For parents of young children

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:53 am

Since there are lots of parents of babies and young children around I thought I would pass along this feature from the NY Times. Not that any of you would use the clean plate strategies from a food insecure time, but it's something to think about at daycares, camp and even school. I remember my principal walking around checking our lunches to make sure we ate enough. I got in trouble for not eating the crusts.

Saying Good Riddance to the Clean Plate Club

Dear Camp Counselor,

Thanks for making camp a fun experience for my daughter. When it comes to her lunch and snack, please allow her to decide when she is done eating and to eat her food in any order she likes. Thanks!

This is the note I include in my 6-year-old daughterâ€™s lunch box when she spends the day at summer camp. I know from experience that she is often asked to eat more than she wants, or is instructed to eat her â€œhealthy foods firstâ€ when others supervise her eating.

As a family nutrition expert, I donâ€™t make my children eat more when they say they are done, and there is no order in which they must eat their food. But when I go to birthday parties and observe other families in restaurants, I can see I am in the minority. Continue reading

clarinetgal · Post by **clarinetgal** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:18 am

Good article! I am glad I don't force my 1 and 5 year old boys to clean their plates. I have also never forced them to eat any foods. My older son's eating has evolved to where he is consistently getting plenty of protein now (this wasn't always the case), and he will sometimes eat fruit! However, I will confess, that I have sometimes used bribery to get him to eat fruit. He rarely eats vegetables, but I'm hoping that will change over time. My 1 year old is picky, but he will at least eat fresh fruit, peas, and sweet potatoes.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:59 am

It reminds me some of the advice from French Kids Eat Everything: Adults decide what and when children eat; children decide whether and how much (after one bite of what is being served).

When my kids were little they didn't have to clean their plates to have dessert. At some point I realized that I wouldn't make an adult clean their plates before serving dessert, so why would I do that to my children?

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:10 pm

Ellyn Satter, a specialist in feeding children, says the same thing about adults offering what and when.

People often cite a study that found that very young children ate an adequate diet when given a variety of foods to choose from on their own. What they neglect to say is that there were no junk/snack foods offered.

lpearlmom · Post by **lpearlmom** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 10:11 pm

Yep completely agree! I've raised my kids the ellyn satter way from the bet go. I love her books & my kids eat a great variety of foods. My daughter begs for broccoli & cod (as well as cookies & chocolate) when we go shopping. They both have great attitudes towards food & their bodies.

Rea · Post by **Rea** » Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:35 pm

I try to steer my kids towards more of a 'no S' style eating. If they ask for a snack, yea they get one, but usually I try to keep them so busy they don't think of it and neither do I.
At dinner I give them some of everything but if they want to desert they know they have to eat their vegetables. My son used to be a very picky eater and I put my foot down when he was over 3 and started offering him stickers everytime he licked something on his plate. Then if he would take bites of it, he'd get stickers. Then if he ate a 'good amount' he would get a treat.
Now he eats basically everything, except for some foods he genuinely does not like (he can have alternatives for those) and if we have something new, reminders that desserts are contingent is usually enough to get him to try it and eat it.
I don't make them clear their plates, but seriously, if they are hardly snacking through out the day, they will be hungry for whatever meal is up next. One thing I hate about the US is that kid things always have food everywhere. If we go to play dates, which usually start at 10am, we eat breakfast before we go. We eat lunch when we get home. They serve a snack! They don't need a snack! They can last the 3 hours between breakfast and lunch just fine.
Gaah.
Anyway, no I don't make them clean their plates, but if they haven't been snacking all day, they usually eat most of the food on their plates.