if he is hungry, he will eat what is on his plate....and if he doesnt that is ok too. but if he doesnt, no snacks unless it is something good for him like a banana or applesauce.


i have a good eater, so when he doesnt eat, i dont sweat it much.


i think my husbands disdain for eating was due to him being forced to eat when he was little. with that knowledge, i know it would be a huge fight if i tried to force our little ones to eat just because i said for them to.


on the flip side, just cause hubby doesnt enjoy eating, he does not make it the kids issue. he is very good at letting them eat all sorts of stuff even those he hates.


me...i just love food!

 

-----signature-----

That's exactly how I am with my daughter.


If I can tell that she just doesn't want to sit at the table for whatever reason, I make her take two or three more bites before she can get up, but she knows she can't have a snack. Usually she eats really well, but if I can honestly tell she's full, I don't make her eat anymore.


I totally agree that making a child clean their plate leads to overeating and obesity.

 

-----signature-----

I disagree that forcing your kid to clean their plate leads to anything other than proper nurishment. or whatever.


I mean think about it. When you make your 3 year old a box of mac n'cheese, do you put the entire box in a bowl and hand it to them? Well, I know I don't. I give Michael less than I actually think he'll eat and hope he finishes and asks for more. At that point, if he doesn't finish the second helping, it's all good.


The struggle in my house is, my kid is just being a jackass. I dont fill his plate with enough food for a 400lb man, i put less than what is enough for him to be full. I expect him to eat the amount I give him initially bc it should be what is needed to be healthy... ok ok i'm not measuring food and counting calories, but you knwo what i mean.


Lets just find another way to let people off the hook for being disgusting fatasses. "oh, my mommy made me finish all my VEGETABLES so now i'm obese and refuse to work at all towards living a healthy life" give me a break. If someone is fat, it's 99% of the time their own damn fault.

 

-----signature-----

According to my diabetic dietitian, it's a good idea to let your kids leave a little food on their plate for when they end up later in life going out to restaurants (where they always over serve), they are able to tell when they are full and not feel guilty about leaving food on their plate. Back when I was a kid and our family was very poor, we were taught not to waste food. While I'm not currently obese, I still have an aversion to wasting food and really have to work on not finishing everything on my plate.

Silver

 

-----signature-----

^What Silver said.


When it takes 20 minutes for the signal to reach your brain telling you you're full, forcing someone to clean their plate reinforces the habit of overeating. I personally have a very hard time leaving food on my plate, even when I'm full, because it was constantly drilled into my head that there are starving children in Africa blahblahblah.


My daughter, OTOH, is perfectly capable of determining when she's full and she has no problem leaving food on her plate. Of course, if she's really hungry, she'll eat second helpings. I think this is far more healthy a habit to have taught her than to force her to eat more food than her body actually requires.

 

-----signature-----

I also bet that you dont' prepare enough food for an army, just for yourself.

The problem we have in the states is portions. When we go out to eat, the portions of food are so ridiculously large it's no wonder we're fat.

Not wanting to waste food isn't the issue, I'm sure that's good practice. A better lesson would be to teach your kids how to portion food properly. (not you personally, the general you) I personally waste a large amount of food when I go out to eat b/c I can rarely finish the portion. I don't bring it home in a to-go container b/c I know I'll never eat it anyway.

Edit
I guess my biggest contention is we are constantly trying to find a reason for why people are fat, a justification that makes it not their fault. But, we know why people are obese, it's b/c they are eating too many calories. 99% of the time, it's within their control.

 

-----signature-----

I have that same issue. I was raised that it is polite to clean your plate because my father grew up poor. He went hungry now and then as a kid. As a result I had to appreciate every scrap of food I was given. It really is a hard habit to break. During university I got broke and hungry myself one year, I regularly had the choice between rent and food. Add that in and I have a really hard time throwing food out. I trim the mold off cheese, I'll eat my wife's leftovers the next day, etc.

I've never been obese though, I've always had a crazy metabolism. (The past few years I've had medical issues, now I'm on a bunch of meds and I'm gaining weight, fat for the first time in my life. But I'd rather be fat than 6'4" and only 140 pounds like I was last year. Fat ass > no ass.)

Here's a funny story though:

When I was 12 or so I slept over at my friend's house. His family was oldschool Italian where hospitality is king. I didn't understand that at first. So at dinner I'm busy trying to politely clean the plate off and protesting that I'm full. To his mother, the fact that I managed to clean the plate meant I was obviously hungry. She ended up getting up and making MORE food which I then had to try and eat. I was in such pain that night. Culture clash, we were both just trying to be polite.

 

-----signature-----

After taking a Human Nutrition class as part of my degree, i must say that having a kid finish eating vegetables or fruits isn't going to hurt them one bit... now all the other stuff... probably not a good idea

can never eat too many fruits and veges

 

-----signature-----

I've always been a "there is more if you want it" kinda person.

 

-----signature-----

Well...

On a car trip through the Okanagan valley it was cherry season, fresh cherries at the side of the road. We stopped and got a couple pounds then carried on. My sister and mother finished them with the other two of us only having a few. We stopped for more cherries.

About 15 mins after they finished the original pile they were both cramping and suffering. We ended up stopping for a couple hours so they could take turns running into a porta potty. =/

The next day they were a little more reasonable with the cherries.

 

-----signature-----