Knowing when to stop is one of my weakest abilities when it comes to snack food. I avoid the problem by rarely eating any form of chips, Corn Nuts, or cookies because I know I’ll want to finish the whole package. Thankfully, Stephen seems to take after Marv and is able to feel satiated without gorging.

Every day, Stephen gets a limited amount of gummy candy as a reward for using the potty. He rarely asks for more than his allotment. The same goes for chocolate covered stick cookies or any other junk food. He eats some (sometimes more than I’d like) but usually stops himself before he consumes everything.

Researchers have found that just like adults, kids usually stop eating not because of self-control but because they’ve eaten it all. (Medical News Today, June 16, 2005)

Contrary to what many people believe, preschool children do not adjust how much they eat in response to how much they ate at their last meal or in the past 24 hours or how calorie-rich their meal is. By far, the most powerful predictor for how much children eat is how much food is put on their plate, concludes a new study by Cornell University researchers.

“We examined all the predictors we could of how much a child eats at a meal,” said David Levitsky, professor of nutritional sciences and of psychology at Cornell. “We found that portion size is, by far, the most important factor in predicting how much a child will eat. These findings suggest that both the onus of controlling children’s weight — both in causing overweight in children as well as in its prevention — must rest squarely in the hands of parents and other caregivers.”

Generally speaking, I don’t have a problem with Stephen eating too much. More often than not, he eats very little at any one sitting. But I think I may be overcompensating for his smaller appetite by allowing him to eat more snacks, some of them not quite as healthy as I would like.

Time to review what I learned from Ellyn Satter’s Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense and re-evaluate my strategy.