Since my two-and-a-half-year-old girl eats at the nursery with her classmates she eats much more than at home. It is more than likely that the same will happen with your children.
One of the answers to why they eat more when they are with other children has been given by researchers at the University of Michigan who have found that children eat three times more when they are in a group.
The study was conducted on 54 children between two and a half and six and a half years. They were filmed during snack time, first divided into groups of three and then into groups of nine children.
It turned out that the children ate more when they were part of the group of nine, when they were in an environment with more activity and more noise.
This leads to suppose that being in a busy environment children tend to eat more. Seeing others eat, encourages them to eat too.
It also implies that a calm and peaceful environment children control more the amount of food they eat.
It can be a good fact to fight against the widespread childhood obesity. Sitting children to eat in smaller groups can help them feed less compulsively.
Of course, the study confirms that the moment of sitting at a table to eat has a lot to do with the social. Just as it doesn't happen to adults when we meet for dinner with friends, it happens to the little ones at school.
