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

Everyone knows the correct amount if sugar in MN is really easy to work out. Kids should have... not nothing, but a little bit of naturally occurring sugar, but not raisins, but not too little as to make it restricted and have them go beseeek when a Party Ring enters the room. And it's definitely not every day, except it can't be just once a week, it should only be for special occasions, but it shouldn't be made into a mythical food stuff that is seen as a treat, it should be offered as part of a daily balanced diet of not too much sugar. Bear in mind that all fruit is just sugar, as is bread if it's white, and don't get then started in smoothies, you may as well be blending up mars bar with nesquick and calling it a health option.

Simple.

There is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with dc having a small treat every day, for god sake, some of the replies are mental!

We used to have sweets or chocolate on Saturdays and fruit and yoghurt the other days as a child. We could spend our pocket money on them and it was an exciting outing to the shop to buy the treats we wanted. No judgement at all for anyone who has treats every day. It’s whatever works best for you and your kids.

I can’t get animated about it. My kids have a varied diet daily including fruit veg, carbs protein and a small chocolate bar.

Porridge is fine but you could replace the Nutella portion with a banana or pear? Love pear with my porridge ❤️

One sweet treat is fine IMO

YABU for using the term 'fun sized'

Saying that I am really funny about fizzy drinks. That’s obviously my hard limit.

Just my opinion but it’s no longer a treat if it’s built into routine.

@burritofan

We always had a little pudding after tea like this, often a cake bar. But no Nutella on porridge or Ribena or raisins – that’s what tips it over the edge for me, it’s sweet things all day, rather than as a treat/extra.

This. It's not shocking, and I think if your children were really skinny, then I would assume they had a good metabolism, and it would be OK, but if a 6 yr old is on the cusp of overweight, then it is too much.

Personally, I would lose the Ribena altogether, as that is totally superfluous, and alternate the Nutella and the chocolate bars (ie don't have them on the same day). My kids only get the Quaker chocolate porridge on the days they cycle to school (20 mins each way), and even then I mix it with regular oats to dilute the sugar. You could also make the sweet treat smaller (eg smaller piece of dark chocolate). The pleasure would be the same.

My DD 22m has things like fruit every day,and things like cake/biscuits like maybe 2-3 a week.
Things like mini Jammie Dodgers as part of her lunch, all on the same plate as her sando, cheese, veggies etc. Sometimes we'll have a bit of cake to share in a café or make cakes/biscuits for when people are coming over or to share at nursery etc. But then we also do the same with things like cheesey crackers or savoury muffins we make. Sweet stuff is being treated as just another foodstuff really. Not a treat not a reward etc. Like we don't have carrots every day, no biggie, and we don't have shortbread every day, no biggie.

In the 90s when w were awful Mothers most packed lunches were sandwich, yoghurt, chocolate biscuit, crisps and SunnyD. All of mine had that at least 3 days a week. They has coco pops, frosties, sugar puffs and lucky charms. They had fizzy pop and Kia ora. Not one of mine has a filling, never had an eating disorder and all were outdoors for hours on end. They boys are all stick thin and the girls are slim. All are healthy and never( thankfully) have a need to visit a Doctor. I am so glad we didn't worry if eating 2 yoghurts in one day was too much. Yes we must look after our children but jeez oh don't make them survive on a diet of gruel or they will go off the rails and stuff their faces with everything you banned as soon as they have some freedom. Remember raisins will ruin their teeth just as quick as a packet of starburst

And I would also keep an eye on the snack after school. Some of those cheese crackers are MASSIVELY high in saturated fat and salt, and hummus also got a lot of fat (good fat, but fats nonetheless). I would try and switch some of that to a healthier alternative, or watch the portion size.

Don't get into bad habits op, a fun-size bar shared between the family on a Friday night should be plenty.

Allow whatever you like, it's not up to Mumsnet. Just remember to allow DCs unlimited access to the fruit bowl

I would normally say of course it's fine but your 6 year old is on the 'cusp' of being overweight so no

You could also make the sweet treat smaller (eg smaller piece of dark chocolate). The pleasure would be the same.

If you think a six year old would get the same pleasure from a small piece of dark chocolate as they would from a fun-sized chocolate bar then I don't think you were ever a six year old.

I think it’s fine. My mother used to buy a little chocolate for my brother and me daily and it didn’t kill us. Wasn’t overweight or anything until my 40s so I don’t think it did us any harm.

@Maassi

1) That's too much daily sugar and it also creating a sweet tooth/mindset for them that they need the chocolate after a dessert as well.

2. Why are you giving daily chocolate if one child is on the cusp of being overweight?

Exactly this. Your kid is close to being overweight, so you give her more food to make her overweight. Not quite understanding the logic there..

That's fine. Then they get to secondary school and buy sweets and fizzy drinks on the way home from school with their pocket money.

I know people say it’s an mn thing but I still do think it’s too much sugar

It sounds totally fine.
I think withholding sweet treats makes a child greedy once they are in control of what they eat.

I haven’t read the whole thread but lots of responses saying ‘It’s fine, that’s what most kids have”…

But did you know that 64% of adults in the U.K. are overweight? How did we get that way? There are lots of reasons - but the amount of sugar we consume is an overwhelming factor.

I think if your 6 year old is on verge of obesity then you need to either cut back on food or swap to lower calorie food

And I would also keep an eye on the snack after school. Some of those cheese crackers are MASSIVELY high in saturated fat and salt, and hummus also got a lot of fat (good fat, but fats nonetheless). I would try and switch some of that to a healthier alternative, or watch the portion size.

Oh for God's sake.

Ice Op. Just feed them ice.

Too much sugar in their diet.