How to stop giving my children so many sweets

[overdraft]

I am trying not to give my children too many sweets but they just keep getting given them.
Party bags
peoples birthdays at school
treats from others
even lollies at resturants although we haven't been out for ages.

Was wondering how you all cope with all this and have you any ideas please

i admit i throw out a lot of sweets dd's are given

eg nearly all their eastereggs

most of the contents of party bags

dd1 is very good at saving sweets she gets so she tends to put them in a pot and ahve a few every now and then. I try to do this with the others too so I put them away and dole them out.

I am not sure if this is worse than having a "binge" and tehn nothing for a while though!

DH and I eat most of them!

I don't buy them sweets so when they get them from somewhere else it is an occasional treat.

I keep all of the sweets that my dd is given in a cupboard, and she has them a few at a time. A few sweets every now and again is no big deal, and at least this way I don't have to keep buying them for her - there's always something in the cupboard! Every now and again I throw out some of the stuff that's been in there for a while, but she never remembers what's in there because there's so much.

oh yes and also use the tax system - I getto open all sweets and charge at least one sweet for doing it

but do end up chucking away all the junk in party bags too.

I put party bags away in a cupboard once they've had one thing out of it and then it sits there for ages cos they forget about it and then I throw it away! Evil mummy!

I say 'Oh wow how lovely! Let's have them for pudding tonight, and that way Daddy can enjoy some too.' It teaches them (I hope) that I don't disapprove of sweets but that sweets have their own time, also it dilutes the sweets because the bags get shared out between all of us. Plus I usually have an opportunity of riffling through the bags in secret and whipping out a few of the worst offenders!

When people give us eg lolipops at restaurants I do my best to divert them without the children seeing, or even say 'No thanks'. If the children object I promise them an alternative.

And there will be plenty of Mumsnetters who think that you and I are making a fuss over nothing!

If we get them in party bags etc I put them away in the cupboard and I let ds have one or two after tea, but don't give them in between meals. After a while he usually forgets they arein the cupboard, so I dispose of some of the worst ones. When we eventually run out I just tell him we don't have any more and he seems to accept it. I never buy them for him, as he seems to get more than enough through parties, Easter etc.

My dental hygenist said if you are going to give your kids sweets give them chocolte, better for the teeth than sugar in other sweets.

Party bags I try and search whilst they are getting thmeselves seated in car , if anyone gives them easter eggs then a little for them but alot for Mumyy & Daddy !!

Lollipops in resturanats and hairdressers etc I a blind eye to , usually because after a couple of sucks they decide they don't like it and plus it doesn't happen that often.

Do your children have sweets everyday or do you stick to a sweetie day?

Sweetie treats on Saturday in our house, we all get to choose something chocolately when we go and get the lottery ticket. Occasional sweets other times but I hate all that haribo crap. Luckily the kids prefer chocolate anyway.

MIL loves buying crap sweets to give them, esp lollies which I hate (been telling her for 7 years) and always bin then and trade with something else.

Neither really; she doesn't have sweets every day, but she doesn't have a set sweetie day either. Sometimes it's once a week, sometimes once in ten days, sometimes three times a week. Depends on what she fancies, really - I don't want to give her too much but I don't want to turn sweets into some kind of forbidden fruit either.