When I look at the lunch menu for my son's school, I feel safe in assuming that any kid who brings a lunch from home is getting better nutrition. After all, it's not hard to beat chicken nuggets and greasy pizza. But home-packed lunches aren't always the better deal.

Due to rising food costs, regulations for Texas day-care centers recently changed and now allow the centers to require parents to send meals and snacks for the children. A subsequent (albeit small) study found that 71 percent of the home-packed meals didn't have enough fruits or vegetables and the number of milk servings was also low.

When you're busy getting the kids ready for school and trying to get ready for work, sometimes convenience takes priority when packing your kids lunches. But nutrition can be convenient, too. You can't get much easier than a ready-to-eat piece of fruit. And you can pre-cut carrots, celery, cucumbers and other veggies at the beginning or the week so they're ready and waiting. Check out the gallery for other quick, easy and healthful foods for your child's lunch bag.

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One of my nephews sneered at broccoli until my sister started calling it a "tree" -- all of a sudden, broccoli was interesting.

Sometimes, parents have to resort to little tricks to get their picky eaters to try new foods. The food pyramid folks realize this and now, there's a special pyramid designed just for preschoolers. Not only does this new pyramid outline the proper amounts of foods kids need, it also aims to help parents with the little picky eaters in the house.

In addition to helpful tools like a growth chart, sample meal plans and kitchen activities for preschoolers, the MyPyramid for Preschoolers site gives tips for breaking the picky-eating problem. Some suggestions:

• Set a good example by eating healthfully
• Offer a variety of foods ... and keep offering them
• Start with small portions.
  

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Yes! Yes! Kickboxing in preschool! Last week, I had a little visit with my daughter's preschool class; I brought in a child-sized heavy bag and some (adult-size) gloves. Since I'm the Fitzness trainer Mommy, and kickboxing is one of the most fun things I do and teach ... we thought it would be great to share the fun with her buddies.

We spent the first few minutes chatting about being healthy. Choosing healthy foods and exercising was easy to discuss with these little ones. They were desperate to tell me about their favorite fruits and the fun things they like to do. In fact, I heard in great detail about each child's favorite bike, scooter or jump rope. This of course, was fun to for me. We talked sports too, and I addressed kickboxing as such.

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Sleep. It's one of the biggest issues facing new parents. In the middle of the night, if a baby is awake, so are you.

Now there's another reason to make sleep a priority in the house -- babies and toddlers who do not get enough sleep in infancy are at risk for obesity, even as early as preschool. "Enough" sleep is defined as 12 hours a night, though the recommended amount for babies is often up to 15 hours a day.

Recent studies have shown a link between sleep and obesity, and this study reinforces those findings. If you're already keeping your child to a regular nap and bedtime schedule, there's probably no need to stress. But if your baby is routinely skipping naps or staying up late, it may be time to take a look at your day and see where you can squeeze in some more time for sleep.

Want to learn more about childhood obesity? Take this quiz at AOL Body.

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My preschooler happily gets herself dressed every morning, being a girl who loves clothes. Sometimes, she comes down in an outfit that goes together -- a basketball t-shirt with yoga pants, cords with a matching sweater, a dress with appropriately colored tights. And sometimes, well, her outfits are a little hard on the eyes. But, we have a deal. She lets me sleep an extra 10 minutes and I don't tell her what to wear. It works for us.

I can only imagine what mornings would be like if she went to this preschool in Sweden. The school banned preschool children from wearing clothing with stripes or spots, because the patterns trigger migraines in one of the teachers. Instead, children are asked to wear clothing of all one color. The ban has been in place for three years, but parents are challenging it this year because they think it's unfair.

We adore our preschool teacher, so I'd be happy to pick out a few monochromatic outfits for school clothes if it meant protecting her health. But boy, would it put a damper on the fun for my kiddo. What about you? Appropriate rule, or going overboard?

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It's not something all that common among children, but would you believe it if someone told you 300,000 kids are affected by arthritis? The condition is mostly associated with elderly people, so it may be easy to scoff at the idea. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have enough evidence to bring the "old person's disease" to the playground.

With one out of 250 kids suffering from some form of arthritis, it would be easy to imagine parents (or doctors) writing it off as a growing pain. In fact, estimates place the number of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis sufferers at upwards of 100,000. That is one of the worst forms of arthritis that can be crippling if left untreated.

Getting the right medication can make all the difference, just like it did with Breanne Watterson. Having suffered since the age of 4, her condition is mitigated so much that she can now perform like a normal teenager. It's rare, but her story shows how painful it can be to live with such a debilitating ailment at a young age.

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My sister visited her daughter's preschool class just recently for her little one's third birthday celebration. It's customary at this school for parents to bring in a birthday snack for classmates to share. My sister was all too happy to participate in this ritual, and she went armed with her camera, a bunch of Halloween-inspired sugar cookies, and a healthy helping of grapes.

You'd think the kids would gobble up those cookies, right? That's what I thought. Until my sister told me they scarfed down the grapes instead. They couldn't get enough of them, in fact, and some children passed on the sugary treat altogether. How great is that?

Sometimes, I don't think we give kids enough credit. We label them picky eaters and believe they'll only consume dry cheerios, goldfish crackers, and other packaged snacks. But when it comes down to it, I suspect kids might choose what's good for them if given a chance. So why not give them the chance? Go ahead. Try. Call it an experiment. Place some fruit or crunchy veggies in front of your kiddos at snack time and see what they do. Make it exciting and smear some peanut butter on an apple -- tastes a bit like a caramel apple -- or spread some low-fat cottage cheese on a cucumber slice. You might be surprised at what passes as a legitimate snack in your household. And if you work in a preschool, I urge you to introduce whole foods into your program. Ditch the Oreo cookies, the Skittles you use to reward your students, the loaded-with-sugar fruit juice. It's simple really. Healthy stuff is better. Even three-year-olds know it.

For an extra kick in the right direction, pop in here at Meals Matter for some smart snacking tips.

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