Golden rules

To tackle each family's problems, Kris devises a set of golden rules for them to live by for a three-week period. The rules are designed to motivate the families into changing their poor habits.

To ensure the families aren't overwhelmed, three rules a week are introduced over the three-week period. This way the families have a chance fully to understand the reasoning behind each rule and, hopefully, put them into action.

The following rules can be applied to any household keen to develop a healthier lifestyle.

Declare zero tolerance on sweets, fizzy drinks, and biscuits – clear them out and replace them with fruit, raw carrots and celery sticks.

Food is the fuel for growing kids – put bad food in and you get bad behaviour, mood swings and poor emotional development.

Encouraging children who are fussy about food to learn to cook fresh food can make them more likely to eat it. It will also give them a useful life skill, so that when they leave home they will be able to feed themselves properly.

Introduce set times for meals, playing out and going to bed.

Children need structure in their lives. A daily routine will fire them up, make them feel safe, secure and cared for, and leave them more alert and active.

High anxiety levels and poor concentration can be improved by earlier bedtimes.

Limit screen time

Tackle children's TV addiction. Too much TV adversely affects concentration levels and exacerbates a sedentary lifestyle. Remove TVs from children's bedrooms and put a time limiter on the shared living room TV.

Watch TV with your children - this will further limit the time they spend in front of the box - and explore alternatives with your children.

Children need an hour of exercise every day if their bodies are to function properly. It's important to get couch potatoes off the sofa. Swimming is good aerobic exercise, as is dancing.

Bad behaviour can simply mean children are bored. Older children can do activities such as St John’s Ambulance training, where they can learn new skills and meet new friends.

Martial arts classes, boxing, football and rugby can all provide a focused outlet for energy - for girls as well as boys.

Outdoor activities also help children to appreciate the rewards of being outdoors and interacting with other people.

Respect comes with understanding. Introduce a one-minute rule during mealtimes: give every child a minute to talk about themselves and their day.

Make this a daily activity, otherwise as a parent you can become distanced from your children and it can be very difficult to reconnect with their lives.

With a large family, it is easy to treat children as a group rather than as individuals, each with their own aspirations, hopes and fears. One-on-one time will allow the child/parent bond to develop and grow.

It doesn’t matter what the activity is, the key thing is to spend time with each child individually and say, in effect, what you’re interested in matters to me enough that I’ll come and do it with you.

This applies to parents - and children - who smoke, otherwise younger children are passively smoking hundreds of cigarettes a year, and are more likely to smoke in the future as a result.

Kris uses shock tactics with the McDowell family – she sends mother and teenage daughter (who has a 10-a-day habit) to a hospice where men on ventilators are slowly dying because of their smoking.

Donna and Phil Davies have puffed their way through approximately 365,000 cigarettes so far, and their children are passively smoking nearly 200 cigarettes a year.

Some of the new rules can mean that single parents of large families end up more housebound than before. Time away from the house and kids, for example on a weekly course, can enhance self-confidence and self-esteem.

Children who are waited on hand and foot end up selfish and incapable of doing the most basic of domestic chores later in life.

Getting kids to help around the house, for example tidying their bedroom or cleaning the bathroom, develops their sense of responsibility.

One approach is to draw up a chores chart. Encouraging children who are old enough to try to get paid work, such as a paper round, can also boost their confidence and sense of responsibility.

The family that plays together stays together. Teenagers can take a lot from the family but put nothing back. A day out together can help everyone to appreciate one another more.

Structured learning, in the shape of a homework diary, can help to build a daily routine, encourage independence and help children to recognise the value of doing things on their own.

Parents need time together too and adult learning classes, such as cookery or foreign languages, can be a valuable means of getting this - and having a few laughs.

Parents and children often need to work on their tolerance and patience. Organising something together can help adults to see things from the child's perspective, and can help to develop patience on both sides.

As they get older, pre-teens and teenagers need to set goals and get focused. Any activity that requires regular practice or has a tangible result will improve self-esteem and reduce the amount of time spent slouching in front of the TV.