One reason is that adults frequently eat for the wrong reasons. All too often we eat for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. It is therefore little wonder that many parents pass along mixed signals about eating to their children. We have to remember that children are just like any other living creatures. They eat when they are hungry, and they are hungry when they are growing.
Parents become accustomed to their child's great appetite, but then the growth rate abruptly slows.
Between 1 and 5 years of age most children normally gain only 2 to 3 pounds per year. Because they're not growing as fast, they need fewer calories. The aim is to let their natural appetite come to the surface and not to make the child eat when they are not hungry. The idea that children will eat what they need was confirmed in a recent study by Dr. Steven Shea from Columbia University. But what Dr. Shea found was that the children made up what they missed with an extra load of calories at another meal, regulating themselves from day to day.