Do you make your kids finish all the food on their plates? and why or why not?

Question

not trying to start a controversy here lol just curious, i personally do not make my son finish all his food.....hes 4. I just dont see the point, i mean we as adults sometimes cant dfinish all our food. what do you think an do you think this as anything to do with childhood obesity? thanks and hope i didnt offend anyone :)

Answer 1

The only thing i make the boys eat all of is their veggies... I feel they need the protein and they pick the veggies every night and so they need to at least eat that before they are excused from the table... but i do tell them if they dont eat all their food they will get nothing till breakfast in the morning and no dessert... I dont over load their plates i know how much the boys eat and what they like ... Sometimes it becomes a fight cause the boys want to skip dinner all together and go right to their dessert and that doesnt happen... No i dont believe this has to do with child obesity but i do believe the choices parents make as to what they let their child eat becomes a child obesity problem... when a parent would rather pick up mcdonalds then make a meal for their child all the time that is why kids are gaining the weight, and packing on the pounds and becoming unhealthy... it takes less time to cook healthy meals then to spend 6 .00 for happy meals and soda... I am not saying my boys dont get mcdonalds but not very much i would rather cook then pay for warmed non nutriontional food...

Answer 2

well it depends on portion.. remember their stomach is the size of their fist.!! many parents tend to dish out a bunch . .. just give em a little bit of everything..  

ya fat kids .. NO EXCUSES! that is just LACK of PARENTING! AND EASY FIXES WITH FAST-FOOD!

Answer 3

I don't make them finish all of it. I just make sure they eat a good helping of each of the food groups on the plate.

Answer 4

I don't make them finish it but I do encourage them to eat a little more if I don't think they have eaten enough.

The rule in our house is if you do not finish your dinner you do not get any desert - if we think they have not eaten enough due to being picky or any other reason that is not just that they are full, I will put their meal in the fridge and if they come out later saying they are hungry, I will re-heat it for them.

All that said, I generally know how much my kids each eat per meal and do not serve excessively large meals either.

Answer 5

I don't make a child finish their food because children should only eat until they are full, to make a child eat more than they are hungry for encourages over eating and can lead to obesity because they learn to eat even if they aren't hungry

Answer 6

i dont have kids but i agree with you. im uhm, "young". sometimeswe can't eat everything. and as a 4 year old i say no (:

[ox>.<xo]

Answer 7

I dont make my nephews finish all their food, but at least eat most of it because alot of the time they will not want to eat bc they want to go play or do something...they are 3,6,+7...other than that I wouldnt make them and I wouldnt make my own kids.

Answer 8

We try to encourage it, and we don't give very large portions or to serve hated/disliked foods too often.  A good motivator is desert - no desert without a clean plate at our house.

Answer 9

NO... i was forced to eat everything on my plate (and i never put it on my plate myself, the parents did), and it was torture.  I was forced to eat foods i hated.

While my kids didnt like everything i fixed, i tried to make sure there were things on the table everyone liked.  And if worse came to worse, i told them to make a sandwich instead... i'm not going to argue about food. life is too short.

and by the way, i had an eating disorder through my 30's.. i think it was because of being forced to eat everything on my plate and foods i didn't care for.

Answer 10

it is about being reasnoble etc. if they snack before dinner they must eat dinner. It is about regulayting the amount of food and then correctly . We always made them finnish their plate.

Especially if they eat just before dinner. My Children are slim.

They were taught this from the beggining  like the day they came home from the hospital. Sleepling through the night was easy  and similiar . They neeed o be taught everything including sleep and how to eat etc. This is no different

I have the two best Children in the world now 13 and 17

Answer 11

Nope.  I don't think that it has much to do with childhood obesity.  I think that is due to the fact that fast food is everywhere and we can't just let our kids outside to play for hours like we did as kids.  Not without fear of kidnapping or worse.

Answer 12

I don't make them finish, but if they don't eat everything, there's no snacking later. It helps to cut down on them not eating at regular times. Kids actually know better than adults when to stop when they're full.

Answer 13

I don't have children yet, but if I did, I would find out why they didn't want to eat it first. If I'd served their meal, and gave them too much I wouldn't force them to, and if they genuinely didn't like something, I wouldn't force them to either. I would encourage them to eat as much as they could if they'd served themselves though, to try and teach them to only get a small amount first and if they want more, go back for more later. I would also encourage them to eat their veges, and healthy stuff rather than just backing down straight away and not teaching them about health and nutrition. I don't agree with parents forcing food down their children's necks and getting angry and abusive when their children don't want to eat. I know a few people who are like that with their children and it makes me quite angry and upset.

I'm not sure about any effect it could have on childhood obesity, because most children don't have to be forced to eat "junk" food. I think most of childhood obesity is caused by children not eating healthy food. It's more about education as there are some foods that you can eat, and they don't affect weight at all, salads, vegetables etc. I feel that it's all the sugar, fat, and other additives that are added to foods these days that are the real cause of childhood obesity.

Answer 14

I dont make them. One is thin and picky so I make him eat at least half...the other is bigger and not picky so if he says he full, he's full. They eat enough, exercise daily and get vitamins. I think there's a potential for an obesity problem if they do not eat the 3 healthy meals a day I serve and ask for junk food inbetween meals instead. I really try to make them eat the three meals till they're full and not eat till the next meal.

Answer 15

well, there are people out there that make their children finish all their food because there are other less fortunate kids in the world who hardly even get a full meal a day. but that is no reason to force a child to finishing all their food. my sister tells me one should not force themselves to finishing their meal, if you feel full, then stop eating. of course, you as a mother should be concern more about what your children eat and not how much they eat. make sure they eat healthy food and if they dont finish it all its okay, at least they ate something healthy. hope that helps.