"Are you done?" Child care providers' verbal communication at mealtimes that reinforce or hinder children's internal cues of hunger and satiation.

Objective: To explore the verbal communication of child care providers regarding preschool children's internal and non-internal hunger and satiation cues.

Methods: Video observation transcripts of Head Start staff (n=29) at licensed child care centers in Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada were analyzed for common themes.

Results: Adults' verbal communication with children at mealtimes emphasized non-internal cues: (1) cueing children to amounts without referencing children's internal cues; (2) meal termination time; (3) asking children if they wanted more without referencing their internal cues; (4) asking children if they were done without referencing their internal cues; (5) telling children to take, try, eat, or finish food; (6) praising children for eating; and (7) telling children about food being good for you. Adults demonstrated an overriding effort to get children to eat.

Conclusions And Implications: Training needs to be developed that gives specifics on verbally cueing young children to their internal hunger and satiation cues.