How much of main course do your DCs have to eat before they get anything else

[earlycomputers]

Do you insist your kids eat everything on their plate before they get anything else? My kids will eat all their vegetables for instance but may leave a quarter or a 5th of the meal, but then straight afterwards want other (different) food - eg toast/cereal/crackers etc.
Part of me doesn't mind this too much as I probably don't tend to eat every last bit off my plate before having something else afterwards. But then there is the argument that says that they are only leaving food because they know there are other things they could have instead!
How strict should I be? What does everyone else do? Many thanks!

My son is 4 and we generally expect him to eat all of his tea before he gets anything else. However, if I think I've maybe given him too big a portion (or we've had a late lunch or something) I'll maybe let him off the last few mouthfuls, but generally, its eat everything and you can have x, y and z afterwards or leave what you want but you don't get anything else to eat until bfast.

We were having issues with him only wanting to eat a fraction of his tea and then wanting apple, toast, etc, so we came to this solution which he was happy to accept. Initially he did make use of the 'okay, I'll wait until bfast' deal, but he soon once the novelty of being hungry had worn off went back to eating all his tea again :-)

I don't insist on plate being cleared but wouldn't offer another substantial food type like toast or cereal if they didn't eat it unless it was something they hadn't tried before and didn't enjoy.

Our rule is and has always been 'you eat from your plate whatever and how much you want'. However, you only get 2nds of anything if you have cleaned your plate the first time around. You also only get a second yoghurt (plain white yoghurt) if you have finished your plate. After dinner they don't get anything else until breakfst next day. They have always been big eaters (now 6 & 4), and this is working well for us.

they get the pudding I had planned regardless and sometimes go back to their main course after.
I wouldn't offer toast or cereal at all. we also dont do snacks. I guess it is this meal or Nada here. their appetites seem to come and go.

If they are asking for something else, I just reoffend the refused food...

If they eat most of their dinner, including veg, and they haven't whinged, they get pudding. But I do cook a lot of different things and if it's something really fancy or non child friendly then generally they'll have pasta that night. They now will try most things and the rule about not whinging is really helping with manners!