To think banning a kid from having ANY sweets at all ever by the age of five

There’s no need to give a child tea or coffee either, yet here we are.

My mum never did any sugar in anything think even rhubarb pie, I didn't with my DC either, there is absolutely no need to give a child sugar in tea, coffee. etc. when they start to drink these things. And if you don't get used to getting sugar in everything it is easy to not start to have a lot. OK other things ice cream, cakes, etc, but those are treats not every day.

My son used to choose fruit over cake/sweets until he started school. He was once offered a plate of fairy cakes or a bag of apples at the end of a school fete and he picked the apples. Now he's learnt from school that sweets/cake/chocolate is ALWAYS best 🤣 I much prefer fresh fruit over sweets and chocolate but I will STILL gorge on crap and regret it. It's a complicated relationship about "treating myself". But I agree that salad has never beaten cake. Only apples.

My children, 10 and 7 rarely ever have sweets (occasional packets of haribo from school) because they can't cope with the sugar reaction. My DH and rarely have sweets either, so they don't see them around and aren't that bothered....

Mine only had the odd Milky Way until they were about 5 . I thought surgery boiled sweets and lollipops would be in their mouth longer so do more damage .
as children they didn’t need much in the way of dental work but my 50year old daughter still blames me for her hatred of Milky Ways now 😂.

My mum and dad never really did treats out for GC - many reasons. At home would be pudding, ice cream, cake but once, not all day. And the other GPs - my ex-in laws. Ice cream out, pudding at home, but not the constant snacking eg pack of crisps, sweets, doughnuts , cakes all day. They couldn't afford it actually. So occasionally fine. That type of food is so expensive.

Sis is going to let him eat birthday cake and so on when he starts hoing to birthday parties at about 5. He's 3 now. Why give him junk when he doesn't know what he's missing? I've eaten sweets in front of him and he doesn't ask for any he just ignores them. He doesn't know what they are.
Sugar kills millions of people every year and causes vast obesity and dental problems. Why would we give that to young children when they are perfectly happy without them?
It isn't cruel, it's giving them the best possible start in life.

I did something a bit like that - sweets were just one of the things they could get at any time we were shopping, but if they chose fruit, I'd studiously ignore the fact that it was costing me a tenner instead of under a pound.

They soon worked out they could get far more strawberries, grapes, pineapple, blueberries and the like out of me than sweets.

Give them a packet of sweets over hours transfixed on a screen any day of the week

My sil avoided giving her ds anything with sugar in as her dp had labelled it as evil due to a family member losing teeth 🙄 Now as adults her sons don’t really speak with them. Her youngest has been in and out of trouble, but now in his twenties, he’s got a steady job, but very little contact with his mum and dad. Posts stuff about having a better dad. The eldest, even though he’s ADHD diagnosed, has kept his parents at a berth and has spoken openly about the odd childhood he had with no sugar/sweet things.

My nephew has never eaten sugary foods. He doesn't know he's missing anything.

I know a mum who brings home baked goods to parties and her DC are not allowed to eat any party food. Not because of allergies but to ensure it's all organic and not processed. Her dc are either going to go crazy when they get an ounce of freedom or grow up to misunderstand the social nature of food i.e. if you're invited to a party it's a bit rude and snobby to turn up with your organic kale bites. Just eat pombears ffs.

I wouldn’t give sweeties but that’s more for choking anxiety than anything else! In moderation I let my toddler have a bit of vanilla ice cream, few choc buttons, a taste of cake if anyone’s having one or it’s a birthday.

my parents let us have sweets once a week - a bag of Woolworths pick and mix back when they weighed them on a proper scale - we were experts at getting exactly our £1 worth😂 we had puddings after meals & the occasional ice cream or lolly. They were relaxed with grandparents knowing we would get extra treats when they babysat. All 3 of us have fairly healthy diets now, can all take or leave sweets / chocolates etc. No fillings at 39!

As someone with now older teens you could always tell the kids at parties who weren’t normally allowed sweet things as they would always be the ones sitting at the table way after all the other children had got down bingeing on party rings! Fair enough to not having sweets / biscuits at home but if you try and ban completely you make them much more appealing in my opinion.

My ds doesn't like cake or sweets. He's so weird. I don't tell him that but I definitely think it as he refuses any he's offered.

Parties will be the undoing of this plan.

I didn't give my eldest sweets. Not deliberately, I just don't like them so I don't buy them. She had biscuits and chocolate on occasion, especially Easter and Christmas. It hadnt even occurred to me that she hadnt had things like jelly beans, haribo etc until she went to a birthday party when she was at preschool. We still don't have them often, hut she definitely likes a party bag!

My younger ones were introduced much earlier, due to going to more parties when people had kindly issued a sibling invitation. Probably does make up an unhealthy amount of their diet on weekends when they have been to a party!

Honestly, I don't see how you can avoid them unless you search all party bags before your kids get them.

Oh, and I didn't think to buy sweets for party bags for my twins last birthday (there was cake in the bag though). One of my sons looked at my like i was a mass murderer. This year I am certain they will check with me in advance!

This is my niece. Shes never tried sweets, ice cream, cakes, biscuits or anything sugary. She’s only allowed Greek yoghurt, not normal fruity yoghurt.
I think it’s madness.

Doable with a first child but too OTT

There are SO many situations when eating sugar is part of society, particularly around the holidays and at birthdays.

I also take huge delight in seeing my child enjoying an ice cream at the beach or some sweets at Halloween.

Life is too short.

I thought it was fairly obvious that’s not what the poster is talking about 😂 what do you reckon people would try and persuade a child with a nut allergy to have some just in case they ended up going mad on nuts at uni?!?

What i did with mine, which seemed to work really well, was to keep sweets as an occasional treat and always enough to share with their friends, junk food the same - McDonald's once or twice a year, pudding with a meal - no restriction, until 1 of them took the whole jug of custard! Now young adults who eat well and in moderation. Their friends however - junk food city. But the friends love coming to ours for a meal - protein, a carb and tons of veg - they clear their plates- which is lovely!

This is a pointless thread, as the OP has given no information at all about the circumstances. I know children who's sugar intake has to be extremely well controlled for medical reasons.