I became increasingly curious about the way people's feelings and interactions with each other impinged on their ability to manage their eating. Emotions and food seemed so intertwined that unless I looked at all the factors, I couldn't be helpful to people. Satter decided to move into psychological and social counseling, with a specialty in eating problems and disorders. Children need to be trusted, not controlled or forced. If they're not overmanaged, children will eat instinctively in a way that's right for them, using their internal cues of hunger, appetite and sense of fullness.
Children are responsible for how much and even whether they eat.
This is the core of her message. Parents plan the shopping list and menu and decide what food will be in the house. They determine the structure of meals and snacks-what foods to prepare, when they will be served and where. The child can then choose from the variety of food put on the table and decide how much of it to eat. Children don't eat some of everything like adults.