Q: What size portions do my children need?

A: You don’t want to provide children with too little to meet their needs for growth. On the other hand, servings that are too large tend to overwhelm children, and they may have trouble eating all of them. Serving small portions to young children is often the best way for them to learn to eat only until satisfied, instead of overeating.

Start kids off with less and encourage them to ask for more if they’re still hungry. For each year of age, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends one tablespoon of every food offered at a meal. That means three-year-olds would start with three tablespoons of every food offered, and if they eat it all, they can ask for more.

Don’t make the mistake of scolding children for not finishing all you have served. If you view this as a “waste” of food, serve less instead of forcing them to overeat. Respect your children’s ability to tell when they’ve had enough. But don’t hand out snacks an hour after dinner if they are suddenly hungry because they ate too little at the previous meal. Eventually, they will learn to gauge their own appetites and get most of what they need at regular meals.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 11:17 am and is filed under Ask Marilyn, Children's Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.