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It's really important to think about the messages that we give to our children about food. Quite
often food is used as a reward or a treat. how many times have you heard a mum, I myself
guilty of this have been feeding a toddler saying come on, one more, be a good girl,
come on, one more for mummy. Very early on the message we're giving to our children is
'don't listen to your tummy, even if you're full, you need to have another mouthful for
mummy to be a good girl'. That really is a powerful message to give to a child. you know,
genuinely, children know when they're hungry and when they're full and when they're full,
naturally they will stop but you know, think about now, how many women have I had in my
groups who are 40 but they still clean their plate because mummy told them and daddy told
them that they were a good girl if they cleared their plate. How many people out there have
been told at some point in their life if you're a good girl and you clean your plate then
there's something nice for pudding. The unsaid messages is, if you don't clean your plate,
you're not a good girl. Again that's a very powerful message that we're giving to our
children. Another thing that happens with our children is that people use food in order
to keep them quiet. Often you'll be walking down a high street and you'll see a toddler
in a buggy, having a packet of crisps or something so mummy's keeping them quiet so they can
busily get on with their shopping and not be bothered by the child moaning or whatever.
This is a very powerful thing to do. You know, to keep children quiet with food, this really
can have an impact. I try with my children to explain to them that there's body food
that you need for your body and there's tongue food that's really nice to your tongue and
it's ok to have a bit of tongue food, so long as you've had enough body food. And when you've
had enough to eat you need to listen to your tummy. Stop when you have had enough and have
a good think about whether you need anymore. But my daughter who is 6, she comes home from
school with a little sticker saying I've cleaned my plate award. She gets a sticker for being
a good girl for eating all her dinner. Actually that's everything that i don't want her to
do. I want her to be able to stop when she's full. How many of you out there are still
cleaning your plate at 40?