Are your children making you fat? Are you currently shopping for or making Hallowe'en costumes, and already feeling worried about the extra food which will come into your home during Hallowe'en week, including the goodies your children will collect on trick-or-treat night?

Maybe you don't feel you have the willpower to resist the urge to indulge in those bags full of sweets.

Then there are the monkey nuts and curranty brack. And before that you have to get through a birthday party you are holding for your youngest the weekend before Hallowe'en, and for which you have already started stocking up on the miniature chocolate bars and crisps and marshmallows it will take to feed 15 children. And you have already started to help yourself to the child-size bars of chocolate on the sly.

The fact is that your children are in danger of making you fat if you find it difficult to resist the treats and junk food which they adore. Even if you are the sort of parent who limits sugary foods to the weekends or to special occasions, the chances are that you have a packet of biscuits in a press, or a block of ice-cream in the freezer. And if you have a sweet tooth, they are calling to you relentlessly.

It's easy to see how a parent can over-indulge on treats bought for children. After a busy day doing the school run, or being in the office all day, and then returning to the kitchen to make a pot of spaghetti bolognese for your children and the friends they have generously invited to dinner, it can be very tempting to have a quick pick-me-up before you begin chopping onions. And a bar of chocolate can easily seem just the treat you want, and which you feel you deserve for all your hard work.

Researchers at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the University of Michigan, found that adults who lived with children ate almost five more grammes of fat a day than child-free adults and nearly two grams more of saturated fat a day -- the equivalent to an extra six-inch pepperoni pizza a week.

When you consider that the items on nearly every children's menu across the city are burgers, chips, chicken sticks, plain pasta, pizza, and milkshakes, and that you finish off whatever your children don't eat, it can be easy to see how weight can gradually creep up on a parent.

Overweight

Usually when children are considered to have contributed to a woman being overweight, it is considered to be the weight gained during pregnancy, and then not lost following the birth of the baby, which is thought to be the culprit.

However, toddlers and children can be to blame for a parent's weight gain in a few different ways.

Britney Spears is one young mum who has struggled with weight since the arrival of her two young sons. The fact that she is often photographed indulging in chocolate or ice-cream may have something to do with her having acquired an appreciation of these foods thanks to having two hungry little fellows in the house. But she's not alone, Salma Hayek clearly enjoys the odd treat when she's out with her daughter, Valentina, as witnessed in the photo above.

Here are some of the reasons why the parents of children are in danger of putting on extra weight.

1 Breakfast

The parents of children buy more sugary breakfast cereals. Although you see the sense in training children to have a bowl of chopped-up mixed fruit with yogurt, or scrambled eggs for breakfast, the reality of your mornings is that you invariably find yourself with little time to get your children dressed, fed and out the door. And getting a banana and cereal inside them in the mornings can seem like hard enough work. However, you don't have to have a big bowl of whatever they are having a little bowl of.

2 Birthdays

It's not just the birthdays you throw to celebrate your children growing up which are at risk of adding a little extra padding to your hips. It's all those birthday parties your child gets invited to. It's customary for the mums or dads to stay and chat in the house a party is being held in, and wine and adult food is often provided. A couple of glasses of wine, plus a few sausage rolls and helpings of chicken satay can all add up calorie-wise.

3 Bribes

Parenting experts don't recommend you bribe your children with sweets to get them to do something. And although you are committed to being the best parent you can, you occasionally hear yourself plead: "If you just stay quiet until we get home I'll give you a bag of crisps, okay?" It tends to work, except your child isn't the only one having a bag of crisps as soon as the car is parked in the driveway. Stressed and worn out, you just can't resist helping yourself to one of your child's treats.

4 Stay-at-home lifestyle

The downside of being a stay-at-home parent kicks in when children are young, and you don't go out often. And not going out, you haven't noticed that your glamorous clothes no longer fit you comfortably but are pinching you at the waist. You are inclined to sit in minding your children, and often reward yourself with a big box of chocolates or bowl of ice-cream after your children have gone to bed.

5 Convenience food

Easy-to-prepare foods from packages or tins can be higher in calories than the food you make from scratch. And often the temptation can be to order in when you have had a hectic day, and there are little faces wandering in and out of the kitchen, looking up at you and wondering when they are going to be fed. One way of getting out of the habit of ordering in food, is to make a big batch of healthy dinners over the weekend, and freeze them to be eaten later on in the week.

- Anna Coogan