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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU Diet Coke at a party?

517 replies

early30smum · 28/01/2017 18:50

DD (7) has just got back from a party. The only drinks put out for the kids were Diet Coke! She did get some water in the end, but the drink provided for each child was a mini can of Diet Coke!

AIBU to think this is a bit weird/uneccesary for a birthday party of 7-8 yr olds?

OP posts:
extrabiotin · 28/01/2017 21:57

@NoCapes.

Why are you concerned? Can I not just shoot the breeze or what?

Control freaks abound when they see some who may not conform to their reality.

Not necessarily yourself either, but you get the drift!

neweymcnewname · 28/01/2017 22:06

'one of those' parents who are apparently scientifically illiterate because we could prefer water to aspartsme
The thing is, there is a big difference between preferring something, and getting angry about anyone offering someone elses child something else, once, at a party! No one is saying 'coke is best and everyone must drink it', but surely we can be realistic and tolerate slightly different tastes when a child is having fun at a one off event. Kids in other countries suffer malnutrition and a lack of clean water to drink - getting cross about the 'wrong' free drink is mad, tbh :-(.

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 28/01/2017 22:08

'one of those' parents who are apparently scientifically illiterate because we could prefer water to aspartsme

No, scientific illiterate if you think there are sound scientific reasons to think aspartame is dangerous in any way.

extrabiotin · 28/01/2017 22:12

@neweymcnewname

Eminently sensible post. Thank you.

witsender · 28/01/2017 22:15

I would be a bit Hmm at it being the only drink available.

Carnabyqueen · 28/01/2017 22:19

It wouldn't cross my mind to think anything about it. My kids sometimes ask for coke, water, milk, squash. They're just bloody drinks!

Maybe I am a shit parent but I really do have other more important things to worry about.

Butteredpars1ps · 28/01/2017 22:21

Children don't need birthday cake, parties or anything else for that matter

Agreed. But every party that I attended in the 70s was a sugar and additive fest. It might not have been good for us but somehow we survived.

I'd like to have seen alternatives to the Diet Coke, but I wonder if mini cans were a way of moderating the amount consumed.

meltownmary · 28/01/2017 22:53

So sad that some of you cannot allow a sugary drink now and then.

Command and control I suppose.

noblegiraffe · 28/01/2017 23:16

Diet Coke isn't a sugary drink.

It is, however, a caffeinated one.

Xmasbaby11 · 28/01/2017 23:20

I'd think it odd. Dd is only 5 but I wouldn't plan to give her coke so I don't know how the caffeine would affect her. There should always be a choice of drinks.

NerrSnerr · 28/01/2017 23:23

Xmas is she allowed any chocolate?

AIBU Diet Coke at a party?
AIBU Diet Coke at a party?
UKcanuck · 28/01/2017 23:27

I think it's easy to set up a party according to what you do in your own household and hence believe will be accepted everywhere. So if your child regularly (or occasionally) drinks Diet Coke then you'd think that that was a perfectly normal thing to offer and you'd offer it. Possibly never realising that other households don't have the same rules.

I once gave out Haribos at a party and got a spawn-of-Satan lecture from another parent about how I should have given children a choice as Haribos aren't OK. DC in question knew he wasn't allowed them and politely declined but I still got a phone call from the mum Blush

PurpleDaisies · 28/01/2017 23:28

That's a BIG bar of chocolate for a five year old though nerrsnerr.

mmgirish · 29/01/2017 00:59

I think offering Diet Coke to kids is weird actually. Not because it's fizzy but because it's caffeinated.

NerrSnerr · 29/01/2017 05:01

Purple oh yes you are right there! To be fair the Coke portion should be more than halved too in my example as the mini can isn't very big.

TheDowagerCuntess · 29/01/2017 05:18

I agree that it's odd not to also offer water. Very odd.

Diet Coke - no, I wouldn't serve it at a 7 year old's party, but probably wouldn't find it that strange if someone else did.

I would find not offering water as well strange.

MitzyLeFrouf · 29/01/2017 05:25

I really can't see it's something to stress about. Your child drinks 200ml of Diet Coke at a party and.............then they go home after having had a nice time with their friends. Oh the drama!

MitzyLeFrouf · 29/01/2017 05:29

DS (7) has never been to a party where he's been given fizzy drinks and he's never had coke/diet coke anywhere, I'd be pretty pissed off if someone did give it to him.

Maybe it's time for you to toughen up a little because in the very near future someone might offer your precious 7 year old child a fizzy drink, and your precious 7 year old child might gratefully accept it and drink it.

Shocking I know.

Mummyoflittledragon · 29/01/2017 05:38

Mitzylefrou

Agreed. I think a selection of water, squash and lemonade is fine for this age group. It's a party.

Ponderingprivately · 29/01/2017 05:41

wow this thread has got pretty nasty in places!
I agree that it's a bit odd not to have a few jugs of water as many children do not like fizzy drinks. Also don't think a mini can of diet coke is a big deal.

flowery · 29/01/2017 06:13

I'm still pretty astonished that my position on offering only Diet Coke to 7 year olds seems to have landed me on the "smug" side of a smug vs laidback parenting debate. Now that's somewhere I never thought I'd be. Far from it!

AwaywiththePixies27 · 29/01/2017 07:16

Mini cans for a 7yo at a party? Absolutely fine.

DD (10) went to a party last year where they had several lots of fizzy pop on offer amongst the juice and water. Fanta/Cola/Dr Pepper/Lemonade etc.

When I went to pick her up, DS had a massive meltdown because he was offered a drink and I said no to the fizzy. But that's because he's one of those kids that's bouncing off the wall 24/7 and would be a nightmare with pop inside him Grin

AwaywiththePixies27 · 29/01/2017 07:27

I'm confused by a poster saying that diet fizzy drinks ruin your teeth, so the full fat versions are fine to teeth then?

Neither version is okay for your teeth when drinking plenty of it. It's the acid in both that chips away at your enamel. I once got quite a telling off of my dentist when I thought I'd been good and boasted to her I'd switched to diet Pepsi! Blush

OP said it was a mini can, if it's the small ones I think it is, an adult can get about five swigs out of it so I doubt the occasional one at a Childs party will do lasting damage.

NickyEds · 29/01/2017 07:52

witsender the ops dd had water! Water was available! I'm guessing that the party organiser just bought a load of those mini cans thinking they would be easier than several bottles and cups. Child doesn't want diet coke, asks for water, gets water. So essentially this thread could be 'Parent pissed off child had to ask for water!'.

mambono5 · 29/01/2017 09:17

Why do people think that if you try to give your child a mostly healthy diet that you're 'depriving them' and they'll automatically become obese and have no self control when they're older??

to make themselves feel better. Did they really believe that a diet of junk food is good for a child, or an adult? 2 or 3 parties a week, McDo Friday, junk food Saturday, take away Sunday and Monday because no one can be bothered to cook. Some kids don't even know the taste of water because they have never tried it without squash.

Kids around me are happy with a healthy lifestyle, and the very occasional trip to Mc Do, TGI's or Nando's. They are not likely to become obese because they are not given fizzy drinks and rubbish every couple of days. They can still enjoy all the parties they are going to.