We had to have a green veggie (unless we had breakfast for dinner), we had to try at least one bit of everything, and we had to drink at least one glass of milk before we could have something else to drink.

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We didn't really have rules like this. I have 6 siblings so the rule of thumb was get there and eat quick if you wanted seconds cause it was usually gone instantly.

Sadly most American's idea of veggies with dinner is some form of fried potato.

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Whole grains, no white bread. Milk, no soda. Salad every night with dinner, no matter what else was served. No desserts, except fruit.

The big one: no complaining. That one was really a fun one, given the first four.

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We had to have a glass of milk before anything else as well.

The exception to this rule was take out pizza, but that was only once or twice a month.

We didn't have the "green" vegetable rule, but we did always have a veggie. It might have been shredded carrots in the meat loaf to add to the green beans we had as a side, or peas to go with the chipped beef on toast, but there was always a veggie or 2.

Some specialty meals didn't lend themselves to a big veggie serving, like pizza or mom's home made stromboli, so we had a bowl of applesauce instead.

We always ate healthy, and I still try to keep it balanced to this day.

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I completely agree with this rule, and I make absolutely certain to prepare vegetables for every meal. I'm not a vegetarian, but I've found that I prepare entire meals of vegetables without thinking sometimes.

As Americans, we tend to blame our health problems on others - air, water, immunizations, etc. If everyone actually ate vegetables with every meal, I guarantee that our health issues, as a whole, would be greatly reduced.

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I tried to adhere to this rule in college, but most often ended up with some unfortunate combination from the matrix of canned/frozen veg (peas, green beans, bell peppers, spinach) with rice, mac and cheese or pasta.

On the upside, I didn't die.

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I'm so glad my family didn't have the milk rule! I'd probably still be sitting at the table. The last time I drank a glass of milk I was probably pre-school age and I'm nearer retirement age now. I HATE milk. I think milk is kind of like meat -- okay in small amounts, not so good for you in larger amounts.

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A glass of milk for dinner when I was growing up.

There was always a bowl of rice, although I was later able to convince my mom that rice didn't go with spaghetti. Yes, I'm Asian. There's an intricate set of rules for the composition of a dinner plate, involving a balance of meat and vegetables, sweet, salt, and spicy tastes. I didn't appreciate it until I got to college.

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No junk food - which really translated to no twinkies, little debbies, etc. We could only have cookies and stuff if my mom made it. Having finally tasted a twinkie as an adult, I think it was a smart rule

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Basically: eat what you're served, not neccessarily cleaning your plate if you're full, but at least putting a fair dent it it. And dinner is a meal that should be eaten together, at the table. This is a rule I'm beginning to appreciate more as I get older.

When I was a kid, my mom served me milk with lunch and dinner, and I usually made myself chocolate milk after school for a snack. I think I overdid it on a milk though, because now I can't bear to swallow it.

Rules of meals in my future household I see being: vegetables should be the focus of the meal rather than meat (which is usually the star of the stereotypical "American" dinner), and meat (or another protein options) and whole grains should compromise the sides. Fruit for dessert, or a healthy-ish homebaked treat (I bake frequently and try to give everything a healthy twist).

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Mom made brocolli 4+ times a week and always dishes us up a big scoop and said, "better eat your brocolli so you can have healthy babies." It was okay until we had friends, especially boyfriends over and then we were mortified!

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In my house, things like soda, twinkies, fruit roll ups, potatoe chips, etc, basically any sweet or junk food was only allowed to be eaten as part of our lunch at school - and even then we were only allowed to choose one item of junk to take on our lunch each day.

I don't really remember ever having soda with dinner unless we were eating out, it was a special ocassion (birthday, Christmas) or we had ordered pizza (that happened like maybe 3 times a year).

Our biggest rule was you eat what is on your plate, no compliants. This especially sucked during breakfast - if our eyes were especially big one morning and we poured too much cereal, she would make us eat all of it. If we were going to be late for school, she'd put the cereal in the fridge, and when we asked for an afterschool snack, she'd pull the cold soggy mess out and make us eat it.

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Dad required us to drink a glass of water before we could have milk or lemonade. Mom always made a vegetable and you had to eat as many pieces as you were old - 12 green beans where you were 12, etc. We always ate as a family and never in front of the tv.

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We didn't have any hard rules as kids, but somehow it is stuck in my head that my husband and I MUST have a vegetable at every meal. I guess I forgot to let him know.

The other day, we had just gotten back from vacation, I was really late getting home and asked him to make dinner. "There are pork chops in the fridge" I told him.

When dinner was ready he called me down. Pork Chops and Rice were what was for dinner. I looked at him and asked, "where is the vegetable." "We don't have any" he replied.

He might has said "you are a bad wife and you are poisoning me with your lack of healthy options." I was mortified.

I pulled open the freezer door, "there is corn, beans, peppers and peas. I know downstairs we have (homemade) canned pickles, tomatoes, and mixed veggies. And in the pantry there are tons of (purchased) canned veggies." I glared at him.

Well he now understands, we have a vegetable with every meal, even if we have to resort to canned or frozen.

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Glass of milk or water, meal was composed of a meat, a starch, a green vegetable and a salad of some sort(green or fruit or jello), had to clean the plate now or at the next meal when your plate was taken out of the fridge, no seconds of fun stuff (macaroni and cheese etc) unless you had more vegetables.

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My Mom grew up in the middle of World War Two in Germany.
#1 eat what's on your plate and like it!
#2 veggies or salad
#3 milk or water

We also ate together as a family, every night! That was how my brother and I learned to speak German. The entire conversation was in German.

I didn't really appreciate any of these rules until I moved from home. But now I consider them all good habits and not rules!

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at least one veggie and the plate couldn't be monotone. So we couldn't have rice and cauliflower on the same night since both were white and "the plate wouldn't be pretty" if we did. I usually tried to make a case for cheese sauce on these nights....you know, add a splash of color. I always had to drink milk, but Dad could drink anything. I didn't love it at the time, but after a great bone density test a couple of years ago, I'm glad Mom made me drink it!

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Well, I grew up in the late '60s and '70s, so we weren't allowed any junk food. Heavy, dense whole wheat bread, honey instead of sugar, carob instead of chocolate, no soda, chips, or anything like that. My mother even made her own granola and yogurt (though she never could get that yogurt to set), and grew her own sprouts. I think this is why I have no self-control when it comes to junk food! I rarely eat it because I just don't buy it; if I buy it, it's gone immediately.

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I was just thinking about this yesterday when my parents invited me over for dinner- we always had a meat (or other "main dish" sometimes pasta, sometimes eggs), starch (bread or potato), veggie and salad, then a dessert when we were done. Last night was no exception, and it was very much like what we ate as kids- leg of lamb, steamed new potatoes, artichokes, green salad and then custard to finish it off. The only thing different is that now that we're grownups we can have our choice of beverages and not just milk.

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We had bread with every meal, which sounds very European until I tell you it was always Wonder. Meals always featured meat, potatoes and veg of some canned or frozen variety. The only exceptions were pasta dishes. They came with salad and of course Wonder bread. We never had soda at meals; we had Kool Aid instead.

My only rule with my children is you must try everything that is on your plate. (I decide at the time how big of a bite is necessary to fulfill the requirement, eating one pea is not trying the peas.)

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