Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be shocked at pre-school handing out sweets?

156 replies

RidgewayLass · 02/11/2010 11:00

Shock

DD did not know what "sweets" meant until she started pre-school. Since then she has been offered 1 or 2 fun-size Milky Ways twice, both times just before lunch ffs, and yesterday it was lollipops and chews. It looked like all the other children were having sweets, and there was no alternative treat for children who are not allowed sweets. At home we do have sweet biscuits, cakes, puddings, icecream, but we are very wary how much pure glucose or sugar DD gets in one go.

I told her the lollipop and the chew were very bad for her teeth, and she asked "well if they are so bad for my teeth, why did my teachers give them to me?" Why did they? I thought the schools were supposed to do healthy eating - where does this fit in?

OP posts:
kreecherlivesupstairs · 02/11/2010 11:03
Biscuit
weblette · 02/11/2010 11:04

Hope that's a healthy one kreecher...

Do have another OP Biscuit

lollipopshoes · 02/11/2010 11:04

is she your first?

purepurple · 02/11/2010 11:05

Well, I think YABU. Maybe the treats are for children's birthdays?
If you don't want your child to have, then tell the pre-school staff not to give your child any.

faverolles · 02/11/2010 11:05

"well if they are so bad for my teeth, why did my teachers give them to me?"
How old is your dd?
None of my dc's would have come out with a comment like this until they were much older.
Is she gifted and talented?

JamieLeeCurtis · 02/11/2010 11:06

Surprising. I'm assuming there was some sort of special occasion? Diwali maybe?

Sweets before lunch would be better for the teeth than between lunch, though

Sparklyoldwhizzbangcatpusswhee · 02/11/2010 11:06

I think you need to get a grip! Biscuit

omnishambles · 02/11/2010 11:06

Maybe you should just keep her at home. Forever.

JamieLeeCurtis · 02/11/2010 11:07

.. between lunch should read between meals ..
Sweets are not the spawn of the devil

mollythetortoise · 02/11/2010 11:07

possibly another child's birthday so they all get a sweet (the parent usually sends them in - I do).

Sometimes it can seem they get sweets a lot but just a lot of birthdays that week.

at that age, you could take one or two sweets away (I use to eat them myself Grin) and let them just eat one

StrikeUpTheBand · 02/11/2010 11:07

I'd be annoyed. I don't understand the biscuit comments. You are not crazy to not want your preschooler to have sweets. I don't think lollipops and chews should be having a regular place in a young child's diet. I wonder if the previous posters would be the same if the OP had said their preschool had offered cola with lunch?!

jonicomelately · 02/11/2010 11:07

Remove her immediately from such a toxic environment.

JamieLeeCurtis · 02/11/2010 11:08

yy Birthdays are quite common this month - all that shagging in the Winter

dementedma · 02/11/2010 11:08

yawn get over it, she'll live.

tvaerialmagpiebin · 02/11/2010 11:08

It might have been another child's birthday.

I will say this kindly but..... she will encounter sweets and chocolate. If you seek to restrict things she will just binge on them when she is older. At her age you can carefully monitor what she eats, the odd mini milky way is not going to hurt her. As long as she is cleaning her teeth properly and is not chugging back haribos every day, then I think you need to relax a bit.

It is annoying when they get them before lunch but you can take it and say she can have it after lunch.

PandaG · 02/11/2010 11:09

I expect they have been brought in by parents as it is their child's birthday. Where I work, we keep them until the end of the session, and ask the parents if the child may have one, handing the sweet to the parent to decide when the child gets to eat it. We do not buy sweets to give ot the children from the setting, but may bake cakes or biscuuits with them sometimes, again these are handed out at the end of the session to the parents.

2shoes · 02/11/2010 11:09
purepurple · 02/11/2010 11:10

We gave out sweets on Friday ( I work in a nursery) because we had a Halloween dress up party day.
We also had a dental talk by a local dentist in September.
Some of our parents are doctors and dentists, who let their children eat sweets ( says a lot, I think)
It's all about balance.

lollipopshoes · 02/11/2010 11:10

SUTB - in principle I have no problems with my children having the odd sweet or even the odd glass of coke.

Coke, however, sends dd2 completely loopy so I have told school that if it is ever on offer she is not to be given any.

If you don't want your children to EVER have sweets, you have to tell people, you can't just expect them to realise

wonderstuff · 02/11/2010 11:13

I think you are easily shocked - all things in moderation.

domeafavour · 02/11/2010 11:15

It's a couple of sweets fgs.
Life is too short, get on with it

Chil1234 · 02/11/2010 11:15

"DD did not know what "sweets" meant until she started pre-school. "

See it as adding to her vocabulary, perhaps?

Doigthebountyeater · 02/11/2010 11:15

I never got sweets/processed food/puddings/biscuits/ crisps/ takeaways until I left home. I am now a size 16 (was nearly a 20 at one point). Moderation in all things!

Oh and have a Biscuit!

StrikeUpTheBand · 02/11/2010 11:18

Lollipop, my DS is hyper/horrendous when he has artificial colours. He is very good usually and asks the nursery to check if they are having anything, and they are supposed to be aware...but then on Friday they were doing some party game with flour and sweets and he apparently refused because they were bright coloured sweets. They told me about this and it turns out that even when he brought it up, and despite my warnings, noone had thought to check! It's not life threatening but it certainly isn't nice for him when he has these E-numbers so good job he didn't have them really.

I don't object to the odd one, but really, at that age they shouldn't be just giving them out before lunchtime should they?

lollipopshoes · 02/11/2010 11:19

SUTB - that's really grown up of him, am tres impressed Smile

Swipe left for the next trending thread