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.

Parenting book given out by NHS in 1994 when my dd was born recommended not giving them sweeties until they were a year old. I tried very hard but often caught my DH sneaking her chocolate buttons.
I wasn't as strict about Ds born 3 years later. I tended to restrict sweets/junk to the weekend and didn't buy fizzy juice except for parties.
My dd was a nightmare with sweeties. Always hounding us for them, or sneaking them out the cupboard. My Ds liked chocolate mainly but wouldn't gorge on it. He wasn't fussed about other sweets.
Now as adults dd has a balanced diet and Ds drinks lots of Coke and eats lots of crisps.
I don't think it matters much as long as everything is in moderation.

I don't have DC but when I was younger my brother has severe asthma and eczema and a cows milk allergy so he could never have chocolate and although I had it, not as much as I maybe wanted to. My mum used to give away or throw away a lot of our Easter eggs! Carob isn't the same and is vile.

However that didn't stop us from the age of being allowed to go to the corner shop (6 or 7) buying half penny and penny sweets, and yes, chocolate even my brother. We also used to go to an old fashioned sweet shop with glass jars run by an old man.

My mum's other main reason for keeping us away from sweets was because she was fed them as a child and as an adult had lots of expensive dental work. She remembers pear drops with chocolate or toffees...!

We did have apple crumbles and pies homemade by my mum, lemon meringue pie etc but these were either desserts or treats. She also made Queen Cakes quite often which are fairy cakes with raisins/currants in but with brown sugar! Her favourite chocolate was Frys Chocolate Cream and Mars Bars and After Eights.

As far as I know we rarely had fruit juice if it was it was orange juice or orange squash and no fizzy drinks apart from special occasions - parties mostly.

I agree grandparents will and did with us ply us with sweets and chocolate in secret.

We do have good teeth now but my mum was obsessed with us brushing teeth. And when you get to teenager stage you tend to rebel and eat/drink what you like, slush puppies, ice pops etc!

Neighbours children (toddler and 5 year old) are rationed sweets on a daily basis and this certainly makes them sugar mad when they do get it. This time last year I came back from holiday abroad and brought them tubes of smarties with car/princess toy on top, the mum had to go and visit her sick father so the dad was left with the kids alone. I saw him after a week asked if they liked their toys, he said they'd gone through the smarties like mad and when they were put away or gone had stared longingly at the cupboard where they'd been kept!

I think little and in moderation including fizzy drinks and juice. Allow the odd fizzy drink occasionally or they may get offered it at a party but at leafs if they try it they can decide whether they like it or whether it's the Devil's own drink!

We were so good with ds1. He was over 1 before any form of biccys, cake - still prefers water or milk to juice. It fell apart with ds2 (and 3) as ended up being fed by sibling(s) - they are juice fiends too - sigh

We have a 3 year old (nearly 4) and do sweets on a Saturday and chocolate/juice/crisps/cake/biscuits occasionally. We believe in balance and that a treat should be a treat not a regular event. We are however super strict about aspartame, msg and our son has never had a McDonald's. That said we are by no means perfect getting our son to eat veg is a constant battle but he does like fruit. I think go with your gut and what suits your family personally.

I don't want teen/adult orthorexics, overweight kids or fussy eaters. So not much, then ...

I do not control my kids' access to food very much at all. One likes sweets, and one likes cakes and chocolate. Neither eats them more than 1 or 2 times a week. Not through anything we've done though.

I think they were very small when they had sweet foods. I remember DD having a hunk of cake on a train at about 8 months and some Italian tourists looking on in absolute amazement. Apparently kids there do not eat real food until ridiculously late - like age 3 or 4- out of fear of choking, and dogged adherence to paediatrician-provided mush weaning schedules.

Breast milk and formula are both sweet and fatty. Which is why I think trying to preserve their palates is a bit daft, personally.

DD1 was about a year for icecream, cake and chocolate. First fizzy drink was last Xmas (she's 7).

DD2 crawled across the floor and swiped a cake off a visiting toddler aged exactly 6 months .

First fizzy drink, which she doesn't like, was last Christmas aged 5.

When they started going to other kids' parties- impossible not to without making it look like forbidden fruit. I was doing so well until then...

With my PFB, he was about 1. Possibly slightly younger as there was a cluster of birthday parties of baby friends shortly before his. He ended up on an exclusion diet for milk, eggs and soya at 13m, so that significantly reduced the range of treats that I could offer him. At least he didn't know what he was missing. He's not got much of a sweet tooth and likes savoury foods.

DS2 I was more relaxed about, as long as it didn't bring him out in hives .

Now they're a bit older, I don't keep many sweet treats in the house anyway. They are allowed fairly free reign outside the house as that represents a smaller proportion of their intake. Overall they eat well and a decent range of food. I promote a moderation message, that different foods have different fuels for different jobs. Some foods are more useful than others, and a bit of everything is good, and too much of anything isn't as good.

My 13 year old ds has never even tried a fizzy drink. Seriously he's not interested. He sticks to water or milk! Occasionally a blackcurrant squash. That's all he has.
The 9 year old on the other hand, does like fizzy drinks. I rarely buy them but when we do he loves them.
I don't know if this is to do with an earlier exposure to them - 9 year old went to a 5th birthday party where there was lots of coca cola and he came running out telling me how he'd had a glass of coke. I was a bit inside but didn't show it.
Eldest didn't have fizzy drinks at that age and maybe it's just carried on now and he's just not interested in them. Water's always his choice much to others bemusement!
As for chocolate, the occasional chocolate button from the age of 3. Candy (sweets!) though I'd say 5 and up.

My ds was about 8 months old when some relatives of mine handed me a bag of chocolate buttons. I said Thanks very much, and ate them. Ds had already eaten, and I was starving. He wasn't even 1 yet, and I didn't give him chocolate. My relatives looked a bit shocked though.

First child - no choc/cake etc til a year and then just st parties. If they don't know it exists, why feed it to them?
Child 2: I was still pretty strict on this I have to say. he prob ate more crap at a younger age as he was dragged to parties etc with older sister, but still not before one. At his first bday party he I have photos of him with a face covered in choc cake, bless him.

He's 12 now and good at regulating the amount of junk he eats, although I still steer towards healthier choices.
I was at home before they got back from school so it was easier, but nor am working they raid the snack cupboard before I'm home.
Neither child - at 14 or 12 - has a filling. I got mine from chewing bubble gum as a teen as have barely had one since so have warned them off gum!!

By some standards on here my kids (7 and 4) probably have far too much. I don't think they do and would like to think they eat sweet things in moderation.

I talk to my kids a lot about health. Eg sweets are fine occasionally but they are bad for your teeth. I tell them vegetables and fruit will make their hair shine and their eyes sparkle whereas as sweets won't! They both eat a good, balanced diet and yes, they do have (plain) cake, or biscuits every day BUT I don't worry too much about it. The sweet portions they eat are small. They are not eating a huge slice of black forest gateau every day. I would say they have sweets (as in candy) once a week. They don't drink fizzy drinks, juice etc - just water. That's because we don't have those in the house - if they go to a party and coke is offered, well I'm not there to see it and they can have a glass if they choose.

I just use my common sense. Too many sweets = bad. Sweet things in moderation as part of a balanced diet = ok. But that's me. Others can do as they wish :)

Mine just drink water or milk.
They don't have sweets except at parties.
They probably have chocolate once or twice a week (eg Kinder eggs/Freddo)
They probabaly have cake once a week - at the w/e if we go out for a coffee
They like Nutella on toast, have done a deal with son that he has that every other day not every day!
We have pudding once a week, in the sense of a proper pudding (eg apple pie). The other days we have fruit/yoghurt.

My eldest is very moderate and could take or leave sweet stuff but my youngest would eat sweets all day if he could and is always on the lookout for sugary stuff!

Of course all that goes out the window in the summer school holidays when they are with grandma and grandad two days a week, and having umpteen ice-creams with them as well as us. Ah well, its only for the summer and September comes around. In September I only allow them dried fruit and water, ha!

We don't have candy in English (just the Americans do). We have sweets.

I think no child needs them but every family differs.

We have had children from other families here searching cupboards. They cannot believe there is no junk food and we only drink tap water!

For each child the first cake / chocolate / sweets experience that we know of was their first birthday.

We still try to avoid sweets where possible but cake and choc etc is fine. So a fair bit of swapping goes on at Halloween and with party bags, they are 2 and 3.5

And no fizzy drinks, squash is for special occasions, and they still have kiddy crisps rather than proper crisps.

Sweets...They discovered them when they started school.

Chocolate - child 1 was 2.5
Child 2, 3 and 4 around one.

Always dark choc if poss as less sugar.

Still no fizzy drinks and the oldest is 9. Squash on special occasions.

allow- " Squash on special occasions."

Thus neatly reinforcing the idea that sugar is "special", a treat or reward. And setting up very bad emotional / food associations.
My kids don't see sugar as a treat or something special.

My dd had her first taste of chocolate at 3. Her little brother found a Malteser under the table at a party at 9 months and ate it before I could stop him.

My 8 year old doesn't have fizzy drinks or crisps. Nothing to do with my fantastic parenting, he just doesn't like them. Weirdo.

First taste if chocolate at a year old here.

Was quite mean with Dd, she gets plenty now she's 4. Ds is 16 months and eating sweets now from Halloween, chupa chupa lollies, chocolates and a big bag of mini dime bars. I avoid haribo type sweets, boiled sweets but only in case he chokes. My kids eat a bit of something sugary 5 days out of 7, I try and buy kinder sticks/eggs so they get a small amount, all goes out the window on Halloween, birthdays, Christmas and the weeks after!
I asked Dd which her favourite holiday was, she said easter as she gets to eat chocolate eggs for breakfast!

Nothing before 1, and DD1 rarely had sweets before she turned 3 but the others were earlier due to DD1 going to birthday parties and coming home with loads of sweets.

What annoys me is how many sweets other people give them so I end up being the mean Mum who never gives then anything because frankly all the birthday parties they go to means they get sweets quite regularly enough.

DH and I don't drink fizzy drinks so they are never in the house so that's a non-issue, the kids drink water and milk and are allowed a glass of fruit juice if DH and I are having wine with a meal. DD1 (9) discovered coke a few years ago but knows it's something for parties only.

We don't routinely have biscuits in the house or cake but if we bake they get them.