My kids have to ask for food - though there is not much opportunity where they need to. We eat at set times during the day and food is not generally available outside of those times for a couple of reasons - I don't want to be cleaning up food all day long. We eat together at set times (morning tea and afternoon tea included) and then I only have to clean up once but if I let them have food constantly, I would do nothing else with my day but clean up food. Also, nutritionists say that it is good to get their body clocks operating on set eating times and creating a pattern of grazing isn't so good for them. So at those times, food is not available even if they ask.

Every morning, I make the kids' morning teas, lunch and afternoon teas and put them in the fridge. At food times (10am in the morning and 3.30pm in the afternoon - straight after Playschool, lunch is at 12 but I usually have to tell them when), they don't have to ask, they just go to the fridge and get out their food container and drinks. If I am feeding or trying to rock my baby to sleep, it means they can organise themselves and don't have to ask me. Generally though, they don't have anything else besides what I pack up for them.

I guess they don't just help themselves to anything in the fridge or cupboard. When they get older and don't make so much mess and are able to clean up after themselves, I don't imagine that they will have to ask for food but I will also probably have foods that they know they can help themselves to (like fruit, yoghurt, cheese, crackers etc) and that they need to ask for anything else. I would probably make it conditional that they clean up after themselves though.