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Original poster

What age did you take kids to the shop to buy sweets?

21 replies

BusWankers · 27/09/2025 14:24

DD is 5 in year 1 and has probably been going for around 6 months perhaps every other week. She gets 50p to spend a d buys a freddo or flump or whatever.

Her little friend had never been until we took her today.

Am I taking DD too soon?

OP posts:
Cantseetreesforthewood · 27/09/2025 14:34

Err, we didn't.

I wouldn't have had an issue with you taking my child if he was on a play date with you, but it's not something we did.

BlurryEyesAndChubbyThighs · 27/09/2025 14:35

We have done since they were small
A treat doesn't hurt

FuzzyWolf · 27/09/2025 14:36

It’s not something I’ve ever specifically gone out of my way to do and my eldest is 11.

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BendingSpoons · 27/09/2025 14:37

We don't really go in a regular way like that. DC sometimes request treats in the supermarket order (chocolates, cakes or biscuits usually). If we go to the corner shop for groceries we sometimes buy sweets. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not a thing everyone does.

Crinkle77 · 27/09/2025 14:41

If its a once a week then don't see the problem. We were taken to the sweet shop on a Friday and given 15p to buy pick and mix sweets. That was back in the 80's when you could buy 1/2 penny sweets so if you were canny you could potentially get 30 sweets. Don't think I was as young as 5. It was usually before Brownies so about 7 I guess.

ForLoveNotMoney · 27/09/2025 14:42

You’ll get people saying their kids are now adults and have never taken them to buy sweets.

We don’t go purposely but we have treats often because we are an active, healthy family and we like treats. It’s perfectly fine in moderation.

PurBal · 27/09/2025 14:48

Cantseetreesforthewood · 27/09/2025 14:34

Err, we didn't.

I wouldn't have had an issue with you taking my child if he was on a play date with you, but it's not something we did.

Same. Certainly not as a regular “thing”. But today we happened to be at the market and DC spotted a tiffin he fancied, that was fine.

Bitzee · 27/09/2025 14:59

We don’t ever really go to the corner shop to buy sweets. I’m not adverse to buying the kids a Freddo or anything, sometimes get them in the weekly shop and also we eat out 2-3 times a week and they always get pudding. It’s just going to the shops for sweets isn’t a habitual thing for us. But if one of my DC had been at yours for a play and you took them they’d probably love it!

Itstheshowgirl · 27/09/2025 15:05

Now that I think about it hardly ever which is strange because I always remember loving Saturday nights as a child my Mum would go to the shop to buy a lottery ticket and my brother and I would go along and choose sweets then go home and watch crap Saturday TV and it was the best, I still feel warm and cosy thinking about those memories.

I only really do it for mine when they have a friend over as a treat. That’s not to say they don’t get treats at other times because we bake all the time and there are always chocolate biscuits in the snack drawer.

Brightbluesomething · 27/09/2025 15:17

I’ve taken my DC’s for as long as I can remember. Give them a budget and they can work out what they want and can afford. Helps their maths too.
Prices have gone up ridiculously though, you can’t get a 10p mix up like you could back in the day.

montston · 27/09/2025 15:17

I never took mine to the shop specifically to buy sweets.

NoisyLittleOtter · 27/09/2025 15:20

We never took them to buy sweets as an actual ‘thing’. They could choose something if we happened to be in the supermarket buying other stuff, and I ordered treats with the online shop, but it was never an event. When they started walking home from school on their own they sometimes got 50p on a Friday to spend in the shop.

ainsleysanob · 27/09/2025 15:25

Since he was old enough to pick a mix from market sweet stall

Jullapone · 27/09/2025 15:29

I just started doing that in the summer holidays with dcs (aged 7 and 4). Admittedly it was a "way to fill time during the holidays" and not something we'd do every week. We go to a full size supermarket though as the corner shops around here are overpriced and have old stock.

MagicLoop · 27/09/2025 15:32

Never. Not because they weren't allowed sweets. Going on a specific visit to a sweet shop or letting dc buy sweets themselves just wasn't a thing it really occurred to me to do! I bought sweets occasionally as part of my supermarket shop.

Justcallmedaffodil · 27/09/2025 15:37

We add the little bags of sweets/small chocolate bars to the weekly shop and DS will have one or the other most days after dinner. We’ve never gone to the shop specifically to buy sweets, but I wouldn’t necessarily say no if he asked to because he wanted something specific that we didn’t have.

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 27/09/2025 15:44

Don’t recall ever doing this. I always bought multi packs of mini chocolate bars as part of the supermarket shop. I ate them too.

Pocket money was normally spent in the pound shop on a small toy or on a magazine.

BabyToothbrush · 27/09/2025 15:51

PurBal · 27/09/2025 14:48

Same. Certainly not as a regular “thing”. But today we happened to be at the market and DC spotted a tiffin he fancied, that was fine.

Show quote history

Same here. They get tons of treats (too many if I'm honest, mostly from other family members!). But we don't routinely go to a shop just to buy sweets/similar.

LarryIsMyRomanEmpire · 27/09/2025 15:52

2/3, after nursery on a Friday.

Stade197 · 27/09/2025 15:57

My son is 4 and we go to the shop on the way home from school each day for a small sweet, usually a kinder egg! We have been doing this for quite a while now. He has a very good diet and is very active so I have no issues letting him have a little treat each day

Original poster
BusWankers · 27/09/2025 18:29

We do it a bit to pass the time, help her learn about money etc

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