchen, too.

"He loves getting involved with the cooking too which is great cos it actually keeps him in one place for more than ten minutes," Kimberley writes.

"He loves baking too which is another fun thing to do together. We made banana cupcakes and Smartie cookies last week. It’s complete chaos of course with flour going everywhere and bits of food all over the floor but I love seeing him getting so excited about what we’ve made."

Aw, we SO get all this - it does seem so thankless (and frustrating and worrying) when your kids won't eat what you've prepped for them, doesn't it?

But isn't it just the best feeling when they start to take pleasure in food? AND when you can have that lovely, messy, bonding time creating stuff together in the kitchen?

We love it ?

Pics: Instagram/Kimberley Walsh

Read more

• Kimberley's 'distressing' breastfeeding struggle
• Fussy eaters? We have some cures...
• How do you make tasty, healthy baby food?