AIBU to give my children a treat everyday?

[Flossyknicks]

I’m wondering what other parents do when it comes to giving their children treats. They are 8 and 4 and will have a biscuit like a digestive or a custard cream, or a Mr Kipling Angel Slice, every day. At the weekends, it might be two treats.

YABU one treat a day is too much
YANBU one treat a day is ok

Shared with siblings I hope. My kids couldn't manage a whole one.

I try not to do this every day, primarily so their teeth don’t rot. Some days they have to have toast after school.
If your children start to look a little podgy, definitely stop this.

I don't think one biscuit a day will rot their teeth or make them 'podgy' (horrible word).

I’m the opposite though. I was never allowed fizzy drinks as a child and I rarely drink them now. Likewise crisps, just not something I ever want because we never had them.

No, some biscuits are ultra processed foods with very little nutritional value.

Of course it's a treat.

No wonder obesity is at such an all time high, if people are classing biscuits as a normal everyday food.

My thoughts exactly!
I’m starting to hate the word “ treat” and my kids are young adults!

Biscuits are a normal everyday food. Like bread, baked beans, bananas, porridge, flapjacks, chocolate, fish and broccoli.

Labelling food as "good" or "bad" or "treats" is not a good thing.

People are getting pedantic because labelling food as good/bad/treat often leads to disordered thinking around eating.

I never restricted biscuits/ cake etc and my adult children are very healthy without any weight issues.
They never had fizzy drinks or squash though .
They regularly chose fruit over chocolate.
Interestingly a friend whose children were denied any’ treats ‘ used to pinch food from our house ! They are all very overweight as adults .

The OP specified digestives. Digestives are classed as UPFs, aswell as most other mainstream biscuits, unless homemade.

It's not just about looking podgy. UPFs can affect cognitive development, particularly for young children. Poor dental health can also lead to poor physical health.

I'm by no means saying one digetsive biscuit a day can cause the above issues Im definednot saying that. But , separately, I think people should be mindful of focusing purely on weight gain as a factor when it comes to considering "treats" or whatever people want to call sugary UPFs.

Of course its okay

Let’s not pretend the majority of biscuits consumed by society are not ultra processed. If they’re shop bought (and it’s more likely that people are referring to shop bought rather than homemade) they’re highly likely to be ultra processed with little nutritional value.

As long as we also don't pretend that it's healthy to have the kind of extreme, dramatic attitudes to food that are often peddled on this website.

One won’t but two might, as might Angel slices!!
Agree, podgy is a really horrible word. It’s quite a useful one though when it comes to children’s health.

In this hot weather I’ve done ice creams every day.

Not everything needs to have nutritional value. Food is about more than fuel.

God, me too - I had three the other day! Some people on here would have a fit 😂

There are a lot of posters saying they didn’t restrict and their adult children are fine and they know others who did and those adult children have eating disorders.

There’s clearly a balance needed but a significant and increasing cohort of children now are overweight/obese, contributing to or causing serious long term health issues such as fatty liver disease.

I'm not the poster you're quoting but to me, someone who frets over whether it's all right to have one sweet thing every day, to the extent that they have to ask other parents if it's OK, reads very much like someone who is over-anxious about food.

I mean, I eat a single custard cream (pack) a day so I don’t see the problem?

If they are in the house I have no objection to them having one or two of these kinds of foods a day. I wouldn't give them the status of treats and I do talk to them about how some foods have fast energy which isn't long lasting so slow energy is better for meeting our bodies needs. However I don't buy so many of these kind of sweet things that they are available everyday. I think it should be normal to have these kind of foods occasionally or on occasions out rather than every day at home.

Gosh 2 whole biscuits!

I’m sure there are other posts on this website which can have extreme attitudes to food - from both sides. But what I said isn’t included in that. Calling (most) biscuits ultra processed with little nutritional value isn’t an extreme, dramatic attitude. It’s a fact. How often or not people choose to eat them doesn’t change this.