What rules do you have about eating?

[emkana]

When it comes to food/eating I'm a bit of a horrible Mummy cow, I'm afraid .
I never ask my children what they want for lunch/dinner, I just make something, and I never offer an alternative. I insist on the majority being eaten, in particular the green/healthy stuff, ie the veg/salad, but I also encourage to eat the majority of the rest. There is no pudding if they haven't eaten well. And I shamelessly blackmail them by only offering treats/puddings if they eat well.
The children go along with it and seem okay with it, but am I harming them with this "hardline" approach? Or is it not that bad after all?

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mine are simple - you must eat something from every food group every day, and we aim for 5 X fruit and veg.

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They always have a choice, eat it or leave it! No pudding unless a 'reasonable' about of main has been eaten. Always ask for snacks between meals, mostly fruit, sometimes biscuits.

Get what your given, like it or lump it.

You can have what's on your plate or eat the remnants of the baby's bib...

Children are what they eat, so if they eat healthy food they will in turn have the best possible chance of being healthy. If it takes a bit of bribery then so be it..
The kids next door eat complete rubbish, crisps and pop for dinner etc and always seem to be sniffing!

Meals at table- I didnt spend a small fortune on that lump of wood for nothing

Ask before snacks

No eating in the car- even if you're dying -ever! (Dh's rule)

Pudding always follows a main and we don't impose any punishments based on what is or isnt eaten, BUT snacks (except fruit) have to be earned by good behaviour

Just cos Daddy loves pot noodles- NEVER think they are food, they are the devil's reward for ruining your taste buds on too much scrumpy in your teens [wink}

Do you think children might develop an eating disorder if they are encouraged to eat and then rewarded with a pudding for eating well? (I've been accused of that.)

Supposedly, rewards should never be linked with food, and troubles should be kept from table as much as possible, so children dont grow up associating stress with eating habits. It makes sense to me, so i follow that rule religiously.

I should note that a pudding in our house is as liely to be fruit / low fat yoghurt as anything else. I am also wary about the idea of certain foods as comfort foods, or good / bad foods. I have my reasons for my concerns, but I certainly think we all want to protect our kids from the way dieting runs peoples lives these days? Or the scary facts about malnutrition in middle class kids?

I do admit to treating Saturday pizza night in front of Dr Who as a treat, when I know I shouldnt.

Emkana - I've heard that before as well, that praising empty plates is bad. But I really can't see the harm in it.

We have similarly strict rules to everyone else who's posted so far:
Eat at the table
Snacks are rare (and provided by parents not self-service) - they're 5 and 7 btw
They have 'puddings' at every meal - yoghurt, fruit, and 'something else'! But if they haven't eaten well they don't get it.
They always have 5 a day, plenty of calcium, balanced diet, etc.

We do allow for some tastes though. The boys are not fussy, but they do each have some things they consistently dislike, so we work around those.

There was a piece in the media recently about how encouraging children to eat their dinner before they can have pud or limiting crisps, & so forth, can lead to eating disorders. Sad hpow parents seemt o be int eh wrong whatever they do.

I'm in the like-it-or-lump-it brigade, btw!

blimey, you lot are strict.

Mine are a bit young for rules yet, although dd often gets told she'll only get a yoghurt if she eats x more spoonfuls.

I don't see how pudding as reward for good eating would encourage eating disorders - as long as you're not force feeding or telling them that pudding is naughty that is.

I think the eating disorder thing is kinda along the lines of food shouldnt be associated with any emotional issues- not a reward, not something you have to do to 'earn' something.
I guess in most peoples cases it is probably fine, I freely (well OK, I am uncomfortable about it) admit to having quite bad food issues as a teenager myself, I have a close friend whow eighs 5 stone through bullemia and my MIL has never weighed above 6 stone due to OCD, so I am aware that theya re exposed to enough negatives that I have to work on it. Esp. MIL- I can avoid / limit contact with friend and usually do, but MIL is harder.