Do you think that parents forcing children to finish what is on their plate is a cause of child obesity?

i think there are many causes. i heard a good question that reminds me of this.’should mothers who overfeed their child to obesity be charged with child abuse?’ but i think that what you said could be a cause if parents make the portions of food to big because then the child thinksthat they are having one serving an unknowingly overeating. and thats what te child learns.

well depends what the meal is and how much is on the plate, if its a bunch of unhealthy food and the children get a lot of unhealthy snacks then yes, because they get used to eating the ‘junk food’ lifestyle and get used to/favor eating unhealthy foods. if its something children need to eat in order to function right and everything then no; such as some dinners can have unhealthy foods, they get healthy snacks or a mix of healthy and some unhealthy foods on they’re plate then i don’t really see anything that wrong with it as long as the child’s eating habits are right and they don’t reach the point of obesity.

As said by Brendan, parents are the ones that are to set guidelines and teach the child about healty eating as well as not wasting food. The term “finish what’s on your plate” usually refers to foods that children aren’t so pleased to eat - such as veggies, therefore having that saying be told upon them. Unless the parents are giving them over sized portions of food and constantly feeding them things from a box/frozen dinners, then no, it wouldn’t be a leading cause of child obesity.

Nope. I think that

• fatty, sugary fast food,
• sweets and
• sugary lemonades along with a
• lack of sports activity,
• the urge to keep kids safe inside instead of allowing them to roam freely about the neighborhood and
• entertainment electronics that kids spend half their life in front of, because they are bored

are the prime reasons for child obesity.

“Finish you plate” is not good. (It should be “Stop, take only one spoonful on your plate. As soon as you ate that you can have more!”) but it’s not a prime reason for child obesity.

I read that dumb quote… It goes: “Back then, old people told us to finish our plate or the sun won’t shine. Now we have fat kids and climate warming!” It may be funny, but it isn’t true.

no because usually the veggies are whats left on the plate

NO, parents should teach their children to not waste food and finish whats on their plate. my parents let me serve food myself and i had to finish it. obesity i think is caused bt unhealthy eating and some health problems and not learning to respect food.

Not unless there are a bunch of greasy burgers on that plate

Sometimes. I mean some mothers can be food pushers, because they just love their children so much, and it can get out hand. But some children are obsinate and will leave their vegetables and say they are full, I think then it is acceptable to make them finish their food. But I think you would just have to go off what they say. My mother used to push food onto me because she thought I wwas too skinny, yet i was just full.

No, but parents should enforce eating good foods and they shouldn’t enforce eating unhealthy ones.

I don’t think its the main cause, thats for sure. I think its kinda abusive though. If the child is stuffed full, then the child shouldn’t have to eat everything on their plate, I think thats wrong. This could teach the child that you always should eat as much as you can, which isn’t a good lesson. You are supposed to eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed full. However, If the child picks out what to not eat every single time, such as not eating they’re veggies or fruit, than I think its in the parents responsibility to have them eat that.