To not allow sweets on way to school?

[birdsanctuary]

Dd 11 has just moved schools. There is a sweet shop close by and she and friends go in mornings before school. I'm not happy with her buying sweets first thing in morning - but am trying to allow her to make sensible choices (both budgeting and healthy lifestyle). She has a debit card so we could monitor amount spent.
Someone suggested that she just doesn't get a treat in her lunchbox that day which I thought was good and probably what will happen.
I think I'm mostly concerned about the habit it may encourage though. The school-uniformed energy drink brigade seems to be growing - it's all I see at bus stops in the mornings - and I don't want my DD making those choices. She already asks for sugary snacks too often and isn't particularly inclined to sports.
Just wondering how anyone else is managing this?

This is such a tough one OP!

I have a 12 year old (year 8) and she too has a debit card where I can see all she buys. It’s a very fine line between letting them have independence and making their own choices and intervening when things aren’t great.

I will say though, that the novelty of buying sweets and rubbish soon wore off for my DD and she preferred to save her money for clothes.

I never ‘banned’ her from going to sweet shops/McDonald’s/milkshake places or whatever, but I did gently talk to her about healthy choices etc.

It’s a tricky one, I personally wouldn’t ban her, but have open and honest conversations. And don’t give her extra money when it runs out! Make it clear she only has x amount and she’ll probably soon start saving it for other stuff!

I agree with the above poster - the issue is that the more 'banned' an item is, the more you want it.

I think setting days when she can, or at least having sweets in the afternoon.

Is it the sweets or the time of day that is the problem?

I would definitely try to manage this as In My own experience I used to walk by a newsagent that sold sweets before school and buy loads of sweets and the habit got worse and the novelty just didn’t wear off! The more sugar I had the more I craved and would spend all my money on penny sweets that I ate throughout the day.

It did my teeth no favours at all and I left school aged at just under 17 stone.

We bought sweets from the corner shop before getting the.school bus. I still have all my own teeth, a few sweets never did me any harm. I do think you need to give a little independence. I personally would not ban sweets! A few innocent sweets would be the least of my worries at high school.

Give it up. Its a battle you're going to lose anyway. You can refuse to buy sweet treats for home if your biggest worry is sugar intake.

You can't. Once they get to secondary school and have the ability to make their own food choices (and this includes school dinners) you have to accept that they may well not make the choices you want them to.

All you can do is limit the supply of "unhealthy" food at home and provide healthy meals while she is there.

Thank you to those who were helpful and constructive. I had no intention of banning sweets. I was more concerned with the time of day.
She gets a good healthy breakfast and I don't think she would abuse the privilege anyway.
Thank you to those who said the novelty would wear off when she realised she would want to buy clothes instead - that's already starting so I think you're right.
Thanks for thoughts and opinions. Very much appreciated.