Working part-time at a popular family restaurant as a hostess, I have witnessed many toddlers and adolescent children throwing up all over their high chairs after being told to “take just two more bites,” or “finish your veggies” and being pressured—almost forced—to eat past their fill. “Controlling feeding practices, like ‘clean your plate,’ negatively affect food regulation skills as children age,” said nutritionist Maryann Jacobsen.

No one can determine with confidence exactly when and where the household phrase “Clean your plate” began. However, more often than not, people have been urged to clean their plates in their childhood, and in many cases, they will pass on the tradition to their children. In short, clean plates are virtually a kind of a genetic disease.

Indeed, contrary to what preschools teach young children, a clean plate seems to be not so much a “happy plate” but a very real threat to health. The urging and negotiation at the dinner table leaves children unable to recognize their internal signals that tell them whether they are hungry or full. This could lead to a higher chance of obesity, eating disorders, and unhealthy eating habits later on in their lives. Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that adults in their 20s who used intuition or hunger and fullness to decide on the amount of food to eat had a lower body mass index than those who did not and also reported lower instances of disordered eating.

The real problem lies in that although parents nowadays are flooded with research, studies, books, and news articles that warn about how childhood obesity rates are on the rise, they continue to push clean plates on their children. A 2007 study published in Appetite found that 85 percent of parents used praise, pressure tactics, and reasoning to get adolescent children to eat more food. They were successful in 83 percent of such cases. Another study published in Pediatrics in 2013 illuminated that more than 50 percent of parents expect their children to clean their plates. 

Such mindsets and parenting are said by researchers to be putting children’s wellbeing at risk. Instead, researchers recommend that parents provide assistance for children during mealtime or when packing a lunch so that the kids may eat healthy and in moderation instead of encouraging over consumption by pushing clean plates on them. 

Dr.Linda Gilmore, psychologist at Queensland University of Technology, took part in a study on adolescent children’s everyday eating habits and came to the conclusion that those who end up with eating disorders as adults are on a continuous search for control over their body. This search for control may derive from the loss of self-discipline. Taking from Dr. Gilmore’s advice, parents should do their best to refrain from turning mealtime into a feud for control as there is evidence that eating disorders such as anorexia originates from a desire to take control over one’s body.

Sadly, a struggle that ironically derived from parental love could be what planted the seed for future eating disorders. In this case, by making their children eat more than their needs, parents are taking from their children their ability to truly control their eating habits. That is what needs to be stopped.