Don't be wasteful!!

I've been teaching my almost 4 year old about wasting food. He's been doing that lately asking for something to eat and then changing his mind or he asks for something then he only eats one bite out of it. It drives me up the wall. I didn't have a problem with this with my daughter and I was ready to starve my child for a few days so he understood about the importance of food.

My family has the luxury of having food on our table and are able to buy more.  It's not like we're the rest of the world because we can eat whenever we want. It's not like I want to guilt my kids with food but I also want them to understand we are the lucky ones who has food and we should appreciate what we have then just take food for granted like it will always be there.

So instead of starving my child to make my point of not wasting food and not using the line of "Kids in Africa don't have food" like my Parents used to use on me, I decided to go a different approach. You ask for something and you don't get anything else to eat until you finish the food you already have or at least make an honest effort.  It's like teaching him responsibility in the process.

I'm not the one to make the kids eat everything on their plates because that contributes to over eating but at least make an honest effort other than taking one bite of something and changing your mind.  My son has gotten in the habit of asking for something, taking a few bites, saying he's full but then 5 minutes later saying he wants something to eat because he's hungry. It's so wasteful and I really don't want to raise my children like that. Right now, we are blessed to just go out and buy food but we don't know what tomorrow will bring. We really don't know the future. Take care, Peace!!