You had a fun-size Mars bar (what makes them "fun". . ? ).

And you had a piece of fruit, which was often used to throw at one of your friends.

But, somehow, most of us got something akin to a balanced diet . . . which is something that children these days appear to be eating less and less.

"There is certainly more junk being eaten by kids these days, " said Garth McColgan, director of Food Active, Dublin's only specialist schools catering company (he also runs educational modules in the schools in which Food Active provides the catering). "But there is also more choice, which is a good thing. The trouble is that a lot of choices made by the children are not right, and not a lot of schools are offering catering facilities to help them with their choices."

We are, however, dealing with children here, and children, by definition, do not generally come with the responsibility to make responsible decisions. So, faced with the prospect of eating chips every day, most kids will eat chips. It's a question of taste.

This is why it is important for both the parents and the schools to provide enough education to allow the children to better understand why they should eat healthily . . . and to furnish the means by which the children can make better choices regarding their diet, either by providing nutritious packed lunches, or by employing a canteen operator which has the best interest of the children at its core.

"I feel that the major operators in the (school canteen) sector don't pay quite enough attention to health, " said McColgan. "There is too much food that is "freezer to fryer", too much that is pre-packed. But we need to ask the overall question: "is it the catering service provider's responsibility to ensure that the children eat a healthy diet, or is it the school's responsibility to make demands of the catering company?" I would say that the answer is "both".

It's the school's responsibility to educate the children, and it's the provider's responsibility to have healthy eating policies in place."

And not only healthy eating policies in place . . . the food also needs to be relevant to the kids. After all, if the children won't eat the "healthy" food, there's not much point in having it on the menu.

"This is the commercial reality for the caterer, " said McColgan. "It needs to be able to give the kids what they want, but this has to be tempered by a nutritional policy."

Of course, at the end of the day, it is the parent's responsibility to ensure that their children have a healthy diet, although this is certainly not helped if children have no access to healthy food while at school.

"It's the child's own responsibility as well, " countered McColgan. "I believe that a child of 10 or 11 is cognisant enough to understand what food does to his body . . .

and, if he continues to eat unhealthy food, he will have himself to blame. Although, in Ireland, where there is not as strong a food culture, that may be too much of an ask, which is why we need to educate children about healthy eating."

It's very well talking about education, but, in the case of a packed lunch, kids don't really have an option (beyond throwing the lunch at their peers. . . ) "The reality for kids is that a packed lunch should have a reasonably high carb content, " explained McColgan.

"But it should also contain proteins, such as cheese, meat or a protein substitute.

And, if a child is spending eight hours at school all day, then they should arguably have at least two pieces of fruit per day. I know an apple or a banana might be bland, so parents need to make the experience more interesting . . . I've never met a kid who doesn't like grapes."

And what about the little treat? The fun size Mars bar?

"It's not bad to have a little Mars bar, as long as it is in context, " said McColgan. "If you see the lunch coming back with the sandwiches not eaten but the chocolate gone, then there is a problem. But any dentist will tell you that a sugary snack eaten after nutritious food will have nothing like the effect on your teeth that a sugary snack on its own will have."