Kids and food. Letting them help themselves?

[Hmmmmm]

My kids never had to ask for snacks for themselves at home.  Occasionally, i might see them reaching for a bag of chips and ask him to wait until dinner.  If they were entertaining guests, they would ask what they could offer their guests if we were around but if we weren't they knew what was appropriate to offer.

As guests they were taught to not ask for snacks unless offered.

I do have friends who required their kids ask permission before eating any snack because they wanted to more closely monitor their kids food intake.  Some times it was because of dietary restrictions but lots of times it was because if sweets or snacks were around their kids would fill up on them and not eat at meals.  I understand their desire to still have treats in the house while teaching their kids some self control by giving out a portion or redirecting to something more healthy to take the hunger edge off without spoiling dinner time.  I also had a friend who's daughter showed early signs of being a boredom eater so requiring her to ask for snacks helped combat that problem.

[Bookgirl]

DD is 11.  She fixes herself after school snacks without asking, although she will call if she wants something that requires cooking.  Most other times she asks.  DS is 5 and he asked most of the time as well.  It's not really a rule that we've enforced, just something they do.  The only times they get told no is when I'm within 15 minutes of putting the meal on the table, or they wait until bedtime to ask.

Ah, the snack to delay bedtime move.  My kids know that one well 

My kids both ask but it's never really something we required, they just did it naturally.  For a short period, they both started just grabbing things at Granny's house but we all put a stop to that.  They have a drawer in the fridge for their snacks and they can grab things out of there but they usually ask first.