To ask how old your children were when you allowed candy?

[jayisforjessica]

I am aware that I already have a twelve year old DS and I made my choices with him. I now have twins on the way and I'm going to be raising them in a world that is twelve years on from the world in which I raised DS1. I'm curious about sweets, fizzy drinks and the like. How old were your DC when you allowed them?

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here - if I say what choices I made for DS1, that'll get accused of being performance parenting, and if I decline to say but answer the inevitable question later, it'll get accused of being a drip feed, so I'm aware of the awkwardness of this post!! Just know that I'm holding off on saying so I can get some genuine answers rather than knee-jerk "ooh, performance parenting thread" comments :) Haha.

[YerAWizardHarry]

I've never been strict - everything in moderation. Raisins aren't much better of than sweets by the way, they're full of sugar and they stick to teeth, awful for cashing cavities

[TreehouseTales]

Why is chocolate considered superior to sweets?
We didnt tend to buy sweets but they get tons on birthdays as given out at school/parties/easter/christmas/etc.

[TreehouseTales]

I thought raisins were worse than sweets for teeth too.

We used to have frozen peas as a treat (!) discovered by accident. But that doesnt work with number 2.

[Pluto30]

DS1 had a bit of an Easter egg when he was a few months old. DS2 had ice creams on a cruise when he was 6 months old. DD is 18mo and gets offered little things, but she doesn't like sweets, or hot chips etc.

No harm done, IMO. They eat healthily 95% of the time, with treats here and there. I hate the idea of raising children to eat just kale chips and green smoothies. The older generations ate butter, salt and raw sugar in most foods and have lived far beyond the ages they should've. A small treat or takeway occasionally isn't going to kill your kids.

[jayisforjessica]

Candy? Are you in the US op?
I'm actually in New Zealand, but I was born in the US. I've been here most of my life, but clearly there are some words and phrases that I haven't managed to shake.

Raisins aren't much better of than sweets by the way
I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't know this. I thought "dried fruit, better than candy". That'll learn me!

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I dunno. Mine are mostly grown up but have always had pretty much everything in moderation. I never buy sweets though because I don't like them; I like chocolate though. I don't buy fizzy drinks, though my kids always had them in a restaurant if they wanted. I never bought crap food like cheap nuggets or hotdogs either; my kids were quite old before they realised some people ate chicken nuggets at home.

None of my lot have any filings, all are really slim and healthy. They eat a good diet even as poor students.

[Pluto30]

jay No harm in a chocolate fish or a pineapple lump.

[WiltingTulip]

The very first post from spicyfajita sums up my experience!

[biggles50]

About 3 years old once a week, in fact only chocolate. No sweets except if they were at other kid's houses. I told them that sweets would rot their teeth. They're adults now and have chocolate occasionally, the habits instilled early seemed to work.

[biggles50]

You're right about Hershey's chocolate, I was eager to try some as I'd heard so much about it, we all tried it, my son spat it out and said it tasted like vomit. I got a distinct vomit taste too.

[MuseumOfCurry]

Raisins aren't much better of than sweets by the way


Apart from the fact that they're one of the best sources of anti-oxidants.

[Temporaryname137]

Another one whose very healthy mother probably didn't do her any favours - we were only allowed crisps or chocolate or biscuits as a treat, and never had anything like that in the house really. As soon as I was allowed into town by myself every penny went on contraband, and when I got to university, the weight simply piled on. I've never really shed it since, and I still have a massive problem with denial/treats.

I am desperate for DD not to inherit this, so I think I am going to try and make it so puddings and sweets are not a big deal, but if we want to have one, we have to earn it with a nice walk or quick jog. At the moment she gets a tiny taste occasionally, say a small fraction of a chocolate button, but doesn't seem too bothered anyway. She'd crawl over red hot coals for cheese though

Fizzy drinks - again, I drink too many (about a can a day) and DP mainlines them, much to my disgust, so we're both going to have to knock that on the head in front of her, as over my dead body will she be allowed them until she's a LOT older!

[Daytona79]

2 year old DS is obsessed with sweeties, it's all I hear about that and cake.

He has tried bits and bobs over past year and literally is obsessed I try to limit chocolate and cake to a treat

I'm not sure if I'm making the situation worse by limiting it as he constantly asks for them

Never given him fizzy juice he gets a bit of very diluted orange or flavoured water sometimes

[Temporaryname137]

Although one thing my DM did do that I do intend to replicate was to ensure that we cleaned our teeth straightaway after anything sweet. I'm nearly 40 now and never had a single filling, so that must have worked!

[Backaffyaspookybitch]

My two year old is drinking cans of irn bru and eating 4 packets of skittles a day.

[ImogenTubbs]

MIL gave DD shit loads of chocolate on her first birthday so that was that. We try and restrict them and don't give in to demands but it's hard when every other bugger is always giving them sweets, ice cream, biscuits.... She eats lots of other healthy food though, so try not to worry about it too much and just go for a balance.

[NothingMoreThanFelines]

PFB (2.7) had a small bit of her own birthday cake when she was 1. Since then, she's been allowed biscuits and cake occasionally. She's loved the tiny bits of chocolate she's had but tends to vomit afterwards, so we avoid. And I'm holding off on sweets and fizzy drinks for as long as possible. At the moment she's blissfully unaware of their existence...

[NothingMoreThanFelines]

Oh, and I was another whose sweetie intake was strictly limited as a child and who became totally obsessed, so agree that making a big thing of it can be counterproductive.

[Forfrigssake]

I started off really strict and didn't want my DD to have any sweets/biscuits/cake etc because I have a really sweet tooth and had loads of sweets as a kid including sugar sandwiches!! We started allowing DD 'baby biscuits' at around 10 months and normal biscuits at around 14 months. She's now 18 months and it's only in the last month we've started allowing her a little bit of chocolate. I think there's a balance.

[Forfrigssake]

Imogen we had the same situation! We didn't want DD introduced to chocolate until she went to school but we discovered grandparents were sneakily giving it to her when she was at their house!! Also I took her to a playgroup and they handed out chocolate digestive biscuits without asking if she was allowed one, all the children had one so I didn't feel I could take it off her.

[Fresta]

I really don't see what delaying the first taste of sweet things achieves. I weened my dd with the approach that she would eat what we all ate as a family. If we were having spaghetti bolognese, that's what she was given (with a slight adaption), if we were having broccoli so did she, if were having dessert, so did she, and if we had a bar of chocolate she was allowed a small piece. The only exceptions really were alcohol and we don't drink fizzy pop as a family anyway so that wasn't an issue.

[notgivingin789]

DS, 6, doesn't like eating sweets. It's kind of embarrassing when his at parties and someone offers him a sweet and he point blank refuses. I do find it weird as I love eating sweets and DS does see me eating sweets...maybe it's because I've never offered him a sweet? Though he loves chocolate.

[BarbarianMum]

Ds1 around 2, ds2 once it stopped being a choking hazard (chocolate from around 1).

I would have held off longer only my BiL/SiL took a total "no biscuits/cake/sweets ever" approach which backfired so spectacularly that I was keen not to repeat.

Fizzy drinks - never have these at home. Will only buy them on holidays abroad but they've also had them at friend's parties. Hate them.

McDonald's meals were ds1's staple diet when travelling long distance, or on whole days out as he was cmp/nut allergic and it was very clear what was safe or not. I loved those yellow arches in those dark days.