Tonight is NYE and my husband and I went for a meal. The table next to us was a mum dad and about a 4 yr old girl. She had a large plate (children's portion but still big) of nuggets and chips. There must have been at least 10 nuggets and a fair portion of chips. He had heartily eaten around half of each when I heard her mum say 'come on I want it finished or no pudding'. It's exactly the sort of thing I would have said to both of my children. It's only now I realise how we push them to eat far more than they actually need. Maybe parents need lessons on how much a child requires for nutrients!

It wasn't until I started this process that I even realized I'd try and make my kids eat "just a few more bites..."

I did a lot of reading and the basic principle is that no child ever starved themselves...if they are hungry they will eat.

I've also stopped even offering "dessert."

My kids get a treat occasionally at random times during the day...but I don't ever want them to associate eating meals with a sugary reward after!