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.

My third child has been weaned on chocolate biscuits. My first ate only organic purée. The middle one was somewhere in between. Good job I am having no more or they may not be fed at all.

My children are now 39, 33 and 24. I very very rarely bought them sweets and snacks etc. My sister thought I was a little harsh on them, however, they have good teeth, are all slim and eat reasonably healthily. In fact he middle one was a child who would throw a tantrum at the checkout when I refused to buy sweets. I simply walked out and left her on the floor having a fit - she soon followed - and I had the older one to check she WAS actually following me. She has since told me that she hated me for not buying her sweets, well into her early teens, but she is so grateful because at school ALL of the girls in her class had 3/4/5/6 fillings and she had one tiny one. Being a good parent is a tough job - you need to be tough with as well at times. Believe me, they will thank you and respect you. My children do and they are well balanced, caring and thoughtful adults. Best of luck!

Reading some of these replies makes me feel very out of place. You're all so much better at this! DD1 had chocolate biscuit around 6 months...at a year she would get bits of chocolate. I stick to baby-grade biscuits and snacks though if I am giving it to her. Just last week I had to give her a haribo jelly worm for her teeth because I was out and left the teething ring at home

joanofgraceland your child still got a filling though

Mine are 18,15,12,11. I don't buy crisps, biscuits, cake, sweets or fizzy pop for them. ( I'm terrible for coke but they know it's mine and not to touch ) can't remember what ages they were but they were allowed things on special occasions. But due to my love of baking they will only ever eat homemade cakes, buns and pies. Plus iv one that can't stand fizzy things plus she on her own accord loves sushi and lives off fruit, veg, rice, pasta, one that will only drink water and milk. ( I also wasn't allowed sweet things when I was young and now iv the biggest sweet tooth ever, it's tourture going all week without anything chocolatley)

People on here will think me a harridan - but I never gave my children sweets. They are 14 and 18 now and have no interest in them, nor a sweet tooth.

I threw out the bags of Haribo in party bags, but if my youngest ever got some, he would stick them to his bedroom window (I think he thought they were for decoration)!

I didn't mind them having a bit of chocolate or cake, but I just never got into the habit of giving sugary things as a treat. Similarly, we never once gave them squash or juice.

It was no big deal - I didn't make a big fuss about it and nor was it set in stone, it just wasn't in our mindset.

Small amount of sweets/choc every day if eat well otherwise (fruit/veg). 6 year old can have fizzy drinks when we eat out, 2 year old sticks to milk or squash. Both very active so can't see an issue.

I didn't ever not allow them.

It takes way too much energy to ban foodstuffs. Everything in moderation in this house.

Squash on special occasions?

Sorry but aside from the fact that squash is rank, it makes your house sound like that orphanage from Lemony Snicket.

lol gratefully.

DS tasted ice cream and pain au chocolat on holiday at 11m. Now at 2 he has cake, biscuits, jelly, custard etc every so often. He hasnt had any chewy sweets but has had chocolates. He has only drunk milk and water. So not terrible but not perfect.

BoyGirlBoy3 Yes I said so A tiny one Very good when EVERY single girl in the class i.e. 14/15 others had much more than hers and was noticeable enugh for her at 13 yrs old to mention it and thank me Most children will have a little tooth decay at some point

My youngest who is 3 has sweets occasionally (when elder siblings have them) she has crisps, biscuits, chocolates etc but it is usually for a treat night - DVD, fleecy blanket as a family on a Saturday eve/Sunday afternoon after roast. She has probably been like this for around a year. They also get a splash of fizzy pop during special meals (where the adults drink wine!)

I am quite casual but I can't abide lollies on sticks (stays in the mouth for a prolonged period, pushes out teeth and choking hazard!)

The halloween sweets will be in the cupboard until the next DVD night.

Aaaghhh! It's a tricky One but there is a childhood obesity epidemic in the u.k. which cannot be ignored. What's interesting is that out of 34 countries evaluated and compared for the WHO , the u.k. was 9th and france was 29th for levels of childhood obesity.

Now Ive Always admired the french "everything in moderation" attitude and that's what a lot of posts on here , and myself, seem to Agree with. However why is there such a difference between these Two countries?...

I personally don't see the need to offer sweets/crisps/chocolate as a snack/treat to very Young children, it's not necessary, plus you can't miss what you dont have BUT i do not ban them! At parties it's fine and if offered by others that's ok too. We have sweet puddings after dinner and bake cakes etc. Fizzy drinks are the only No.

Also i live in a country where they traditionally have a day to eat sweets and you see not just kids but adults gorging themselves on sweets as they feel so good about a guilt free week ......i find that behaviour even more bizzare!!!

Another part of parenting to feel guilty about i guess !

DD1 now 6 had sweets occasionally from 2 only because she always saw them when we went to my nephew's house. But by age 6 she had 3 fillings which was due to all the fruit & apple juice she drank to help with her chronic constipation (half diluted with water). DD2 now 1 probably had bits of chocolate from 9m, she would grab off her older sister & cousins! I don't buy sweets now only a bit of chocolate for treats & juice is limited to half a cup a day at main meal.

Started giving both of mine tastes of chocolate / biscuits / cake / ice cream from age 1.

They're now 2.5 and 4, and neither has ever had a sweet / hard or chewy candy (or lollies, as we like to say here in New Zealand) but that's mainly because a) I'm a paranoid freak about choking hazards and b) I have no taste for lollies myself so we never have them in the house.

My Dd, 4, drinks only water or milk. No sweets etc before 1. Due to food intolerances she doesn't have much choice so therefore it doesn't happen v often. She's happy with fruit etc and sees 'nakd' bars/ nibbles as treats! She certainly doesn't take after me 🙈

Our daughter has either sweets, cake, cookies or chocolate every day for pudding after her dinner. She is 7 but we have done this since she was about 5. Her teeth are fine as she washes them afterwards and she isn't over weight at all. Seems we are in the minority from this thread. Am wondering why it is so bad though?!

He was about 1, maybe a bit older, when I absent mindedly gave him some chocolate in the car on the way back from IKEA and he loved it.

Never really consciously banned or withheld sweets, never made a big deal of them as a treat, he had never pestered for them, an open packet can stay on the table for a week and he will have one or two sweets a couple of times a week.

Fizzy drinks; never brought them into the home, they are something that come off a menu, so an infrequent choice.

I was strict with son number 1. But didn't quite work with the younger 2. They tasted chocolate by first birthdays. As for fizzy drinks, I still don't buy them and my oldest is 15 they've had them as an occasionally treat when out. We went out to a BBQ once. I didn't think to take drinks, it was on a farm so no water available. The only drinks were fizzy orange. (Or alcohol) So my youngest age 4 at the time had some. I was convinced all the air in it would make him throw up. But I do try to avoid fizzy. I know the older 2 buy them at school. So far I've kept the older 2 away from these awful energy drinks. Their friends all drink them. They may have bought them without my knowledge.
All of them eat too many sweets. If my OH goes to the shop for a loaf of bread or milk he always comes back with several bags of sweets, cakes and junk 😡 It crazes me!

DS is 4 and I allowed him to have the odd sweet since I was happy wouldn't choke on it, maybe around 18 months, chocolate from earlier-little tastes of easter eggs etc. Not a regular thing but a treat. He's never had a fizzy drink.

About 3 but quickly discovered that he cannot sweets or icing (can have chocolate) so needs to be closely monitored. I don't know how long for though.

The twins never drank Coke or fizzy drinks til about 7 or 8 and they only ever have it on special occasions, eg parties or big cinema trip or something, and then they always regret it and wish they had water. They have a snack after a meal as we don't really do homemade pudding very often, so they might have tea and biscuits or crisps etc. They don't like Haribo and chewy sweets luckily.

Why do some people object so strongly to Macdonald's in particular? I was desperate for a big Mac when I was pg so went in with my 2yo. He had fish fingers, fries and water. He could have that in a whole range of cafes. I'm not saying it's the healthiest but it's not the worst out there either.

McDonald's is far better than KFC - the fat & calorie count in KFC is astronomical.

I don't know why people are so against McDonalds either. Fried food every meal isn't healthy but the majority of cafes would fry fish fingers not grill them for speed.

My daughter doesn't like chips or fries so she has either a grilled chicken or crispy chicken salad.

There are times when you are out when you just want something quick & easy & McDonalds is great for that.