LOL! My son is only three, but I can remember as a kid, when my brother would come home from school, he would walk up to my mom and open his mouth to ask a question. My mother, a former teacher, would hold up her hand and say in her best teacher-voice, "Stop. Do not ask me if there is something to eat. You have two perfectly good hollow legs. Walk to the refrigerator and fill them for yourself."
I can't wait to use that line.
With eight children, we don’t have a lot of food going begging, except meals people didn’t like. I usually greet announcements of “I’m hungry!” with “Great! Eat some leftovers!”