(Mostly, we say "Holy &#$!" a lot while watching Damages. And wait for the last season of Breaking Bad to come on. And eat too many snacks - though we're trying to do better about that. But I digress.)
But anyway, this particular blog post about why parents should nix the "Clean Your Plate Club" really got me to thinking.
I agree with this writer's sentiment wholeheartedly. I really, really do. But I admit I have a problem. I don't want to be the "eat one bite more"-Mom, but I am and I don't know how to stop it.
Hello, My name is Tanika Davis and I force my children to eat Swiss chard.
Here are a couple reasons why:
The alternative is we either 1) Let him decide what he is or isn't going to eat for dinner, which we all know will mean Cary will want to pick and choose what he wants, too, and so we'll descend into a free-for-all, you-pick-whatever-you-want-and-Mommy-will-serve it buffet going on or 2) Tell him he doesn't have to eat dinner, but he can't have yogurt or fruit either, which means he will have eaten nothing between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7:30 a.m.
See reason No. 1 for why this kills me!
3. I'm not there for so much of the day. At breakfast they eat oatmeal. At snack, they eat a lot of fruit and cheese and yogurt and crackers (unless they're in summer camp, where they get chocolate pudding for snack. ugh!) When I'm there with them at dinner, I want to witness them eating ONE DARN VEGETABLE. JUST ONE! IS THAT SO WRONG?!
5 comments:
100% agree with the author!! America has an obesity problem and an oversize plate problem, wouldn't it safely reason that the two may be related? I have always assured myself that children (even babies) instinctively know how to respond to hunger cues, until parents intervene. When Antony was a baby and stopped eating, we stopped, even if he didn't eat as much as I would like. Now, as a "pre-schooler", if he says he isn't hungry, that's quite alright. I inform him that he will not get anything else to eat until either snack time (only twice a day) or the next meal time, even if that means he won't eat until the next morning. There have been times where he has genuinely not been hungry and has not eaten dinner and he has survived!(too much so, he won't stop growing like a weed)I know your worries are common to many parents. Nobody wants their child to be hungry but the chance of that is scarce. We also never use food as a reward for eating his meal. Also, we don't feed him "kid's food". He eats what we eat; real food doesn't come in fun shapes or crazy colors. I realize I may sound extreme but I promise it's not. I know you want to see them eat but I would think of it more like this: when it is dinner time, it is dinner time. If you don't want to eat, that's fine but you are not leaving the table until dinner time is over. You can sit and watch the rest of us enjoy our delicious meal. But overall, just encourage them to eat healthy options whenever they do eat and I am sure that they will be great!
I don't have kids, but I do know that as an adult it's taken me a lot of effort to learn to let me body and not my plate decide when I am done eating. As someone raised in a family where you didn't leave the table until every last morsel was gone, I was wired to eat everything on my plate, regardless of portion size. That said, I do think you're doing your kids a favor in the long run by making them eat veggies. And to me, that's different than insisting they clean their plate...
I struggle with this, too, and my. Husband and I don't agree. I try to give smaller portion sizes and tell them to eat until they are full. If they don't finish their meal, especially at dinner time, I let them leave their plates on the table. My 3 year old always says she's hungry when it's bed time and she is welcome to go finish her dinner. At dinner they are expected to eat what I cook and they are not allowed additional food after dinner unless they ate all of their meal.
I get what you're saying. Especially about kids deciding they don't want what you've prepared, so they're just going to say they're not hungry and ask for more later.
I remember reading a blog post a while back about a woman who, along with her husband and two picky-eating children, was quarantined in China for 2 weeks. Her picky eaters ate snails, veggies and all sorts of stuff during that two weeks. Why? Because the Chinese brought in food three times a day, and if you didn't eat it while it was there, there were no snacks later. You had one bite at the apple, so to speak.
And, while the nutritionist is right that you shouldn't force kids to eat, I'm of the belief that you shouldn't coddle them either. It's OK to be quarantine China. Food comes when it comes and if you don't eat it, you'll be hungry later. It's not a punishment; it's just how it is.
I do have one weakness about cleaning your plate. Often times, I put the kids' food on their plate. I set the serving size, so I don't care if they eat it all. But, I feel very irritated if they put a bunch of food on their plate and don't eat it. I tell them it's fine to go back for seconds, but I can't stand them being wasteful (at least on a first helping). So, if they get themselves a bunch of food and don't eat it, I will chastise them about putting too much on their plate, and tell them to get a smaller portion and come back for seconds.
I don't make my kids clean their plates. I'm not an expert on portion sizes, and sometimes growing kids are hungrier than other times. Now, if they get down from the table and claim they are hungry an hour later, they must eat the rest of their dinner before choosing what else they want. We leave it out for them and don't clean up until they are in bed.
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