So here we are, trying to teach her the difference between actually being hungry and just wanting to eat some (insert snack here), and to encourage her to eat enough so she doesn't immediately get hungry again while also trying really hard not to do the arbitrary "you have to eat all of it" thing.

Mine are continually starving and it's anyone's guess whether they'll eat at mealtimes. I just try to make sure they have healthy stuff available when they decide they want to cram food in my littlest has eaten like eight apples in three days and I'm just glad they're apples and make them at least sit down and try dinner. (Ages 7 and 4, ftr.)

Yeah, that's what we're trying to do, to an extent

Make sure we have healthy stuff around and limit their intake of, say, cheezits

ah yes, the snackuum stage.

(pronounced like vacuum, because of course it is)

Ah, children

I open up a protein bar and sometimes I end up with all three nephews in front of me lol

ohh mine went through an insistent cheez-it stage

we honestly just let them because they eat a pretty good range of nutrients in general and if they wanted to eat nothing but cheez its in the afternoons but were still eating a vegetable with reasonable frequency, eh.

Yeah, the thing is that kiddo is also stuck in the mindset where anything we serve to her that isn't on a preapproved list of about two or three things (which are, of course, among the least healthy things we serve) is Going To Be Terrible (TM) and she actively tries to get away with eating the smallest possible amount of it.

And there's maybe a grand total of two vegetables she's willing to eat, which she doesn't seek out on her own.

we are... working on trying to open up that list, but it's Rough

Oh boy that's rough

My nephews are really picky, so my mom tries to kinda gamify meals when they're babysitting?

Like "I'm Turkey Grandma! You'd better not eat me!" "/CHOMP" "Oh no! Help! He's eating me!"

Or "It's Kid Logan versus Kid Apple! Who will win this fight??" "I'm gonna win!!"

Kids Eat In Color has a lot of fantastic ideas for getting kids to have a healthy relationship with food

strongly recommend