Teaching children not to waste food without turning dinner into a lecture

When a child leaves half a loaf, hold the lecture

Two bites and it is put down. You see the waste and it slips out: “Finish it, it's such a shame.” The child goes quiet and the table goes flat. Almost every household has this scene. The problem is rarely laziness or carelessness — usually the portion was more than the child wanted at that moment, or they had eaten something not long before, or the dish is simply unfamiliar. A reminder solves none of that. It only makes the meal heavier.

Why reminding makes children eat less

A child hears a reminder as pressure, not as a lesson. Made to finish the plate, they learn something else entirely: that meals are where you satisfy an adult, rather than where you eat until you have had enough. Over time they either eat perfunctorily to get it over with, or avoid meals where an adult will be watching.

The teaching that works is in what you do and what you set up, not in what you say while they are holding their chopsticks.

Three things to do at tonight's meal

There is no need to wait until they are older. All three can start at dinner tonight, without one word about waste.

Serve a portion that fits, rather than piling one plate

A heaped plate is daunting and gets abandoned halfway. Serve a small amount and top it up, rather than filling it and then having to press them to finish. The same applies to food bought ready: a Bơ Đường at 28,000d is the right size for a small child's breakfast, and there is no need to start cutting up a Thượng Hạng Premium at 75,000d, which is built for an adult appetite.

Let them serve themselves and decide when they are full

A child who serves themselves and eats at their own pace learns where their own fullness is. When an adult serves for them and presses them to eat, they lose the ability to read that, and end up eating to instruction rather than to appetite.

Keep what is left for later instead of binning it

Half a loaf your child did not finish: wrap it, put it in the fridge, and bring it out when they are hungry in the afternoon. Keeping it rather than throwing it away is something they see every day, and it becomes habit without anybody explaining it.

• Serve small and top up, rather than serving the whole meal at once
• Let them choose what to eat and what to leave, within what is on the table that day
• Keep usable leftovers rather than binning them in front of the child
• Do not compare them with “children elsewhere who have nothing to eat”

When things get dropped and spilled

Small children have clumsy hands; rice gets dropped and water gets knocked over. If every incident brings a telling-off, they tense up at the table — and a tense child eats less, eats fast, and leaves food. Clear it up together and treat it as a small job, not a fault to be remembered.

Eating out as a family

In a restaurant, adults tend to order generously to be safe; the child cannot finish it, and the reminder comes out again. The gentler approach is to order what the child can actually finish and add more if needed. Two adults can share one Jasmine Lemon Tea at 36,000d, and the child has a portion sized for them — half a Chả Lát Chay at 53,000d, or a whole Bơ Đường at 28,000d. Nobody has to remind anybody, because the portion was right from the start.

Ordering the right size for each person

In a full household, with different tastes and different appetites, ordering in is easier to size correctly than sitting down together in a restaurant. Banh Mi XANH has five shops in Ho Chi Minh City: 38 Lê Thị Riêng, 15B Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, 2B Trần Hưng Đạo and 148B Đề Thám in District 1, and 210 Bùi Văn Ba in District 7, open 24 hours, with free delivery on orders from 500,000d within 5km. Call 0923.183.183 and order a size for each person — a larger one for the adults, a small one the child will finish — rather than dividing one big loaf and throwing away the rest.

Quick questions

Is there a small loaf suitable for a child?

Yes — Bơ Đường at 28,000d is a small portion, right for a child's breakfast with nothing to cut off. For a bigger appetite, take a Chả Lát Chay at 53,000d and halve it.

Is delivery charged?

Orders from 500,000d within 5km are delivered free. Smaller or more distant orders are charged by the actual distance, and the staff will tell you before it goes out.

Can a small child finish a Thượng Hạng Premium?

It is 75,000d and larger than the standard loaf, usually for an adult or for two people sharing. For a small child, halve it or choose a Bơ Đường or Chả Lát Chay instead.

Are you open at night for a late family meal?

All five shops are open 24 hours, so you can order at any time of day or night.

How do I order different items for different people at once?

Call 0923.183.183 and say what each person is having — a Thượng Hạng Premium for dad, a Chả Lát Chay for mum, a Bơ Đường for the child. The staff will note it down and deliver exactly that.