More!!!!!

One of my daughters first words was MORE, and it quickly became one of her favorite words as well. She was a good eater from the start, which I did not take for granted, I knew that was a gift. And I still do and feel fortunate. But I do know the need to teach limits from the start.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes and questioning my sanity at this moment. But one of the biggest problems in our society is knowing limits when it comes to food.
Its not the ice cream chocolate cake desert that makes one overweight, but the double, triple, quadruple serving of it. So its important to start young, because kids from a very early age start to learn that the more the better concept.
So I imposed a rule in my house, I will give my daughter a small serving of something that I know she will ask for more, and then to avoid tentrums and fights, when she does ask for more, I will give her another small serving and say: Now this is it, no more. (One more acabo - famous frase in my household, mix of portuguese with english :)
Since we started using this method from the start it works. You have to stick to it. Never break the rules, kids are driven by predictability.
So if I give her vanilla ice frozen yogurt for desert - her most favorite desert which we have on Sundays - I tell her: One more and you're done. Sometimes she will fight me on that, but since she knows I always stick to my rules, she often gives up in less than 2-3 minutes.
If I think she trully is still hungry or wants something else, I will often offer an alternative. A fruit or something else.
Little by little teaching her to have limits and be able to self control when it comes to food. It is something that requires lots of training... after all, to this day.. if there is a pint of Ben and Jerry's in my freezer I have to exercise my self control not to eat it all at once :)