The Clean Plate Club!  it plagues me well into my forties.  I can not leave food on my plate, no way, no how.

I don't have kids but I have a husband who has this horrible habit of leaving a big pool of ketchup on his plate.  It is so silly--about a nickel's worth of ketchup he points out-- but it drives me crazy.

So go easy on your kids so they don't turn into the ketchup police.

Yes!  I always finish my plate!  Then my kids plate.  I feel I need to as I was brought up not to waste food.  This is a terrible habit.  And terrible for the waist line!

I do not force this habit onto my kids.  They eat till full and they are done.  They are very good eaters so there is no need to ask them to finish thier plate.

Thanks for your comments C.C. and Angie@Healthy Living. I also had a life-long membership in the clean plate club :). Also, after doing some research in food parenting I discovered that many parents make the same mistakes when feeding their kids because they were raised this way themselves… Old habits are hard to break. I am so happy for your kids, Angie, who do not have to polish their plates at mealtimes. I feel like our kids are growing in a different environment and we need other strategies to teach them balanced eating habits instead of what our parents used with us.

I totally got this going too! It takes a spiritual epiphany on the daily to NOT do this, but it is so worth it to listen to my body!. This is also part of the work I also do with my health coaching clients.

I was always told to clean my plate at home and I'm not sure but I think it has made me more likely to overeat as I've grown up too.

Being a parent seems such a scary thing to do.... :-S

Sarah

http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks again to everyone who replied, you confirmed my thoughts on how many of us belong to the same club. My job as a parent scares me too, Sarah :). I think that cleaning our plate regardless of how hungry or full you are means a disconnect from your body hunger-satiety mechanism. Some studies show that kids before age of 5 are better attuned to it and are able to self-regulate, but then they lose this ability because of the external factors (portion size, parental pressure). A sad picture… I just put together this post on different techniques used by parents when feeding their kids and their effect on child's diet, weight, and even probability of developing eating disorders later in life. Please have a look and help spread the word if you like it, I feel that many (future) parents will benefit from it tremendously.

http://tribecanutrition.com/2012/06/your-food-parenting-style-matters/

I remember having to eat everything on the plate.  One time, as I was still sitting there long after everyone had left, I tried to scrape it into the trash and got busted!

My kids?  I ask them to take at least 1 bite of each thing on thieir plate, but if they leave food, I'm okay with it.  I want them to know their limits and not stuff themselves or eat when they aren't hungry.

It wasn't necessarily my parents, it was my grandparents who really enforced it and still do. I always try and clean my plate, but I am not as strict about it.

OneMommy, what a common situation! So many of us were punished in some ways for not finishing what's on the plate… and now we are paying the price. It is great that you are not using this techniques with your own kids - we have a very narrow window to help them preserve their self-regulation mechanism for the rest of their life. Many families find that when kids are serving food to themselves, they do better both with trying new foods and regulating their intake. I wonder what you would think of this post on division of responsibility, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Amber, cleaning the plate was on almost every parent's and grandparent's agenda of raising a child. The food environment is turned upside down now, with highly palatable foods within a reach for 24/7 and listening to our bodies is much more important than wasting a couple of tablespoons of mashed potatoes. Knowing what a portion size is may be helpful so we do not serve ourselves too much in the first place. Here is a great visual guide to serving sizes.