She can't believe this will work. You are right to let your children serve themselves, says Laurel Branen, University of Idaho associate professor of family and consumer sciences. Children are born knowing when they are hungry and when they are full. Your responsibility as a parent is to decide which foods are brought into the house and which ones are served at each meal. Branen recommends that you offer your children a variety of foods, both familiar and new.
Many young children dislike vegetables.
In addition, their noses are often closer to their plates. Nevertheless, parents should continue offering a variety of vegetables and encouraging their children to try them. We rarely learn to like a food by being forced to eat it. That makes children think of dessert as being special.