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.

God - less than a year? It's just sugar, they won't explode. It's about moderation not totally banning things.

I think there are dangers in vilifying sweets, or indeed turning them into treats.

I did neither. My kids had eaten sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks by the age of 2.
I had a chocolate and sweet cupboard which my kids had free access to from the age of 5. It was rarely opened.
As I speak DS has an unopened box in his room from last christmas, DD still hasn't opened all her Easter eggs.

I don't like the idea of sweets as treats or something forbidden except as a reward. That behaviour is at the route of my quite frankly shit relationship with food. Having said that I do stop them if they're over doing it and won't let them eat them before a meal as they need nutrition and don't want them filled with crap.

But this has been severely challenged - DD2 (3) got hold of some coke and loved it. Now asks for it if we're out. That just feels wrong to let her have it. Also she has enough energy for 3 children - i dread to think what she'd be like on caffeine.... don't know how were going to handle this one really

Gosh I really don't remember. I do recall ds1 having a small bar of chocolate when he was on his first holiday age 12months, but that wasn't the first time he had tasted it. I included it in his weaning, which, seeing as it happened 20 years ago, was well before many babies are weaned now.

I have 3 other children. As a previous poster said, subsequent children often come across such foods at a younger age, I know mine did. I allowed them all a small ration of chocolate with their bedtime milk if they had eaten well that day.

But before anyone gasps in horror, I am talking here about chocolate and sweet things like biscuits. Only 2 of mine liked sweets, and only the youngest would eat pretty much any sweet and he only had them when children at school had birthdays. I am not into sweets and did not buy them. The eldest and youngest like fizzy drinks but didn't start drinking them until they were well into school age. One of the others liked Ribena and would drink that in preference to water but stopped when she had braces (her choice)and has never gone back to it. One child, now an adult, only ever drinks milk or water (or alcohol now!) This wasn't anything I aimed for, it was just how things developed, or each child's individual taste.

None of them are overweight, have health problems, issues around food, or dental problems. Everything in moderation is the key, I feel.

Dd is almost 14 and has never had anything other than water or milk to drink and has only ever eaten the odd polo and no other sweets. She will very occasionally eat chocolate. I've never restricted anything in fact there is regularly sweets, chocolate and squash and fizzy drinks available here but she really doesn't like them most likely because of her autism though.

My dc had small amounts of chocolate from about 6-12months and were about 3 when they tried those jelly type ones (haribo and the like) which we all hate and so do they fortunately - more because we just never thought of buying them rather than any kind of design. Same with fizzy drinks. We don't drink them so just never thought to give them to the dc. Not from any kind of parenting choice.

DS1 was almost 4 before he liked crisps, we did offer them before but he never liked them. DS2 was 2 for crisps.

They eat biscuits or cake every day tho and have done from about 1.

My first child is 6, he loves veg, has quite a continental diet, loves olives and cured meat etc. He doesn't drink fizzy juice at all, his choice he doesn't like the way the fizz feels. We don't offer it but we've never forbidden it either, he prefers milk to anything else, rarely drinks anything else other than water. I have 1 year old twins, they generally eat what my oldest eats, for ease more than anything else. They still get sweets and crisps but it's not something we routinely have in the house

Chocolate at 15 months on the advice of a dietitian given DD's aversion to most solids. She will eat some cakes, but not other sweets (haribo etc.) - not for lack of opportunity, but because she's still a really fussy eater...

Crikey I must be going to hell wth my parenting! Dd had sweets / chocolate from about 11 months...didn't like them and only started eating at about 3. Fizzy drinks...from about 2.5... Not regularly but as a treat. She's now 5 nearly 6, completely healthy, no troubles with teeth, is very small and athletic type build...has a sweetie most days and lemonade most days. But she loves vegetables and will snack on raw broccoli, eats every single veggie put in front of her. Think it's all about balance, I don't prohibit her having sweet things so she makes a choice what she wants to snack on..cheese, yoghurt, veggies, fruit and sometimes sweet things!

I have 5 yo twins. Since about 9 months I've allowed the occasional ice cream cake, chocolate etc but they've turned out very different in tastes. DD won't touch anything sweet at all whereas DS would live off cake and chocolate if I let him. Neither of them like sweets (hard or chewy) or squash, and never drink anything other than milk or water, they have never tried fizzy drinks at all.

I don't really remember. With my first it was probably easy to keep them out of his sight and mind. He was probably around a year to 18 months when he tried chocolate. Sweets would have been a bit later, and fizzy drink never as none of my dc have ever liked it.

With his younger siblings it would have been as soon as they were old enough to grab chocolate from their big brother

Our twins had a really healthy year of eating/weaning then it went pear shaped! They still won't touch fizzy drinks at eight but this is because they hate the fizz not because it is banned.

DS is nearly 4. To be honest I cannot remember the first time he had sweets. Probably around 2? I was very reluctant to give him squash, and still only do on special occasions or as a rare treat, so instead he mostly always asks for water. We have cake if we go out for coffee, biscuits at the weekend with tea. He's got a real sweet tooth though (he wants it but rarely gets it), and also eats a lot of fruit. He's been coming home from nursery with a pack of sweets a week though recently... Something to do with birthdays, which I'm not too happy about.

My first ds was over 2 years old I think before having chocolate and youngest was younger than 2. I never gave either juice at all and fizzy drinks were not even an option (although I love Pepsi max) they are now 12 and 15 only drink water/milk or tea (their own choice) but have sweets/chocolate almost every day. My 15 year old will sometimes however have a small glass of cider with a meal

I wanted my boys to see sweets as "non-treat" foods, so to that end, they were allowed small amounts of chocolate from quite a young age (probably around a year).
Fizzy drinks crept in at about 2 or 3 for both of them (labelled "rocket fuel" and they were both told that they could only have a very small amount - diluted with sparkling mineral water as well)
Fruit juice is only for dinner time, and is always diluted about 1 in 3 or 4 with water. Otherwise, it's milk and water all the way. Cordial/Squash is only for parties.
MacDonalds is "emergency food" rather than treat food - in other words we eat it when we're stuck out and starving and there aren't any other easy options. Sadly they're now both aware of the Maccers' toys - but you can buy those separately now for $2 each, so that's an easy "out".

I'm pretty happy with the way they've turned out so far (8 and 4) but who knows if it will backfire later - when they get party bags full of sweets, they self-regulate pretty well. DS2 doesn't like a lot of sweets either - he's a bit of a chocolate fiend though! - so that helps. I don't allow them boiled sweets very often, in particular, because of the sucking-sugar-against-teeth issues. So they only get lollipops when they go to parties (not very often then!)

DD had buttons from about 10 months. The odd fizzy drink from about 2 or 3. She's 12 now, probably has something fizzy (Lilt being the beverage of choice) on a Saturday night and sweeties or chocolate a couple of times a week. But she may well buy herself stuff though that I don't know about but not a lot I think. We have a treat cupboard that has mini rolls in that have been there three weeks.

My 3 year old was allergic to dairy until a couple of weeks ago when having routing test at hospital he's grown out of allergy,. Cut to a bday party a week later I let him some ice cream to try for the first time (his response - yuk), chocolate (yuk), chocolate biscuits (yuk), cupcake with buttercream (yuk). He then asked for a banana! Guess what I'm saying is tastebuds seem to have already developed and he finds all that stuff just too sweet and would rather have fruit. He has Pom bears or rice cakes for treats. I on other hand am addicted to chocolate!

I'd hold off as long as possible

Under 1. Didn't have much of a choice. Ds had his first chocolate at 5 months courtesy of the ex Mil. I was mightily pissed off! Now these things are limited and I don't buy pop. The only time he has it is at his dad's or when we go out for a meal. I have never given him coke but his dad had been giving it to him since he was toddler . Ds is 8 now so he is old enough to say no to it but there have been times he's felt he's had to drink it for fear of getting told off or he's been told he has to have it. He also troughs on sweets and chocolates with his dad so an even bigger reason for me to limit it.

Candy has never been forbidden here, just given occasionally as part of a balanced diet. Fizzy pop is a no though even now, dh and I don't drink it either though so its just not available in the household. Kids are 7and 8. Xx

Ds who is 10 has never had sweets or fizzy drink given to him by us although it is possible others have given them to him, when they have looked after him. He has severe sn so we have retained control over what he eats and drinks and we want to prevent tooth damage as far as possible.

Well this makes me look bad but, my two have had little milkybar buttons from weaning (dd2 had dairy free ones) my eldest is 4 and can have a small cup of Diet Coke on a night with tea if she likes, oh and they had McDonald's for tea today (because my sister randomly ended up sleeping and I cba) but sweets are for Friday nights after tea watching a film. She has crisps probably 2/3 times a week. I don't buy biscuits. They eat strawberries and bananas and nuts and salad and are both obsessed with veg and chicken and would actually eat more of a home cooked meal (casserole/ chilli) than they would if I made chicken nuggets and chips. And I never buy chips now, always make slimming world ones.

dons hard hat

Dd didn't have cake till her 1st birthday and only had rich tea or digestive biscuits. Now at 21/2yrs she has a mini bag of chocolate buttons or mini kinder bar and pom bear crisps once a week, has biscuits at toddler groups or if I've bought them (only about once a month as I love biscuits) she only has water to drink and isn't allowed sweets/McDonald's or fizzy drinks at all. I know my family and especially Mil don't agree with how strict we are but myself and dh are both bigger people and I'm determined she won be. Thankfully she's a brilliant eater and has well balanced 'proper' home cooked food so is healthy in that respect-and eats more fruit and veg than her daddy!!
Also working in childcare I've seen the allsorts of food 'issues' related to sweets/fizzy etc-worst case was 1yr old drinking lucozade at 5pm😲😲

I can't even remember properly tbh. I have photos of DS having his first gingerbread man and chocolate biscuit at 15 months, but my DM had probably given him chocolate buttons before that. I think I remember ExMIL shoving chocolate buttons in him at 13 months, and he had some cake when he turned 1 but wasn't bothered (he still doesn't like cupcakes etc). He was always more obsessed with fruit - I used to spend a fortune on raspberries out of season!

He's 9 now and self regulates. He doesn't have a massive sweet tooth and will eat a meal before going for anything sweet. He loves fruit and veg and is pretty health conscious, through what he's learnt at school rather than me, although I subscribe to eating a balanced diet (including healthy fats and natural sugars). His 'dessert' in his packed lunch is always 2 pieces of fruit even though his school isn't strict and allows cake and biscuits.

DS is tiny and underweight so he is on doctors orders to have more carbs and healthy fats anyway, so I don't mind a bit of sugar as well. He's very physically active and loves cross country, so for now my approach to eating in moderation works for us. Of course, if I had another they may have a completely different personality and may require a different approach. I don't believe that one size fits all. I'm lucky that DS is like me in his eating habits rather than XDP.