When children across Canberra return to school on Monday, parents will be faced with the dreaded task of another year of packing school lunches.
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In the ACT, the 2015 school year will be almost 200 days, which, for parents, means a lot of lunch box preparation.
Evatt father Neill Taylor knows how challenging it can be to keep lunch boxes exciting and healthy for his children Xavier, 7, and Imogen, 4.
"The biggest dilemma (for parents) is to find stuff that their children are keen to eat which is healthy," he said.
"I'm quite lucky at this point in time with my kids that if I put in two pieces of fruit, a yoghurt and a sandwich in their lunch box, they're happy with that.
"I've helped out at my children's schools at various times and I've seen other things that come in lunch boxes ... and obviously there's different foods that other kids bring along which maybe aren't as healthy so there's some real challenges there I have to admit, but at this stage, I'm lucky."
About one in four children in the ACT is overweight or obese and the ACT government last year launched the Good Habits for Life campaign providing tips for parents on how to model healthier lifestyles to their children.
Ahead of the new school year on February 2, the campaign now features a back-to-school game plan, which offers tips and includes a healthy lunch box resource and weekly meal and shopping planners.
The website also features recipes and resources on how to get children to be more physically active.
ACT deputy chief health officer Dr Andrew Pengilley said the school age was an important time to establish healthy habits for children.
"The school lunch is a good place to start," he said.
Dr Pengilley said with the new school year, parents should also think of ways to encourage physical activity, such as screen-free days or reducing the amount of time spent on electronic entertainment.
"The fact is that once you reach adulthood as an overweight or obese person, you do have a higher rate of a number of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke. Really it's a sound investment in the kids' long-term future for them to have healthy habits at this age."
Mr Taylor said he and his wife Megan believed teaching their children healthy habits now would set them on the right path for later life.
"We've stuck with it over time and have found it is working and they are interested and keen to eat healthier food," he said.
"It's setting them up for their future as they become older and more independent, they can make those healthier choices and understand why it's good for them and hopefully they don't end up becoming overweight or obese which limits what they are potentially capable of doing as teenagers or adults."
