I hear you but, IMO, the vast majority of children eat when they are hungry... They do seem lose that ability when adults force them to eat and not eat at arbitrary times... hence obesity and eating disorders. If a kid has an eating challenge then that can be addressed in a 504 or iep or just talking with the school... But, most children should be left alone and be the judge of whether their bodies need more or less food... My friends who are from Europe are shocked at the amount of 'force feeding' of children Americans do... and they are right, imo. All of them shake their heads and say "no wonder America has an obesity problem."
And anecdotally, it carries on into adulthood. I've regularly had lunches with coworkers who complain about their weight, and when we talk about causes, they universally point back to "clean your plate" conditioning in childhood. These conversations would take place in restaurants, and I'd be the only one pushing away my plate with food still on it, and not coincidentally, the only one at a healthy weight. Restaurants regularly overfeed people, because each big-eating customer they send away hungry, they won't see again... or the groups that would have dined with them.
