WARREN HAYDEN: Maybe the diet can wait a few days...

It is the day my daughters are returning to school after the two-week Christmas break.

That meant re-starting the school run routine which includes waking them from the land of nod, giving them a nutritious and healthy breakfas and making sure they are clean and looking smart in their uniform.

Then it’s a casual stroll to the school ready for them to start their day learning lots of new information.

But there is, sometimes, an alternative version.

The version where I’ll shout up the stairs hoping that my big bellowing voice will wake my girls from their slumber.

The nutritious breakfast will be a bowl full of the cereal that is the easiest to reach.

They’ll look clean and smart but I’ll realise while we are rushing to school to get to the gate before the bell rings that their face needs a clean and I’ll be trying to wipe away the cereal milk residue still visible around their lips.

I prefer the first version, but sometimes the second version is more the reality.

Then today I’m back at work.

I’ll be once again talking into the Spirit FM microphone and playing the tunes on the Hometime show from 3pm.

After a week of mince pies and left-over turkey, normality has resumed.

But, the thing is, once the girls get home from school and I get home after my radio show, there are still many reminders of the week that has just passed.

There are still tins of chocolates with their colourful and inviting packaging awaiting a hand to dig in and it’s not only the horrible ones that are left.

Open the cupboard and the seasonal mince pies are looking back at me, a favourite of mine, especially when crushed into a bowl and smothered with deliciously indulgent double cream, yummy.

Then there is the variety of nuts.

We have peanuts and cashew nuts of the salted and dry roasted variety ready to be poured into one hand and eaten with the other.

Put simply, we still have much of the food and snacks bought for Christmas still to eat, and I bet you do too.

Once again, same as last year, too much was bought.

But like my daughters have re-started school and I’ve re-started my radio show, now I must re-start my healthy eating regime.

I, predictably, over-indulged over the Christmas period and now it’s time to eat well and exercise.

Well that’s the plan anyway.

Of course I wouldn’t want those mince pies to go to waste and the double cream will soon be out of date.

Maybe the diet can wait a few days...

Usually when I walk into the bedroom of my seven-year-old daughter Caitlin, I’m greeted by what you would expect from a girl of her age.

There are dolls. Quite a few that she has collected over Christmases and birthdays.

Some of them cry, some of them make realistic baby gurgling sounds, some need their nappy changing.

Although she loves her dolls and still plays with them I do wonder how long it will be before they end up untouched, unloved and left gathering dust.

This is because Christmas brought something new to Caitlin’s bedroom which made me realise she is growing up way too fast for my liking.

The dolls have been moved to a different part of the bedroom to make way for a new, shiny, CD player and radio from Father Christmas.

Although she is growing up I’m the one trying to stop myself sounding older than my years.

It’s inevitable but I fear soon I’ll be shouting up to the bedroom to ‘turn that racket down!’

Catch Warren on Spirit FM’s Hometime show, Monday to Friday (3pm–7pm) and Saturday (11pm–3pm) on 96.6 & 106.6 FM. Twitter: @warrenhayden.