Kids and Eating

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2010/04/how-to-get-your-kids-to-eat-anything.html

I really did enjoy this post on by MckMama on getting kids to eat. I know a couple (who is none of you) that strictly adhere to the you must eat all your food and certainly no treat if you don't clean your plate rules. They will, for example, save their child's uneaten green beans and if that kid is starving later, they have to eat the beans or go to bed hungry. I'm not really sure of the true lesson here.  What do you think is the point here?  For me, I have found that it really seems to lead to battles that I don't have the energy to fight. I used to get really irritated with Hailey when she'd leave food on her plate because she was "full" and then say she was hungry later. I changed my way of thinking that maybe her body was really full at that moment and she was ready to stop eating.  And maybe later, because she is a growing kid, she really was hungry.  Then I'd offer her healthy choices for a bedtime snack.  Don't we all wish we had the ability to stop eating when we were full.  I also don't like that fact that when forced to eat to get a dessert or treat, I think that it teaches kids to covet sweets.  It's like you desire what you can't have.  Things that aren't the best for us are a part of life and letting kids know that is just a part the food routine might keep from only going to the bad stuff as they get older.   Does that make sense to anyone?  I also like the choice and don't sweat it concepts MckMama talks about.  Hailey responds pretty good when she gets to pick and I do think that is the path that Jack will go down too.

Now, I don't want anyone to think that I don't require a clean plate from time to time or that we don't have food battles.  We do.  But I mostly think that we have more good days than bad ones.  I'd like your take on my comments and the link above.