To let my kids have a fun size chocolate every day?

[AndThenInTheEnd]

Is there an issue with this?

DS9 and DD6, both have normal BMI (although DD6 is always on the cusp of overweight), both eat varied diets.
Every day after dinner they have a piece of fruit then a “sweet thing”. Might be a yogurt, a cake bar, piece of cake, moam sweet, lollipop etc. I’ve recently bought a bag of fun size chocolate bars and they’ve been having one of them.

This is fine yes?

Rest of day - porridge for breakfast with teaspoon of Nutella. School lunch or at weekend sandwich with piece of fruit and raisin or yoghurt. Snack after school normally carrots and hummus, cheese crackers etc. Normal dinner - spag Bol, stirfry. Fruit then “sweet thing” after dinner. Saturday night is a film and we don’t have sweet thing but have snacks with film. Drink water and 1 cup of Ribena a day.

TIA

I would try to replace the chocolates with something more natural, and save the fun bars for once a week or ad hoc occasions. They are only small comparatively to an adult, so this is probably the same as an adult having a full sized chocolate bar daily. It’s not doing them any favours in the long run.

Sounds fine to me. Judging by the bags of snacks I see kids scoffing at the school gates I imagine most kids are having a lot more.

@Geneticsbunny

Fruit is a sweet thing isn't it?

BINGO!

I think it's fine. My kids have chocolate and crisps every day. I don't police the cupboards. My teenagers take what they want and my younger ones have to ask, but today my 2 and 4 year old have had chocolate pancakes for breakfast, my 4 year old had cake for lunch at school, they've had a bowl of sweets after school and an ice cream after tea. They're all normal weight and don't have dental problems.

I wouldn't - some basic yoghurts have the whole amount of recommended sugar for a child per day. Chocolate is meant to be a treat. Daily is not a treat.

I always seem to laugh about these lists of foods, that are given to children. I just saw carrots for an after school snack, my two children years ago, never had after school snacks, but I did give our donkey some carrots in the after noon !

My son never had a sweet tooth, so never craved sweets and chocolate stuff. I limited choc and sweet stuff to my daughter, and it's obvious,if you give chocolate, and the like to children, on a regular basis, they will get used to it, and always want some. and therefore might gain weight too much.

I just saw a woman in the local village shop, she had three children with her,, and they all went to get some sweets and choc and crisps off the shelves. They went outside, and were all opening the bags of things, and eating them, and the woman said to them, they would be having their dinner,or tea whatever,in an hours time, so they have to go home straight away now, and not on the swings on the green.

My DD has a nice pudding after every dinner. Might be chocolate cake, ice cream, chocolate bar. She isn’t over weight and eats vegetables and fruit. I really don’t see the issue personally.

Only with meals please OP

It's fine. No one here knows any more about what's right than your do! Even tho most seem to think they do 😂. Do you and fuck what anyone else thinks

I wouldn't make it a habit.

I think if it had been limited for me as a child, and my parents understood things like fruit was a sweet because it's full of sugar too, and not to stack sweets, then I'd have a healthier relationship with sugar, my weight and my self esteem as an adult.

I remember being a teen and going to friends houses and after tea I'd still be hungry and waiting for a sweet afterwards whereas they'd be totally satisfied, and that was the big lightbulb moment for me that it can be normal but it shouldn't be normal.

I don’t see the issue either. If they’re not overweight then it’s just part of a balanced diet to me. I care far more about how much fruit and veg they eat than getting worried over a fun size chocolate bar

I wouldn't create that expectation to be honest, it's just not needed especially as one is on the cusp of over weight. They're also having processed sugar with every meal. Nutella/school dinner desert/fun size chocolate - and why would you give them Ribena every day if they are happy with water?

I think it’s too much to have every day especially as one child should be watching sweet snacks, but also all that packaging bothers me

No wonder Brits are addicted to chocolate by the time they're older. @AndThenInTheEnd you're literally developing a habit of having candy every single day. That is going to be extremely hard for them to break when they're tweens, teenagers or even as adults. You see it on here all the time and in real life too. People who can't go without their daily chocolate and then are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that they're overweight or are pre-diabetic. Or they go into withdrawal when they try to quit sugar or chocolate.

Good habits form when you're young. Maybe candy once a week but every single day is really over the top. Set yourself kids up for good eating habits. Don't deprive them but don't overdo it on candy either.

The kids I know who have sweets really restricted to maybe once a week aren't any healthier than any other kids I know and they are always usually the ones who are absolutely obsessed with sweets, can't think about anything else if they've been told they can have an ice cream after playing in the park for example.

It’s so difficult to predict how your kids diet will develop. Every child is different and just because you may have healthy food habits they may differ completely. Please don’t overthink or stress about it too much.

I wouldn’t, because it’s not a treat if it’s every day. Also if they’re having nutella then that’s their chocolate treat for that day.

You need to restrict your child to one bowl of museli that you have hand knitted from hay and leaves. No more than 0.5g per day otherwise they will never learn to eat food sensibly or control any need for temptation. You say 'fun size' but there is no fun once they start on that stuff. Be warned.

Mine have a sweet item every day. I don't think it's an issue. I hardly ever had sweet treats and I am prone to binging even as an adult slightly embarrassingly. I know there is a need to limit treats but mine have 5 veg a day and a piece of fruit and we do lots of talking about healthy foods and why treats are limited. I do think it's become a real habit though so I can see the dangers highlighted by others

@MrsWooster

Mumsnet is not the place to ask this..!

This.

I'm sure I read a thread a while back where posters lamented the co"complrrely unsuitable" breakfast - weetabix with milk and no sugar.

It beggars belief on here sometimes.

In the real world, of course it's fine.

I have to laugh somewhat at threads like this. All these people aghast at a small sweet treat are no doubt the same people who trot out how people used to be much thinner in previous decades. Well, I've been around for many decades and when I was young mothers baked every week and we had pudding most days. Yes, overall people were thinner - but not because they followed a rigorous diet!!!

It's fine OP.

@Geneticsbunny

Fruit is a sweet thing isn't it?

Yes, but most fruits have other redeeming features.

I just saw a woman in the local village shop, she had three children with her,, and they all went to get some sweets and choc and crisps off the shelves. They went outside, and were all opening the bags of things, and eating them, and the woman said to them, they would be having their dinner,or tea whatever,in an hours time, so they have to go home straight away now, and not on the swings on the green.
And then what happened!

On the one hand it in itself doesn’t sound a problem but I then thought about the habit - ie meals have to have a sweet dessert every single time. I think it’s this habit that I’d definitely avoid forming for them ?

@seaandsandcastles

No I don’t think they should be having a sweet treat every day. Only occasionally.

Oh do behave