To never buy snacks/squash/sweets etc again

[Fiera]

Every single time there is somthing remotely snackly in the house it just gets taken and eaten. The large double concentrate bottles of squash gone within 24 hours, any kind of sugary cerial gone the same day they come through the door.
I dont like to use the word 'steal' but tonight its the only word i can use because my daughter actually STOLE my can of coke.
We never usually buy coke or Fizzy anything, nut it was my eldest sons birthday and all the children had a can as a very rare treat. My daughter actualli hid my can up her sleeve (after having drank hers earlier in the evening) and went and drank it in her bedroom.
Even my toddler daughters 'treats' like 'GoGo' biscuits and 'Goodies' puffs just disapear before she even knows theyre there.
We have a full fruit bowl, two actually, every day and even they get emptied. They have hot meals every day so theyre not 'hungry' just greedy.
I just dont understand why they do it and im seriously considering just not buying again.
My toddler will happily drink water (theres hardly ever any squash left for her anyway)

Omg Ginny finally someone has says the most sensible things!

I was astonished by how so many people said Squash is not a treat and OP's children are deprived by sweets and snacks.

I have a toddler and my family has always chose real food over 'processed' and sugar fruits and drinks. Occasional snacks like dark chocolate, yes. Nuts and cheese and snacks like that, we including the toddler have them in out diet.

Why gives squash and fruit juice when water is free (well almost) and healthiest?

I'm still shocked to read some of these posts.. no wonder diabetes and obesity are such epidemic and the avg size in uk is 16... 🙈

When it comes to biscuits, sweets, crisps even juice I restrict those. They are allowed a juice in morning with breakfast and one another treat of couple of biscuits, small cake, bag of crisps after dinner and sweets only on the weekend. I see nothing wrong with what your doing. I also restrict sugary stuff. Only suggestion I have is have a treat cupboard with a lock on it till the kids can learn self control. Especially as you have teens. Mine are only 5 an 6 so its easier for me I just put treats on top shelf :p think I'm lucky because the kids have gotten used to it and aren't that bothered. They are even. Happy to have a piece of fruit after dinner instead and still see it as a treat lol

Snacks don't "need to happen". This thread has explained the reasons for the obesity problem more than any other.

the sugar thing bothers me too
does she get what other kids get as my boy often tells me i don't buy enough sweets (im 2 sets of braces in hes 12 and still wont brush his blooming teeth)

Hi, I read the other very similar post yesterday with a heavy heart, and now this one also. I am truly very bemused and also truly not trying to blow my own trumpet. I brought my two up single handedly, and there was never anything in their home, that they may not have, (except for my odd bottle of wine!) - I always had the stuff called treats, (crisps, penguins bars, biscuits, squash, coke, lemonade etc. etc. available) and would never in my wildest dreams have called it "stealing" if my two helped themselves to what I considered to be "our family supplies".

Strangely, I can simply never remember either of them, even when teenagers, bingeing on any of it, nor taking any of it particularly regularly.. but I can absolutely recall them choosing some fruit instead, when watching a film together, or something. I genuinely, (and shoot me down in flames if you wish) believe that this is because they had their own "choice" These were not "rare or forbidden treats", they were simply allowed them, but were also educated about tooth care, too much sugar, etc. etc.

Both have grown into very healthy young (sporty) women so no obese adults, before anyone thinks that was the outcome.

I am probably a lot older than most of you posting, but I honestly do believe that if you label something as a "rare treat" it almost immediately becomes very much more desirable in a childs' view.

Your daughter needs to miss out on the next treat due to the theft of your drink.

I think you need to lock the treats away. They can't be trusted so remove the temptation.

it was ingrained at a nursery breakfast snack lunch snack dinner supper we found the routine suited us and kept both boys happy (school dinners didnt work for us as they were always hungry.
what does she usually consume ? my boy can pack away a fair bit mostly its healthy but were normal and will have crisps biscuits not so much chocolate but ill give them a pound for the shop at the park to buy sweets.
does she graze? boys dont but they would if i wasnt here
sorry for the long post xx good luck

User your post was spot on. It's about how we view food & the relationship we have with it. I know women my age who were restricted 'treats' to the extent they would buy their own & eat them in secret. It's unhealthy. My DD is tall, scrawny & runs around like a mad woman (also has perfectly healthy teeth), but my attitude is far more relaxed than many of her friends when it comes to food.

TigerTown honestly no offence taken, just wanted to offer up the other side 🙂 i made the mistake of offering squash too early, which I don't intend to repeat with the next one...but in the grand scheme of things DD having squash doesn't concern me too much

Mine also only allowed juice at breakfast. I very rarely have it, but when we were lead to believe it was healthy, I had it at every meal. I also rarely have cereal now too.

I have 3 children and a bottle of Robinsons lasts a couple of days. How can you possibly have a huge bottle of squash for it to go in 24hrs? esp if it is concentrate!
They have treats and snacks but never ever help themselves. Even if fruit is in a bowl they would still ask.

Mine are teens now but we never bought squash, sugary cereals, biscuits or sweets.

It simply never occurred to us.

I’m not militant, I just gave mine water or milk. And even now, they drink water by choice and don’t have a sweet tooth. If you don’t start sweetening water with squash or juice, they don’t miss it.

If you are going to have sugary stuff in the house and kids that don’t self limit, it needs to be kept out of reach.

In my mind this isn't about food at all, but behaviour and respect for property.

I have a friend who has problems with her children like this - they raid the cupboards, eating things intended to make full scale meals, so when she comes to cook, there aren't the key ingredients. They also raid her present drawer and take things like toiletry sets, they raid her make-up and use it, they raid the cupboard where spare shower gel etc is and just open and use it.

These kids are not deprived or hungry or short of shower gel, it is about behaviour and choices to do this, despite being told not to. They don't care what their mum says or respect her, and to be honest, they do it because they have got away with it.

OP, I'd say you need to make clear what they can freely take, what they need to ask for and that if they just take that stuff or yours, it is stealing. And you need to be clear what the consequences of this will be and follow through on them. Then you should find this kind of thing stops.

I do believe teens need snacks as well as meals.
Teach them how to make an omelette.
Buy a pack of rolls & bunch of bananas a day. Nuts, apples. Get a popcorn machine.
Just don't buy the empty snacks 🤷‍♀️

Amazingly, in the not too distant past, it wasn't possible to buy endless crisps and biscuits and teenagers survived.

OP, buy a reasonable amount of snack food for the week, and when it's gone it's gone.

If I had only one of something and the child wanted it I'd give it to them freely. But then I am not obsessed with food and i am slim fit and healthy. No-one can steal food in my house cos we all share everything

tawnyport the children aren't badly behaved ffs they are hungry. Don't think I'd take a biscuit from you without asking either, I'm getting a sore head from imagining you losing your cool ... On a lighter it'll make a lovely wedding anecdote my Emily stole a jaffa cake once, she never did again. In fact I can't even say jaffa cake without her weeping uncontrollably

I try not to swear on public forums (or in life) but WTF??

How does any child "steal" food? It's family food?

Buy a limited amount of junk food, take your dc to the store with you to plan what you all need for the week. Give them some control over their food choices within discussed guidelines.

This food police stuff is crazy.
"No." Is not a discussion. Explain why you know sugar is bad. Then tell them that you expect them to make good choices for their own health.

Good choices are responsibilities that all of us need to make. Children rebel when pushed but glow when given control. They WANT to be in charge so give them appropriate choices and LEAD, don't punish.

Both of my dc are 100% height and 50% weight. Have been since babes.

They love various fruit and veg. I let them have access to the pantry and what juice that they wanted.

Our schedule has always been breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. If they are hungry at any time, they eat. Of course they have had conversations with us about the connection of food and their bodies/health/acne.

But I also pushed them to exercise with bikes, scooters, swimming, games and tossed them outside at snack time. I made good food fun. I listened to them and NEVER forced them to try food or made them eat something they disliked.

All of those things were done to me and from experience, its not a good parenting choice.

Help your dc understand how much better they feel by eating healthy food, limit bad food coming into your home and be a good role model.

My dc yell at me for poor eating habits.

Seriously, please stop punishing dc for eating. Teach them to eat when they are hungry and if they are bored, give them better choices than food.

Just don’t buy it. I have two kids 6 and 10 and we’ve had two open bottles of squash in the cupboard for the past three months give or take. We all just tend to drink water in our house. Fruit does tend to vanish in our house they eat about 3 portions of fruit a day. Snacks are usually things like cucumber carrot and cheese to dip in mayonnaise and/or pickle maybe some ham. Occasionally they will make a sandwich as a snack if they’re really hungry. We do have biscuits and crisps in the house but the rule is I will buy one multi pack of crisps per week and one packet of biscuits. When they’re gone they’re gone.

If people consume a lot of sugar, the body craves more hence the 'stealing' of coke etc.. Tell them to drink water and eat porridge which will fill them up. If there's anything special you buy which you want to keep for yourself, hide it in your car.

@margesimpson40

pinguine gorging and scoffing !!!!! They are teens, they get hungry, they eat . Everyone has some sort of self control, you appear to have a lot .... Mmmm maybe too much why not share some with your kids. I'd it before they grow up and realise the world has more to worry about than eating an extra biscuit. Must go and gorge on an orange. You have seriously missed me off using such negative phrases to describe something normal !!!!

If you look back at the OP's original (and subsequent) post, where large amounts of sugary or junk based foods disappear within hours of being in the house, and think that's normal, then I'm surprised. In that case I can only say that what is apparently normal for you is not healthy or normal for most families. Being pissed (?) off at that behaviour being pointed out as undesirable in children is a very odd reaction.

How does any child "steal" food? It's family food?

It is right to say the DD stole the can of Coke because she knew it was her mum's treat and had already had her own. She hid it up her sleeve and went and drank it in her bedroom.

I have two dd. Under 10I dont want them to ever think any food is a treat or reward. Fruit and snacks when they want them. They know about food and what they should eat. Very often sweets left out for weeks. Its just not an issue. I have made it that way.

I'm with you and I've cut down massively. Mine are only 5,3 and 2 though but just gobble up snacks and they cost so much money.

I never buy juice because they then want every drink to be juice and will kick off. Out of sight, out of mind here. They don't ask for it and know it's a treat when we go out sometimes. I've stopped buying crisps as they were just a waste too. They don't ask for them, it's just when they can see they're there that they obsess over them.

The snacks I buy now are fruit, yoghurts, sausage rolls, YoYo Bear things and Organix bars.

Understandably they will accept these because they are younger, I'm not sure what I'll do when they're older so good luck to you with whatever you decide. Sugar is so addictive though, I know because i'm addicted myself and I don't want it for them too.

"Very rare treat" that sums it up. It's because these things are so rare that the kids are going into overdrive when they appear.

This ^

We were the same as kids. Treats were very rare and were gone within seconds when we had them.

We did it differently with ours. They can have anything they want treatwise. Now they ask me to buy fruit. (4 and 2) And when we do buy chocolate they don't want it. 'No it's boring mummy, don't want it'.

Same with the TV and iPad . 'Don't want to watch, I want to play, TV is boring'

I don't have teens so don't have this problem. But would it work to put a lock on one of the kitchen cupboards and store all the snacks in there? And then get a container for the kitchen counter and put a selection of snacks in there every few days? And tell the kids they are limited to a bag of crisps and chocolate bar a day and if they are still hungry they can help themselves to cereal or a sandwich?