“Clean your plate! There are starving kids in this world!”
March 4, 2008 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
So… did your mom or dad say that? Perhaps a grandparent or an aunt? Did it bug you, annoy you, anger you?
We parents say so many things without thinking.
Even though my son is very young, I worry that if I make a big deal out of the itsy-bitsy amount he ate for dinner, he’ll spiral out of control when he’s a teen as a direct result of my maternal nagging.
For the moms and dads who read this blog, I’m wondering how worried you are about the manner in which you address the issue of food and eating in your household.
Do you carefully consider what you say when discussing how “clean” a plate is? Or do you simply let it go and move on to the next meal? Is food a way for you to show love? Or is it a way for you to control a situation?
I’m not judging anyone here, by the way… just asking out of curiosity. For me, a meal is a labor of love, and I suppose it does hurt me in some way when I hear the words, “Yuck.” Ouch. But I know my little guy is rejecting the spinach and not me. (At least that’s what I hope!)
I’m a really picky eater! So much so that up until I went to grade school, literally everything had to come out of the happy meal box from McDonald’s. It was the only way I’d eat it. No vegetables ever. Not for the longest time…I mean the only ones I’d rarely consume were raw carrots and broccili. And it was a CONSTANT battle. Especially since my mother wasn’t a good cook and only had a few things she could make that were edible. My father didn’t care about my pickiness and so I’d sit at the table for hours on end before I was sent to bed having not eaten a thing. My mom did what she did out of love. She wanted me to eat so she’d put hot dogs in the McDonald’s box and indulged me. Or maybe she grew weary of the fight. My dad was all about the control. There was food and I would eat it. All. Except I wouldn’t…
I’m much better now. I’ve added lettuce to my list of veggies. I started eating tomato sauce in college. And I just love spicy hummus. But I think that really stemmed from me WANTING to try new things and not being forced to eat brussel sprouts because there were kids out there starving. So I’m not a member of the clean plate club…but I still ended up with an ED. I think it makes sense too…seeing my parents differing approaches to dealing with my eating habits. Now I don’t force anything on my nephew. I’ll encourage him to try something but I’ll also give him options.
Erin:
I’ve heard of other kids being given food in McDonald’s boxes just so they’ll eat what’s inside. That’s fascinating!
I agree with you about not forcing food, though. It seems whenever you’re forced to eat, you become obsessed with it, as if it’s some kind of a magical thing.
Well, we are one of those families where a kid has to clean up his plate.
For this very reason we put as little food on their plates as possible. The rule is: as long as you ask for more, there’s more.
And if you are old enough to serve yourself, you have to eat that up. And again: I don’t mind if you help yourself 10 times. But no leftover on plates.