Author Topic: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Aerlinthian 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Physorg posted:
The 'clean plate club' may turn children into overeaters

"Finish your broccoli!" Although parents may have good intentions about forcing their kids to eat cold, mushy vegetables, this approach may backfire the very next day, according to new research from Cornell University.

"We found that the more controlling the parents were about telling their child to clean their plate, the more likely the kids, especially the boys, were to request larger portions of sweetened cereal at daycare," says lead author Brian Wansink at the keynote address of the Carolinas HealthCare System Obesity 2009 Conference in Charlotte, NC on Friday.

Researchers asked 63 mothers of preschool-age children the extent to which they tell their children to clean their plates at meals. The researchers then asked the children how many Fruit Loops they would like for their morning snack at day-care. Children were able to fill their bowl until they indicated they had received enough and the bowl of cereal was weighed.

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myxomatosis8 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
To a certain point, yes. I know my kids well enough to know when they're just being fussy because they are trying to avoid eating something, or just being silly about things. When I even suspect they're actually full though, I will never push for them to eat more. They don't get any dessert either, though. Not if they were too full or fussy to finish the main meal.

 

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Jennifer_the_Great 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
myxomatosis8 posted:
To a certain point, yes. I know my kids well enough to know when they're just being fussy because they are trying to avoid eating something, or just being silly about things. When I even suspect they're actually full though, I will never push for them to eat more. They don't get any dessert either, though. Not if they were too full or fussy to finish the main meal.



This is my answer, with the added provision that my son has to at least try a bite of everything that I've cooked (unless I already knew beforehand that he didn't like it, in which case there's not going to be any on his plate). If he's tried something on three or four occasions and still doesn't like it, I'm not going to push for him to keep eating it.

 

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myxomatosis8 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Same here Jennifer!! The eldest also has to at least try things once. I say once, of course, but she really has to have a bite every time. Her tastes have changed before, so I just figure it can happen again!

 

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Ah-Schoo 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
myxomatosis8 posted:
To a certain point, yes. I know my kids well enough to know when they're just being fussy because they are trying to avoid eating something, or just being silly about things. When I even suspect they're actually full though, I will never push for them to eat more. They don't get any dessert either, though. Not if they were too full or fussy to finish the main meal.


Pretty much. Except we rarely do dessert except on special occasions like birthdays/holidays or sometimes when guests are visiting.

 

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Varece 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
No, but I never really had to, either.

 

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Silverwuf 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
No, Aime has to try a bite of everything on her plate since her tastes change a lot at her young age. She is required to do a 'good job' on her meal in order to receive ANY treats or snacks later on. We tell her how many 'more' bites she has to eat to consider it a good job but she knows that if she doesn't meet minimum requirements, don't bother asking for anything later on.

Silver

 

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Gaevren 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Never!

We also have the "one bite of everything" rule, unless it is something I know they don't like (and they occasionally have to re-try things, since tastes change). Another rule is that you don't get anything to eat except what is being served. I'm not a short order cook, so if you don't like it, tough cookies tongue

They also don't get anything additional until they've finished what's on their plate. Why should I give them more food when they haven't finished what they've got?

 

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Sarena_WE 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
No my dad pulled that crap and I swear it is the reason I had an eating disorder in HS.

 

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Makaena 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
it all depends. Its not more to finish the plate, its to eat. if she hasn't eaten atleast 1/2 of whats on her plate then yes I will push her to eat. If its over half then i will ask her a few times to eat then she gets let down.

 

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Mikkilynn 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
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!

 

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Lynea 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
myxomatosis8 posted:
To a certain point, yes. I know my kids well enough to know when they're just being fussy because they are trying to avoid eating something, or just being silly about things. When I even suspect they're actually full though, I will never push for them to eat more. They don't get any dessert either, though. Not if they were too full or fussy to finish the main meal.
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.

 

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Goatstar 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
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.

 

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Silverwuf 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Goatstar posted:
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.


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

 

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Lynea 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
^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.

 

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Goatstar 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Silverwuf posted:
Goatstar posted:
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.


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
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.

 

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Ah-Schoo 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Silverwuf posted:
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
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.

 

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Blynk_ 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
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 :P

can never eat too many fruits and veges love

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
I've always been a "there is more if you want it" kinda person. happy

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Blynk_ posted:
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 :P

can never eat too many fruits and veges :x
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. tongue

 

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Kameko 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
I agree with both sides of the fence here... but more so with Goatstar. When I feed my 3 yr old niece, I don't give her the same amount of food I would eat - I give her what I think is what she will need to be full, and if she gets really close to finishing, and I will ask her to eat one more bite then she's done. Usually, if she doesn't want to eat, it's because it's not crap like mac n' cheese or candy, not because she's full.

If we're out and they give her more food then she could possibly ever need to eat in a week, I won't ask her to eat more then what will fill her. If she's done, then she's done.

I think WHAT you feed a child is faaaaaaaaar more important then how much of it you ask them to eat. How many kids need to be forced to finish a plate of McD's? Most kids need to be pushed to finish a proper portion of good foods, they ARE kids.. and who wouldn't prefer candy and junkfood to veggies at that age? I think it's just another step towards teaching good eating habits.

 

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Lynea 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. My sister makes her two girls eat some of everything (even stuff they think is gross) and she makes them clean their plates. The eldest (she's almost 17) is pudgy and bordering on slightly overweight. The youngest (she's almost 12) isn't fat yet, but I can tell she will be if her habits don't change.

OTOH, my daughter is almost 11 and I have never made her eat more than she wanted aside from the "two more bites" kinda thing. She now eats almost anything you can think of and she knows when she is full versus me forcing her to finish everything. She's thin and trim - a far cry from her cousins.

 

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myxomatosis8 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
The only issue I have with people saying they know the proper portion for their kid is only this: not every day is the same. They don't necessarily need to eat the same amount every time, and hunger is variable. I trust my 2 skinny minnies to tell me when they've had enough, and that's fine. I thought it was a given that we all give the kids what we think they will/should eat on their plates in the first place.

 

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Goatstar 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Lynea posted:
I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. My sister makes her two girls eat some of everything (even stuff they think is gross) and she makes them clean their plates. The eldest (she's almost 17) is pudgy and bordering on slightly overweight. The youngest (she's almost 12) isn't fat yet, but I can tell she will be if her habits don't change.

OTOH, my daughter is almost 11 and I have never made her eat more than she wanted aside from the "two more bites" kinda thing. She now eats almost anything you can think of and she knows when she is full versus me forcing her to finish everything. She's thin and trim - a far cry from her cousins.
lmao if at 17 you dont' let yer kids think for themselves when it comes to food, that's just sad.

I'd never force my 17 year old to finish their plate. I'd just be happy as a pig in stuff that they're eating with the family!

And of course yer daughter does just fine, she's 11. That whole forcing yer kid to eat what you give them, at least imo and seems obvious to me, is for kids who don't know better. I can't say when the age is that they will as i'm sure it varies from kid to kid, but i'd imagine it happens before they're 10.

 

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Lynea 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
I think you're missing the point, Goat. If you force them to overeat when they are little, it leads to a life-long habit of overeating. If you teach them to eat what they feel they need, they are less likely to overeat as adults.

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
I think if parents were more conscious of what their kids ate between meals, there would be more hungry kids at the table. It was a pet peeve of mine, when the kids were growing up. I always had fresh fruit and veggies cut up. There were always 3 healthy meals served. I tried and experimented a lot with different foods to settle on the things that were healthy and they liked. I always had juices and sugar free koolaid for them and most of the time, they wanted water. To this day, neither are big soda drinkers. Hardly any. I never "kept" anything from them. We had our share of fast food and crap, because of all the sports. I wanted to make sure I had healthy stuff at home to make up for it. They got their fair share of junk at Halloween, Christmas stockings, easter baskets. tongue

And with virtually every household being a 2 working parent house, do the kids really get the exercise they need? It's one area I cannot stress enough with parents. Find a sport your kids like and enroll them. Or experiment!

It really really takes effort to raise happy, healthy kids. happy

 

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Goatstar 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Lynea posted:
I think you're missing the point, Goat. If you force them to overeat when they are little, it leads to a life-long habit of overeating. If you teach them to eat what they feel they need, they are less likely to overeat as adults.
No, i fully understand that point. I just don't agree with it. Habits can be broken and eventually people have to take responsibility for what they do, like being disgusting fatasses.

What can be done today by parents, is teaching their kids portion control. Also what varece just said, being mindful of what they eat all day long as well.

 

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Lynea 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Well, good for you, then. I'm glad it's so simple and easy to break life-long bad habits instead of actually instilling good habits in the first place.

 

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myxomatosis8 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Goatstar posted:
Lynea posted:
I think you're missing the point, Goat. If you force them to overeat when they are little, it leads to a life-long habit of overeating. If you teach them to eat what they feel they need, they are less likely to overeat as adults.
No, i fully understand that point. I just don't agree with it. Habits can be broken and eventually people have to take responsibility for what they do, like being disgusting fatasses.

What can be done today by parents, is teaching their kids portion control. Also what varece just said, being mindful of what they eat all day long as well.


I find the best way of teaching portion control is to allow the kids to tell you when they've had enough. grin

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
myxomatosis8 posted:
Goatstar posted:
Lynea posted:
I think you're missing the point, Goat. If you force them to overeat when they are little, it leads to a life-long habit of overeating. If you teach them to eat what they feel they need, they are less likely to overeat as adults.
No, i fully understand that point. I just don't agree with it. Habits can be broken and eventually people have to take responsibility for what they do, like being disgusting fatasses.

What can be done today by parents, is teaching their kids portion control. Also what varece just said, being mindful of what they eat all day long as well.


I find the best way of teaching portion control is to allow the kids to tell you when they've had enough. grin
touche

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
In my house you try at least one bite of everything. After that you only eat what you want but you must eat a healthy amount and variety of what is served in order to get dessert. This has worked very well because she's learning to try foods and also learning what constitutes a healthy meal. Also, because she's allowed a treat after 2 meals a day, she doesn't overeat junk food but isn't deprived of it as well.

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Schoo i thought you were a bit older than that.

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
After reading this thread I am sure you all are going to love me! I have always let my sons eat the way they wanted. I always felt dessert should be as nutritious as the meal itself...so if they wanted to start with dessert...fine with me happy Truly...




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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Goatstar posted:
Schoo i thought you were a bit older than that.
Only physically.

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
gotta say i'm with Lynea on this one.

it took me til i was in my thirties to realise that i had little concept of an "i'm now full" switch. i was a very skinny kid, (my knees were bigger than my thighs!) and i constantly overate; partly to try to gain weight, but also because i was programmed to finish everything on my plate as a kid... regardless of whether i was hungry or not.
Of course i also take responsibility for being a greedy little moo, but it was constantly reinforced.

my kids aren't made to finish everything. i have one who has a massive appetite and one who doesn't. it seems to work so far, they seem to be healthy, full of energy and enjoy their food, without it being the big thing it was for me. i am careful about portion sizes, they can have seconds after their food has "gone down".
my only concern is that my son, the big eater, is encouraged to eat tons of food as people "know" he loves his food, so, therefore, expect him to eat more than anyone else!

i've never made tham eat something i know they really don't like either, and that caused family ructions at Christmas when my dad and sister made her boys eat brussel sprouts when it made them gag, but i wouldn't make mine do the same.

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Ah-Schoo posted:
[quote=Blynk_]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. tongue


Lol! They over did it.. i was kinda referring to a what would be given on a plate. I agree that Grapes and Cherries (and their buddies) are small and can be eaten eaten above moderate reasonable amounts. The spike of fiber/natural sugars would cause some... unwanted results. OOOPS!

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
speaking from experience here, when we were growing up we were made to eat everything on our plates.which has lead to certain eating habits for good and for the worse. The good is that we love veg, the bad is we ate to much carbs.

I do not make my kids eat everything off there plate. They eat when they are hungry, and i give them 3 diff choices 3 healthy choices on there plates. Usually two veg and one protein. For breakfast they either eat oatmeal, cereal, scrambled eggs, or toast, with some cut up fruit. I have had to learn how to eat again, I have learned before I had children how to feed them properly. I exercise 30 minutes a day aside from regular every day walking/activities. I have had to learn this because my parents came here from italy and they were never taught nutrition and health.

I dont eat bad carbs anymore either. its a tough transition but, gotta stick to it. wink

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
Entrapment_WE posted:
speaking from experience here, when we were growing up we were made to eat everything on our plates.which has lead to certain eating habits for good and for the worse. The good is that we love veg, the bad is we ate to much carbs.

I do not make my kids eat everything off there plate. They eat when they are hungry, and i give them 3 diff choices 3 healthy choices on there plates. Usually two veg and one protein. For breakfast they either eat oatmeal, cereal, scrambled eggs, or toast, with some cut up fruit. I have had to learn how to eat again, I have learned before I had children how to feed them properly. I exercise 30 minutes a day aside from regular every day walking/activities. I have had to learn this because my parents came here from italy and they were never taught nutrition and health.

I dont eat bad carbs anymore either. its a tough transition but, gotta stick to it. wink




applause Smart cookie doing the right thing. grin

Low fat cookie! grin

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
My kids will pretty much try anything. Because my mom did the "you have to try this no matter what" when I knew that I had issues with that particular type of food, I will never tell my kids they have to try something. Nothing against those who make their kids try a bite, just part of my issues coming to light tongue However, on the other hand they're both curious and adventurous when it comes to food (my daughter's favorite food is calamari), so if they don't want to try something, not a big deal.

They can snack pretty much whenever except for two hours before dinner and when they're bored. Easy for me to tell when it comes to my kids because if they're hungry they say "I'm hungry" and are kind of grouchy. If they're bored they ask for a snack and we go find something to do instead.

Don't want to finish everything on your plate? That's fine but you have to at least sit with everyone at the dinner table until everyone else is done (that eliminates the wanting to leave the table to play) and usually ends up with them eating more anyway.

Me knowing my own issues in regards to food has helped me take steps to avoid it with my own kids.

I don't get the point in making them finish everything on their plate. If they don't eat dinner, they're not going to shrivel up in their sleep. Just means they'll be hungry in the morning. Maybe they'll think harder at dinner the next night whether or not to eat.

I'd rather them form their own eating habits based on what their body is telling them than me forcing how I think they should eat on them.

My mom also made a big production of junk food in the house, how hard it was to say no to us kids when we wanted something unhealthy to eat. I've found it's quite easy when I just don't buy junk grin

 

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myxomatosis8 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
-Chanell- posted:
My mom also made a big production of junk food in the house, how hard it was to say no to us kids when we wanted something unhealthy to eat. I've found it's quite easy when I just don't buy junk :D


This, 1000 times over!! Same here, no junk food in our house, obviously I don't want them eating much, but I just avoid it myself anyway, including any prepackaged low-cal snacks and stuff... Supposedly even having low-cal snack packs in your house reduces your chances of losing weight, I heard the other day. Gets them used to needing snacks or thinking they're hungry when they're just bored or do it while watching TV or whatever without even thinking about it.

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
myxomatosis8 posted:
-Chanell- posted:
My mom also made a big production of junk food in the house, how hard it was to say no to us kids when we wanted something unhealthy to eat. I've found it's quite easy when I just don't buy junk :D


This, 1000 times over!! Same here, no junk food in our house, obviously I don't want them eating much, but I just avoid it myself anyway, including any prepackaged low-cal snacks and stuff... Supposedly even having low-cal snack packs in your house reduces your chances of losing weight, I heard the other day. Gets them used to needing snacks or thinking they're hungry when they're just bored or do it while watching TV or whatever without even thinking about it.


I think this is a problem in a lot of homes. The parents eat all the junk food, and expect their kids to eat healthy.

A lot of the shows I've seen about overweight kids shows a pantry full of crap food, with a LOCK on the doors so the little ones can't get at it all.

Uhhhh...

 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
When it comes to portion control, I let my kid get full. Meaning if we are having lunch and its just hot dogs or chicken nuggets and she eats a bunch then that's ok with me. I was blessed with an active kid she's up for 14 hours a day, 2 of it is infront of the TV (Mickey mouse club house, Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins and Wonder Pets all her choice) and the other 12 is playing like theres no tomarrow. With both kids I make them try things I don't eat. My daughter LOVES peas where as I don't like them. She eats liver where as I dont touch the stuff.

You'd never guess this kid can eat 2-3 hotdogs and 6-10 chicken nuggets at a time.... She's in 3T pants/shorts/skirts and 5T to 5/6 shirts (because of her torso length) she's 37 1/2 inches tall and weights 32 pounds.

Cheyennes 3 years old

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Now with Wyatt on the other hand he's discovering theres different tastes and he wants more and more and more and I will stop him from eating at times when I know he's just tasting. He's in 12 month clothes because of how long his body is. He is 26 inches long and weighs 16 pounds.

Wyatt is just under 5 months old




 

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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?
the 2-3 hot dogs and 6-10 chicken nuggets should be 2-3 hot dogs OR 6-10 chicken nuggets

 

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Ah-Schoo 
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Subject: Do you push your youngster to finish what is on their plate?

Oddly enough, last night my kid didn't want dinner. We didn't force him but made it pretty clear that he wasn't getting snacks later (never does after dinner.)

He just wasn't feeling well. Slight fever last night and sniffles today.

 

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