AIBU to put out sweets for children at a summer party?

Because people believe stuff that isn't true? Its like the similar research about people behaving differently towards babies depending on whether they were told they are male or female. The people would deny it but the video evidence is there.

I've noticed that there are a disproportionate number of parents on here whose children seem to be affected by sugar despite their being no scientific evidence of any affects

No idea why the MN demographic is such an anomaly

There are small bags of sweets that are low sugar and chewy so not a choking hazard if you do have outlier offspring

Yeah but a lot of people don't read the label that closely.

I would go with fruit kebabs and then give an individual bag of sweets for a going home gift.

Its a party FFS but I'd be more inclined to get individual ice lollies or ice creams rather than sweets?

Can they be dessert?

Hell yeah, even adults love a sweetie! Maybe hold some back to put out later so the little ones don’t gorge themselves straight away.

I've no issue my kids having sweets at a party, I have 1 extremely fussy child sk what would make me delighted would be wee plates of things like crackers, grated cheese, breadsticks, hummus, things kids seem to really like and will graze on. Also agree about fruit, watermelon slices, mango, strawberries, however that's purely from the perspective of a parent with a fussy child where I'm having to take a fed is best approach so some crunchy bland carbs are gratefully received.

When we did a kids party we did proper grown up sandwiches and rolls for adults then kids we did trays of cheese, ham and jam and then a multi pack of crisps and a couple of tubs of little hari o bags. Neither of mine are that fond of sweets though. Eldest would definitely have a cupcake and youngest some crisps or crackers and fruit over sweet. Maybe if I had kids who would gorgeous on harinl type sweets I'd mind them being there.

Yes!

My nursery feeds a great menu these days, varied and full of veg.

Now I love baking with my toddler, but I just don't get the desire to offer them puddings and treats all the time. MIL decided that his bedtime milk needed to be chocolate milk at theirs or else he wouldn't finish it, and my dad thought that he needed sugar on his strawberries.

All of these people say that "a little won't hurt" - and their adult children are all overweight/obese, and I have crap teeth (thanks for all the sugar, Dad).

My son's great gran is wonderful though. Always complimenting how great it is that he eats well, and saying that so much food available back in the day was filled with rubbish.

Normally yes but in this weather you’ll need to find something that won’t melt in to a sticky mess 😬

In New Zealand our jelly comes in crystals rather than leaf or cube style. Wasn't unusual for a kid to have a box of jelly crystals in their lunch box.

well yes of course but who wants to go to a party where you can’t take your eyes off your kid and have to tell them they can’t have the sweets that have been deliberately left out to tempt them?

I mean in practice people will go, because the alternative is to never go out, but it’s dreadful the way society plies children with crap foods, especially when we have the science and the experience to know what effect it has.

OP - given that youve seen a meaningful minority of parents will hate this, but that the majority are fine with it. What have you decided?

Most do have sugar. The ones that don't say "sugar free" which are full of sweeteners and taste like it too!

Totally agree.

My children ate barely any sweets, other than fruit and the occasional ice cream, in the first 3-4 years of their lives. They ate loads of vegetables as part of every meal. I’ll never forget when a friend came for coffee and I was feeding my twins, spreading various vegetables - carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, beetroot - on the tray of their highchairs. She was astonished to see them munching happily.

And then they started nursery and, over the next few years, they got used to the usual stodge that is fed to children in the UK. We still ate healthy family meals, but they craved carb and sugar heavy ‘treats’ when they came home from school.

Two of them grew out of it and are now adults with healthy diets, but the oldest is stuck in a rut of eating junk food. He is exercise obsessed and consumes lots of whey protein powders, eggs and roasted chicken, but barely any vegetables.

I would imagine there will be some sort of sweet item (cake, etc.), can’t everyone just have that? I wouldn’t put sweet things out with savoury anyway, just bring a cake out at the end when everyone has finished with the savoury food.

I’m not against sweets, but they seem to be everywhere and not a treat anymore. Parties are constant for young children (there seem to be 1-2 a week here!). If adult parties are also now dishing out sweets too, it definitely doesn’t feel like a treat anymore. Most children love a slice of cake, or an ice lolly, I would just stick to that.

I wouldn’t remotely judge the OP herself and would just enjoy the party with whatever was on offer. It’s so normalised, I’d think nothing of it.

However I do agree with others about the constant flow of ‘occasional treats’. It isn’t possible to constantly supervise once your children get past a certain age. As PP have said, it’s everywhere. Sweets and icecream vans at school, cakes at dance, weekly parties that are upf central with sweets to follow, grandparents giving huge daily puddings in the holidays . I’m not miserable, my kids have all this stuff, but only really because I know I can’t control it and have to participate in today’s society. But is it a good thing? No.

Also, whatever is in sweets these days absolutely does affect behaviour and how you feel. I’ve felt it myself after eating multiple sweets and witnessed it with my own and others’ children.

This nails it. Things which genuinely used to be an occasional treat are now every day. And even occasional treats are now bigger and more frequent. Sweets are just constant for most kids.

I'd go for lollypops from the freezer rather than sweets that will get sticky in the heat and really would you want to eat sweets after little hands had been in them.

We simply do not live in a society where children eat junk in moderation.

Again, this is the responsibility of the supervising parents.

No I think you should hand make a batch or two of organic lentil fudge with raw molasses grown in the foothills of the Andes.
Nah! Of course a few sweets for the children is fine!

This - and people wonder why Novo and similar companies make their money nowadays on medication for diabetics and obese people.

I can’t believe you have to ask this

We simply do not live in a society where children eat junk in moderation.

It’s constant.

And the effects are everywhere. I’m late 30s and so many of my cohort have chronic illnesses which are linked to poor gut health. No to mention higher bowel cancer rates and of course the absurd numbers of over overweight young people.

Every instance like this is justified because it’s “just a treat” or it’s “in moderation” or “restriction is bad”.

But in reality many children are offered sweets and puddings every day.

There is no moderation anywhere to be seen.