Do you make you children eat their dinner?

[Dandygal1976]

My sister and I will be at complete opposites tomorrow for Christmas dinner. I never make my children finish their meal but she will insist hers do. I have taught my children to start with the veg and go from there but to stop when they are full - I have never made them eat beyond when they say they are finished. What is this obsession with making children finish their food. I have never seen a healthy child starve and surely it is good for them in terns of weight. Perhaps this trend has started from rationing and never stopped?

Pudding stomachs are a legitimate biological phenomenon. I, too, have one!

The Chinese swear they have a 'rice stomach' Apparently no meal is complete and they are never satisfied until they have rice.

Sadly mine is also a pudding stomach

No I would not. However, I dealt with the situation by serving small portions. I often found my children would ask for seconds. Wouldn’t serve a child with food he or she hated (eg sprouts).

There was only one rule when mine were small
If you don't want it, you don't have to eat it
They used to take bets on how long it would be before i said it when they had friends over

I always make sure they ate the protein and veg, and then allowed them to leave the carbs, otherwise they'd fill up on pasta/potatoes and just leave the meat and vitamins. For the girls, who were fussier, I docked one spoonful of pudding for every spoon of dinner left.
However, mine were all beanpoles who wanted to go and run around and play instead of eating, and still are- you know your kids best.

I have never made them eat beyond when they say they are finished.

The problem with that is a lot of kids (especially younger ones) will want to stop the minute the initial hunger has passed, so they'll only feel full for an hour or so and then want to start snacking.

There is a balance to be struck, so I used to encourage them to have a decent go at their meals and then leave what they really can't eat.

No, my DD has been very fussy at times and have never thought it would help. Throwing a bit away is better than a lifetime of unhealthy relationship with food. We do say they have to try everything on their plate but that can be a miniscule amount if that's all they want. Pudding is entirely separate so not a reward for eating the main. If they hardly eat anything we put it in the fridge and that's what they get offered if hungry later though.