When it comes to our children, we always want what’s best for them, be it from what they eat and drink, to education, to where they play and what they watch on TV. It may not always be possible to check everything they eat and drink and many of us may worry that they are consuming all the wrong things. Yet ensuring your child is eating well and allowing them their favourite food and drink is not necessarily as daunting a task as it seems.

Whilst we like to influence what our children consume, what if we could influence the nature of the brands that line the shelves of the supermarkets? How many times have you wanted to get your hands on a well known brand and give your own opinion on how you think it should change?

In this live WebTV show we are joined by members of the Parent’s Advisory Group (PAG), set up by SunnyD, to tell us how they made a difference. These parents and others across the country got involved and spoke out about what they wanted to change in the juice drink and they got results. Following a dramatic re-launch, the soft drink is now free from all artificial sweeteners and contains 70% juice, having been re-branded, re-developed and re-vamped. All because a group of mums added their valuable insight and suggestions.

Knowing what is in your children’s food and voicing your concerns can really make a difference. Understanding the needs and opinions of other parents in order to work together, can truly make that lasting change. After all, it is you the parent who knows what is best for your children, so why not log on and put any questions you may have directly to these mums, who will provide their refreshing thoughts on how to make a direct difference.

Members of the PAG, Nicole Beebee and Helen Bryan join us live online to disuss the group and how you can too can make a difference.

For more information visit www.sunny-d.co.uk

L: Lis Speight, host
N: Nicole Beebee, SunnyD Parents Advisory Group
H: Helen Bryan, SunnyD Parents Advisory Group

L: Hello and welcome to the Parenting Show, I’m Lis Speight. Now then as a parent we all know the importance of ensuring our kids are eating healthy, well-balanced food. But that doesn’t stop us getting supermarket rage when the little ones are reaching for the brightly packaged, less healthy food and drinks. Well following concerns over the nutritional value of SunnyD, a parent’s advisory group was set up which gave a group of mums the chance to have their say on the juice content of the drink, and the results were pretty profound. Well I’m delighted to be joined n the studio today by two members of the group, Nicole BeeBee and Helen Bryan, welcome along ladies, it’s really, really nice to see you today. Now of course we are live, so if you’d like to get your questions in – anything to do with kids’ diets and parent power, then do get them into us, and I’m sure Nicole and Helen will be delighted to chat you through some of the answers to your questions. All you have to do to get involved is type your name and where you’re from and your question in the box that’s on the screen. Press submit and it’ll come through to us here in the studio, and we’ll try to get through as many as we can during the course of the show. But Helen and Nicole, before we start looking at your involvement with the Parent’s Advisory Group let’s think about the broader issue of healthy eating for children. Now you two have got 10 children between you – you have been busy haven’t you?

H: Just being greedy really isn’t it?

L: So how do you cope with the sort of pressures of 5 a day and healthy eating, too much salt, too much fat –it’s a bit of a difficult challenge isn’t it, as a mum?

N: It’s really hard and you’re bombarded with messages aren’t you – even before conception if you like. I know myself I was sort of taking folic acid before the children were born, and you get all these things / messages – don’t have this, don’t have that and it’s so hard as parents to know the right thing to give your children. And obviously having four children as well, they’ve all got different needs and different things –

L: That’s right, fussy eaters, somebody doesn’t like this

N: There’s not one meal that suits everyone. It’s really, really difficult. It’s really hard

H: And I think a lot of the information that’s out in the media is confusing. It always has been. One day they tell you you mustn’t do this, the next day you must do this. I think we’re far more attune as consumers these days. I think we are quite smart and I think if you use a bit of common sense – certainly in our house what we always did was we had the one meal rule. We may call it something different for the children, we may dress it in a different pot, but it’s the same food nonetheless

L: Yes

H: And I think if you’re sensible and you use some common sense then there is nothing that should be banned. I think it’s all about little and often, trying to get balance going, and I have to say with all my experience with the last 24 years of being a mum, I’ve never had a problem getting any child to eat cabbage, cauliflower, sweetcorn –

L: Really? Supermum

H: Never. No I just think it’s – I think if you start as you mean to go on, I eat vegetables therefore my children eat vegetables, and I think if you sit around a table and you make mealtimes part of the experience. You don’t expect children to sit for three hours saying nothing, doing nothing at a grown-up table. You provide entertainment for them, you make it an experience, you make it fun, then I just don’t see what the issue is. But I think we have to be – give ourselves credit, we work – we work hard, we run families

L: Big families as well

H: Have a day off

L: Yes exactly

H: You know, if you do have to serve them a take away once or twice, well so be – it’s never going to be the end of the world

L: It’s finding a balance

H: You know, give yourself a break, absolutely

L: And lunchboxes can be a bit of a difficult one as well, because we all know that kids are influenced by their friends, so if someone at school is saying oh you don’t like that do you? Of course kids come back and – how do you cope with lunchboxes?

N: It’s really hard. My children attend four different schools – four children at four different schools that’s really hard

L: Four children at four different schools?

N: Four children at different schools

L: They must be busy mornings

N: Four lunchboxes – but all the schools have this healthy status thing, so –

L: Oh right

N: So you can only have water – but in some sense I find that quite easy because otherwise you get that “oh so-and-so had this, why didn’t I have chocolate fingers?”

L: Yes, yes

N: But you’re not allowed that so that does make it a little bit easier, but then you’re struggling every day for some different fruit – oh you’ve had a tangerine every day this week, oh let’s have a banana today for a bit of variety, it’s so difficult isn’t it?

L: But at least we are thinking about these things now

N: Yes

L: Because I know when I was growing up, I’m not sure that I was really aware as a child what was healthy and what wasn’t

N: No

L: I mean there’s so much emphasis these days on sort of five-a-day, and kids know about five-a-day don’t they? And do you notice with your children that they’re much more aware of what’s going into their bodies now than maybe we were?

H: Oh absolutely and I think also don’t forget you’ve got choice. Back when I was a child, you bought the vegetables that were in season because you couldn’t get them out of season, you didn’t have the range of exotic fruits and produce that you do now, and mushrooms – I remember mushrooms being a real treat as a kid, do you know what I mean? So things are very different now, so I think you have to use that as an advantage for your children

L: Yes

H: For example a kiwi, it’s such a cool thing to eat, cut the top up and my kids eat them with a spoon, like a boiled egg in an egg cup. There are lots of fun things you can do with all this lovely stuff that you never had before. I mean in terms of lunchboxes, I used to cut the kids’ lunchboxes in funny shapes and pack their fruit on straws like a kebab and if you make it fun – food should be fun for kids, and it’s colourful, and nowadays with the choice that we have

L: There’s no excuse really

H: Not really but then don’t feel bad if you also want to put them in a feel-good mum treat, because they’re away from you all day, and they like a sense of home. So I do get a bit cross with the schools who come in with this whole namby pamby – they can’t have this and they can’t have that – don’t tell me what I can and can’t give my kids

L: Yes. As long as it’s balanced

H: Absolutely

L: And they’re not eating Kit Kats or chocolate biscuits –

H: Absolutely

L: Every single day for – you know

H: I understand you don’t want the child coming in with a Smartie sandwich in processed bread, but having said that most people are not –

L: They’re not –

H: I think sometimes the media will have us all hung, drawn and quartered for things that don’t truly go on in most households. I think most of us are fairly ok with it

L: Yes, we’re pretty switched on these days, we know what’s good and bad

H: Yes, I think so

L: It’s just we get a bit lazy sometimes don’t we? We all like a takeaway -

H: Or tired, I don’t know about lazy but give yourselves a break

L: Yes. But it’s not just about food of course, we’ve got to be getting out with our kids – the nights are sort of drawing out a little bit now aren’t they?

H: It’s nice now yes

L: But how do you get your children sort of out and about when it’s raining and it’s dark – how do you get them away from the television screen, get them away from the computer screen? What’s the answer to that? Have you got any magic ideas?

N: I’m quite lucky, mine are all really into football so –

L: Oh good yes

N: One of mine had a football match on Tuesday night in the snow, I felt so sorry -

L: Goodness

N: It was freezing

L: but she probably didn’t feel it, because you don’t do you?

N: No, no they don’t notice. No it is difficult, but if you can get them signed up to clubs and things – I mean we do a lot – we’re lucky we’ve got a nice garden and I do a lot of gardening with the kids

L: You grow vegetables for your kids don’t you?

N: I grow my own – yes, and the kids absolutely love that

L: Yes. If they can plant it and see it grow

H: Yes

L: Even my two year old likes doing that

N: It’s fantastic, there’s nothing better is there?

L: And then you’re more likely to eat them as well if you’ve grown them yourself

N: Definitely

N: Well my four year old calls them golden treasures,

L: Oh bless!

N: These potatoes – he goes hunting for his golden treasures, he things they grow over, he doesn’t realise that it’s under the –

L: Pull your flowers as well

N: What are you doing darling? I’m looking for my golden treasures!

L: Ah but you see he’ll remember that, because I remember –

N: Oh yes –

L: Digging up potatoes with my granddad and my dad and you do, you do remember those

N: It’s really special and it’s so easy, that’s the thing

L: Yes exactly

N: It takes two seconds, so that’s really good

H: But you don’t – even if you live in a high rise flat there are things you can do, cress in a pot, even with no garden

L: Yes that’s true

H: Even – it’s still the process of you grow, or you rear your food – you then cook and you then eat it. It’s all the same circle for kids and the more they’re involved – I think what we tend to do with children, and it does – it becomes very apparent when you go into a restaurant, we treat them as second class eaters in my view

L: Yes, yes

H: We take them to a restaurant, they get the rubbish the cutlery, they get the plastic serviette, they get the rubbish menu that’s full of chips and nuggets –

L: The kids meals

H: Yes – why can’t they have the same -

N: Mini portions

H: Absolutely

L: In France they would do that wouldn’t they?

N: Yes

H: They do

L: It’s just this country

H: In Spain – I mean my kids, I mean they’re – one of my children is here today and they were telling us over lunch, they fight over the squid and the paella. My husband makes a superb paella and they fight over the tentacles. Most kids would like the idea of eating a little octopus which is what we call it –

L: Yes. As long as you don’t go ooh you wouldn’t like that

H: And that’s the difference, I think we make such assumptions on our children – oh you can’t give a child of three squid, we’ll buy them a fish finger. Why?

L: No you’re absolutely right

H: Why not? And a squid is 16p

L: Yes. You’re so right

H: As opposed to a packet of fish fingers

N: I love squid.

L: Why wouldn’t they? As long as – it’s the way that you present it isn’t it?

H: That’s exactly – it’s all in the sell. As parents we have such a responsibility for children growing into adults. If we start them off with finicky eaters as children they will remain finicky eaters and I think it comes a great deal from us. If we’re frightened of the dark our children will develop that etc etc, so if we have poor eating habits and poor nutritional understanding then we’ll pass that on to our kids, so I think we deserve – kids deserve a chance to eat like grown-ups, to sit at a table, to have their food delivered in a way that we as adults will expect it to be

L: Yes. Why not? Well let’s go back to the reason we’re here really which is the Parent’s Advisory Group – explain Nicole how this all started. Explain what exactly it is

N: SunnyD obviously was slated in the past for being a bit of a – for having a few nasties in there, and they came up with this idea –

L: What was wrong with it then? What was wrong with SunnyD?

N: It was full of E numbers and quite a lot of sugar in there –

L: Right

N: It was seen as a bit of a bad drink

L: It was very popular at the time –

N: It was really, really popular. I loved SunnyD

H: My children loved it, they absolutely loved it

N: Yes I love it

L: But it wasn’t all that really?

N: No, unfortunately not. And they came up with the idea of inviting some parents on board and getting our opinions on what we’d like to see, and changes that we would like to make to the drink

L: Right

N: And then we all sort of got invited on board. We all had to apply, I think they had 2000 parents applied didn’t they initially?

H: Yes they did. I think back in 2005 they had the – they inherited the – the new company took over and they’d inherited a drink that had bad press

L: Right

H: Some of it wasn’t justified and some of it was justified, and like most things, you know it never – it perhaps got far more bad publicity than it deserved – than it ought to – there are far worse products out there, there always have been, but nonetheless what this company did was something very grown-up and unique. They said ok, our product’s not great, we want to make it better, but the people that we want to sell it to are the mums, because essentially it is a drink that kids have always enjoyed to have, but mums weren’t necessarily keen on giving it to their kids, so who better to ask than the mums of the kids that are going to drink it – what do you want? And that’s what they did, and we were a bit cynical at first when –

N: Very cynical yes

H: When were taken on, if the truth be told, thinking how much say will we have, how well will they listen? But 3 / 3 ½ years on, we’ve just produced –

N: We’ve got some changes -

H: A drink –

L: So what’s the difference then with the new one?

H: The difference is, for example, this has now got 70% juice in it

L: Right

H: And it has 15% before, 10% before that

L: Oh goodness – that’s an incredible difference isn’t it?

H: What a leap, massive, massive leap. It still tastes – real juice for kids is a bit acidic, and we find a lot of kids don’t find it thirst-quenching, plus the fact that it’s quite expensive – glass for glass. I mean you’re talking about sort of 29p a glass to have this, so you can wup that down when you’re thirsty. But in terms of sugar this now has an amber traffic light

L: Oh right, which is –

H: The only drink of its kind to have an amber

L: My goodness

H: So in terms of sugar content, juice content – it’s completely different. And what they also did was take out every single article in here that didn’t need to be in here

L: Right

H: So what you ended up with was no artificial additives, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial colouring, and 70% juice. I mean that’s such a dramatic difference, and that was -

L: That was parent power wasn’t it?

H: Parent power. We as a group – we covered the geographic area of the whole of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

L: Right. And how many of you are there?

N: Seven

H: There’s seven now, there was 12 originally

N: There were originally

H: So when we were doing the original research there were 12 – 12 parents involved. We go out to our own parents and talk to hundreds of other parents –

L: Oh I see

H: Oh yes it’s not just us

L: No. So it’s friends and what have you?

N: That’s it, yes at the school gates

H: Yes and we get questions, we got tastings and we said ok here’s the drink, taste this, what do you think of that – what is it you want for your kids?

L: That’s amazing – is that the first time that’s been done?

H: Never been done before

N: Yes it’s a first

H: No, never been done before and I think it’s such a responsible thing for a manufacturer to do

L: It is, isn’t it?

H: Very unusual

L: It’s quite an amazing thing to do really I think

N: It is, it is

L: You can pop it back, you don’t have to snuggle like a baby

H: It’s a new one you see, we’ve not seen that one! The big difference was you see, they both – the drinks were always orange-based and what our research showed is the most popular flavour for kids, above all else is apple and blackcurrant

L: Oh yes. They love the blackcurrant don’t they?

H: They do, whether it’s SunnyD – now for the first time ever of course produced – which is why we were cuddling it because it’s our – our sort of real baby but I just think that other manufacturers ought to take note, that we’re the ones buying it. We now can give it to our kids guilt-free. They love drinking it, and we did this

L: Well look I’d better move on to some of your questions actually because we’re getting through the program and we’re running out of time! We’ve got one here from Sylvia, she said “hiya. I wondered what was wrong with the old SunnyD” – which we’ve sort of covered it really – “what was the biggest challenge for the group and do you feel SunnyD took on board all of your comments?”

N: Well – they took everything on board. They were fantastic actually. I mean when I first applied for it I thought this is just a gimmick. Are they going to listen to me? I’m just a mum, I’ve got – what do I know?

L: Just a mum? Just a mum? It’s the hardest job in the world

N: Absolutely, I’ve got no experience of, you know any food technology experience or anything like that and you thought – and you know I was taken on and I’m just me, you know what you see is what you get. So it’s fantastic, and they took everything on board, and they kept the same great flavour, the flavour was never an issue. Kids always loved that and parents loved that, but you know before it was full of all those bad things, you didn’t feel proud about having it in your fridge

L: No well that’s right

N: It was one of those things that lurked at the back and you just went oh no we don’t give that to our kids

H: Well you never admitted that you bought it, I mean my elder children in their 20s I did buy it but I never t old anybody I did. Whereas now I’m happy telling everybody, you ought to buy this, but they even opened their factory doors to us. We actually toured the factory, so they hid nothing from us, and I think that’s a really big thing. They showed us the ingredients list and the first thing we said was “what’s that for – do you really need it?”

L: do you really need it

H: What’s that for –

L: So you were pretty straight with them?

H: Absolutely

N: Really straight with them. Probably too much, I did feel sorry for them in some respects, we were quite hard to handle

L: But you’re saying that there’s nothing sort of added in – we’ve got a question in from Jackie here, she says “my kids used to like SunnyD but it would sometimes send them a little bit hyper. Does it still do that?”

H: No. Hyperactivity in kids often comes from sugar rush, and there was a great deal of sugar in it as there is in fruit juice, as there is in the fizzy drinks, and at the end of the day if you give a child two or three glasses of a highly sugared drink, even if the sugar comes from pure fruit juice, you’re going to get a bit of a reaction. This is 70% juice so again it’s not as high sugar as the real juice would be – it’s only 7.4 I think in 100mls

L: Oh right

H: So – but the other things that parents worried about, some of the additives had – some people said that they thought their kids reacted. Whether or not they did or not, it was perceived as – there’s nothing in it that could possibly give your children – other than a bit of an energy boost which we all get when we drink something with sugar in it. And that’s what it’s for!

L: Ok. Another question actually, we’ve had one in from Sam. She said “I’ve heard that smoothies are really bad for us because they attack our teeth quicker than just eating standard fruit juice. Is this true and is SunnyD likely to do this?”

N: I mean SunnyD isn’t a smoothie first of all, it is a juice drink so it is what it is, but I mean fruit does attack your teeth unfortunately

H: Absolutely. I mean they say again medical at the moment are telling us that if we eat the piece of fruit, because it doesn’t coat the front of our teeth it doesn’t – having said that, there’s fluoride in the water, we all know that we need to clean our children’s teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, we all go to the dentist. There is no great danger, and it’s not like sucking on a pure sugar stick – four a day which might – I know there was about 5 or 6 years ago there was this whole dental issue. But drinking a smoothie or certainly SunnyD is not going to attack your children’s teeth

L: Ok, so clean your kid’s teeth and you should be alright

H: Absolutely. Regular dental care and clean your kid’s teeth, no problem at all

L: It’s just common sense isn’t it?

H: Absolutely

L: Yes. Get a quick question in from Elizabeth, she said “speaking of parent power, I’m so angry that my local authority has allowed so much chocolate and fizzy drinks in vending machines at our school’s gym. What can I do on my own to try to get the school gym to stop allowing these vending machines.” Or to get different stuff in the vending machines. Any clues?

H: Well –

L: Where do you start?

N: Parent power

H: Yes parent power.

N: With parent power, yes definitely

H: I mean we’ve just shown that 12 women have changed an entire manufacturer’s product, so get together with some other women at your school, go to your local authority, to the council offices and say we don’t want this. Start a campaign. Be heard. Use your local media. Local media love this kind of story because it’s local, it’s community-based and actually make the difference. And if you don’t purchase it they’ll have to change it because it’s all about revenue when all’s said and done, but –

L: Yes exactly

H: But you can make a difference but get together with other mums who are like-minded and without any expense at all you can make a difference and change it, and do it. Your kids deserve you to do so.

L: Exactly. And can you think of any other brands that sort of need changing, where mums and dads can get involved? You’ve done it with SunnyD,

H: Absolutely – I think there’s a great deal and I think a lot of the – we’re talking about parent power. The pester power has got to stop

L: Yes, advertising

H: You said in your earlier about your – you know about advertising towards young children, it’s unfair. I know a lot of the supermarkets have already removed sweets from the end of the aisles. I think as parents we’re smart and we’re savvy and our kids deserve better, so I think we need to start tackling other manufacturers by not buying their product and by actually saying no, this is not good enough, we don’t want this to happen.

L: Ok. So if we make the right moves then they’ve got to take it on board then haven’t they?

H: Definitely

L: But how do we get our kids to take it on board as well? We’ve just got a final question in here from Sarah, she says “how can I persuade my children that fizzy drinks aren’t very good for their teeth?” Because it’s all very well when they’re in your house getting them to eat their broccoli, but they all go off to school with their money and I see all the kids outside school near my house and they’re all eating their crisps and – how do you persuade your kids, you know, to take on board what you’ve said and take it away with them? Nicole –

N: It’s all about education when they’re young unfortunately, and once they get to that certain age they’re off doing their own thing so you’ve got to get in young and encourage them

H: Absolutely

N: In the right ways, that’s the thing –

H: But also make it cool. I mean one of the things I’ve always done is if you funk up your children’s healthy – the other kids want it too. I mean we’ve had lots of examples where children – of a – I’ve never bought a nugget in my life and that’s the God’s honest truth, but I’ve served food to children that have never even known what it was, but they’ve eaten it because it’s cool and it’s funky and my kids – so make the difference the other way – you influence the other kids, rather than let your kids be – you send your kids in with something cool, explain why it is, explain – even using a celebrity endorsement, you know, this particular celebrity, she eats that you know and we all love her

L: Yes, yes

H: Influence positively rather than sit back and let your kids be negatively influenced

L: Ok, good tips there from Helen. And Nicole. Thanks so much for coming in, it’s been really good to see you today. They’re quite inspirational these two aren’t they? Ten children between them -

H: Or foolish!

L: Something. Well if you want more information about parent power and of course the new SunnyD and everything that’s in it, then you can go to the website which is www.sunny-d.co.uk. It’s all about parent power – you get out there! We’ll see you next time, thanks for watching the Parenting Show, bye bye

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