I frequently offer food in the same way you do. I'm confident that ds doesn't feel like, "Well, it's being offered, so I might as well eat it," because he often refuses the food or eats some and then stops when he's full. Even when he's offered something that he doesn't get very often and that he obviously loves, like ice cream, he feels no need to finish the amount that's available.
Like you said, they're busy little people, and eating just can't compare to all the things they have to do. I think as long as we're really just offering it and reminding them that it's there, and not getting into elaborate games and cajoling to get them to eat, it's a pretty innocuous thing to do. Of course, like I said, my ds doesn't seem to be losing his ability to really "feel" his hunger and eat accordingly. If you saw signs that it was working otherwise in your house, then I'd probably reconsider.
(This just occurred to me: Our current microwave beeps every minute after it's finished cooking something, for up to five minutes afterwards, until you come over and open the door to remove the food. It's to remind you that you have something in there, kind of like your reminders to your ds. With our previous microwave, it wasn't uncommon that I'd stick something in there, then get involved in something, and forget that my lunch was sitting in the microwave for an hour or so. I probably could have used someone reminding me, "Hey, there's food over here, whenever you want to eat it!"
![]()
)
Like you said, they're busy little people, and eating just can't compare to all the things they have to do. I think as long as we're really just offering it and reminding them that it's there, and not getting into elaborate games and cajoling to get them to eat, it's a pretty innocuous thing to do. Of course, like I said, my ds doesn't seem to be losing his ability to really "feel" his hunger and eat accordingly. If you saw signs that it was working otherwise in your house, then I'd probably reconsider.
(This just occurred to me: Our current microwave beeps every minute after it's finished cooking something, for up to five minutes afterwards, until you come over and open the door to remove the food. It's to remind you that you have something in there, kind of like your reminders to your ds. With our previous microwave, it wasn't uncommon that I'd stick something in there, then get involved in something, and forget that my lunch was sitting in the microwave for an hour or so. I probably could have used someone reminding me, "Hey, there's food over here, whenever you want to eat it!"
