Clean your plate! Or not?

OK, I swear Lester and I do more than just read NYT parenting articles and discuss them.

(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:

1. I use myself as a barometer, which is wrong I know. I HATE the feeling of being hungry overnight. It has nothing to do with my upbringing - we had plenty of food, believe me. It's just one of those things about my physical make-up. It can wake me up out of a deep sleep if I haven't eaten enough at dinner. So I worry that if the kids don't eat enough, they'll be hungry overnight. I don't worry so much about them waking up - they're great sleepers. I just worry that they'll have that *feeling* - and as a Mom, you never want your children to feel uncomfortable. You certainly don't want them feeling HUNGER. Lord, that's the worst.

2. Especially where Dean is concerned, I know that he doesn't stop eating because he's no longer hungry. He stops eating, then he says he wants yogurt, or fruit or a gummy vitamin. Sometimes, he hasn't even touched the food on his dinner plate, but gets down from the table, and then says, "I'm still hungry!" because he wants yogurt or fruit. I know that yogurt and fruit are healthy snacks, but I feel like the 3-year-old doesn't get to decide what's for dinner.  I feel like he should understand that dinner is dinner, and when he's finished dinner - or at least had some of it - he can have what he really wants.

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?!

How do you all handle this issue? Seriously, I'd really love to hear.