To think banning a kid from having ANY sweets at all ever by the age of five

[Fragmentedbrain]

Is just asking to make them into a future sensation seeking crack addict?

Or is this normal now?

I think never buying them is fine and only having sugar if at a party, or the ridiculous amount you get from school. Don't make a thing of it.

We avoided all cereal with sugar in, and never bought sweets, ice cream or chocolates as a rule.

As they got older it was impossible to police. One of them has a sweet tooth but the other two would choose savoury over sweet everytime.

I think the issue is is if you bang on about it and be weird if they have sugar at parties etc.

Sadly lots of their friends had terrible diets as small kids and are now voverweight teens/young adults.

I'm happy with our decison but think if we were militant about it, it would have been an issue.

Cake and ice cream are not sweets. They are sweet things, but they are not sweets and they are not usually eaten in the same way as sweets. You can have them for pudding as part of a balanced meal, it's not airways just snacking for snacking's sake.

I would classify chocolate as sweets, for the same reason.

I don't think it would be unreasonable not to have sweets/chocolate at home but I wouldn't be too draconian about not allowing them when someone else is giving them out (other than strangers of course). No-one wants to be the one with the weird overprotective parents.

Huge mistake! We did this with our first. Of course, as soon as she discovered seeeties, she was hooked. Far more relaxed with our second, 9 years later. Even as a tot, he could eat a bit of chocolate and say “I’ve had enough now”.
Don’t ban foods.

I don’t think banning sweets completely helps: in fact, it makes kids more obsessed with them. I have a friend who does this, and her 4 year old goes absolutely wild whenever they see sweets.

For me, the issue isn’t sweets themselves, it’s the ultra-processed stuff. Those shop bought chocolates, cakes, and lollies are packed with sugar, artificial colors, seed oils, and other additives that make kids react like it’s a drug.

That’s why I focused on homemade. Until my daughter was 2, dessert was just fruit or plain yogurt. If I baked, it was without sugar; sometimes adding a little honey after she turned 1. She had her first store bought chocolate at 3, but by then she was already used to homemade ice cream, cookies, and cakes. She likes chocolate, but doesn’t go crazy for it. At kids’ parties, she won’t even touch the shop bought sweets and cakes, saying they taste “yucky.”

It’s about balance. She can have a little bit of shop chocolate once a week (a small piece, not a big bar), but most of the time her desserts are still fruit or homemade treats. She’s grown up with real food, so even now she would choose fruit over chocolate.

My kids are older now but for a long time I didn’t buy crisps or biscuits because when I’m tired or in a rush that was my go to! I decided not having them in the house would help me. Sadly that meant my children were embarrassingly obsessed with them when they did have access at parties or friends houses. They’ve grown out of that behaviour and I’ve learnt to use my grown up self control 🤣

We didn’t have it in the house but would happily let them have sweets as a treat at grandparents or parties etc. You’re asking for trouble if it becomes a forbidden fruit.

Errr no

If you worry about a 49p doughnut (or pack!) don't have kids id say

Sweets is another word for desserts / pudding.

Calorie dense options are preferred the world over by all humans.

No one is genetically predisposed to crave salad. We crave things that give us energy, ie fat and sugar.