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Original poster

how often do your kids have sweets?

85 replies

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 06/08/2006 17:48

and do you have "rules" about when/why etc? and - while we're at it - has anyone successfully introduced new rules? esp re childminders or nannies and sweets?

OP posts:
Angeliz · 06/08/2006 21:38

Mine have them most days really.
DD1 likes her crisps and sweets but dd2 obviously just has a little chocolate or something, don't think she's a 'sweet' person though, she still prefers things like raisins. Infact i think she may react badly to things , see here so she may be a bit more restrained than dd1.

Northerner · 06/08/2006 21:39

Sorry bosscat, didn't mean to miss you out!!!

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 21:39

Guess my name gives me away. I ADORE chocolate. I ate it as a kid but spent the entire six weeks holidays sat on a croft (where have all the crofts gone?}with a tent made out of brooms and sheets, running round catching ladybirds and caterpillars,falling off my hand me down bike, seriously scraping my knees and playing in park with dangerously high slides with concrete bases, so I never had to worry about getting obese. The thought of staying indoors and playing on a computer game UGHHHH

ocd · 06/08/2006 21:41

after sgcool
every day one or tow seeties from tin
beautfil healthy thin boys
nto a fillign between us

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 21:42

Do agree about smarties.i dont let dd have them as they are full of crap and make kids mad!!

must say though i ate them by the bucketful as a kid but we were all so active in those days

bosscat · 06/08/2006 21:43

when ds1 was 2-3 he didn't like chocolate or ice cream. We'd go to friends and parties and he would refuse I'd be like one of the "my son prefers rice cakess" gang. now he would mug you for a packet of chocolate buttons (aged 4) and frequently pulls the chair up to the fridge looking for a renegade cake

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 21:44

my dd is like me as a kid.skinny minnie and waspy belt on

wait till shes 39 though...

muffin tops and dinner ladies arms

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 21:44

my dd is like me as a kid.skinny minnie and waspy belt on

wait till shes 39 though...

muffin tops and dinner ladies arms

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 21:46

mt dh took dd and two nieces to park today and they all came back hyper

i said have they had smarties or what and he said no ice creams

smartie ice creams

buggers

expatinscotland · 06/08/2006 21:46

i'm 35 and still pretty trim. eat sweets daily.

dd1 skinny as a whippet. her dad has a 30-inch waist. she's 3 and 3ft., 6 in. tall, most of her height is in her legs.

she'll probably grow up and be thin and tall and hate it.

puff · 06/08/2006 21:49

little bag of choccie buttons every day, with a glass of milk

serenity · 06/08/2006 21:51

I don't buy sweets or biscuits for the house, because ....I don't know why really, we just don't. I have icelollies in the freezer and we always have crisps (although they aren't allowed more than a pack a day) We drive home from school so don't have the opportunity to pop in the local sweet shop after school, so it's just not part of our routine really.

MIl always has Celebrations so they have a few there every saturday, I'll buy them if we go to the shops sometimes or more often if I fill the car up I'll get them something when I go in and pay. I make cakes a lot, but I don't really see that as 'sweets'

I don't deliberately set out to deprive them of sweets, it's just how things work out - no rules as such.

Mercy · 06/08/2006 21:53

no hard and fast rules in this house, chocolate roughly every other day, sweets 2 or 3 times a month. I don't think ds has ever had a sweet, prefers chocolate. As long as they brush their teeth at night I'm not overly bothered. Am more strict about biscuits though.

serenity · 06/08/2006 21:54

I meant to say - not counting MILs - they get sweets maybe once a fortnight or so (but they eat McD's and drink fruit shoots/coke occasionally so it all evens out in the end )

Northerner · 06/08/2006 21:58

I eat choc at least once a day and am slim. Hate to be one of those who looks at a choc and puts on a pond.

CHOCOLATEPEANUT · 06/08/2006 22:06

my dd is all legs like me

i look slim as very tall with thin arns (slightly un toned at top not quite dinner ladies yet!) and legs

but its the middle bit i hate.buy hey like choc more so its tough luck!!

Original poster
thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 06/08/2006 22:06

now now ladies calm down. I did wonder if this thread was a good idea. we don;t buy sweets or crisps from supermarket - so never keep them in the house. they seem to end up having sweets/crisps/ice cream whenever we take them out (which is quite a lot) and I think our nanny operates the same kind of approach too - but seeing as they're out and about most days in the holidays I think they're having them everyday. I'm not really sure if it bothers me or not - that's why I wondered what was "normal". I think during term time they get less from the nanny - have a feeling she gets them something on Thursdays (she doesn;t work Fridays). I'm obviously a very lack-a-daisical mum coz I don't even know how often they get sweets. The thing that has started to grate a bit though is the high expectations. It's no longer a case of sweets and ice-creams being a treat for which they say thank you, they're seens as a bit of a right and they can be grumpy if we say no. it's that that annoys me more than anything.

OP posts:
festiveface · 06/08/2006 22:12

only get sweets from me on fridays when we also have a takeaway and watch a film too.grandparents give them sweets though sometimes.
they have a packet of crisps after tea most days though.
if we go out for the day then they will have cake,ice creams etc

Reece · 06/08/2006 22:57

DS has choc nearly every day. He is active and healthy. He is also eating really well.

I give him and DS2 muffins,cakes, sometimes jellies etc

As you said ocd, they are only kids.

As long as you look after their teeth and they eat well whats the problem?

psychomum5 · 06/08/2006 23:31

mine have chocolate pretty much each day. as for sweety sweets, then officially it is on a saturday, but if friends/family come round and have bought them some then I let them eat them.

A very good friend of mine said sweets were made for children, and so children should eat them. I am not as open handed as her, but she is right. As long as kiddies have a well balanced diet, then sweeties can be part of that balance.

for mine tho, anything with high colours do make them hyper so I do try to avoid, and all my friends know that and so buy the same as they have seen me buy already. ooh, and I do say no to toffee and anything really chewy, as it is those that do the most damage.

but that said, my dentist said that dried friut is much worse for the teeth because of the condensed sugar, and the fact that they stick more to the teeth.

and anyway.....how can I say NO to them, if I like sweeties....????

My kiddies tho this weekend thought all their xmases had come true....DH took them to the fair and bought them candyfloss.......first time ever that they have had it (cos their mummy is mean and always says no as she thinks it is evil stuff)......they LOVED it, but all felt sick after and have stated that they will happily opt for an icecream in future as mummy says.

sooooo....sometimes it is good to let them have the stuff, and then they can make their own mind up rather than think the unallowable is like gold dust and therefore more desirable.

tortoiseshell · 06/08/2006 23:35

hardly at all. They have a packet of crisps, or something from the sweet machine after swimming, and if they've been to a party then they usually get sweets in their party bag. Also, ds gets sweets if it's someone's birthday at school.

We just never seem to buy sweets/chocolate etc. And ds1 is a rubbish eater anyway, so I don't particularly want him filling up on sweets so he eats even less!

Clary · 06/08/2006 23:57

oh heck am I hideous food nazi? (a colleague thinks I am).

We only really have sweets from party bags (and if they are really crap ie loads of colours etc I bin them asap).

Mind you with 3 kids we do have a lot of party bags.

Have never subscribed to choc buttons of leaving school thing I must say. Also don't usually buy chocolate etc as would just eat it all.
If there's choc in the house tho they can have some of course. And I do a lot of baking, so flapjack, cupcakes, sponge cakes, brownies not uncommon here. But bag upon bag of Haribo or handfuls of chuppa chips, nooooooooooo

(My food-nazi-labelling colleague asks me if they ever rebel. He has difficult teenagers lol)

psychomum5 · 07/08/2006 00:12

well I let mine have sweeties, but even with our five, we still have two tins of sweets and chocolates from xmas....and DD3 also has some easter chocolate eggs still too!!!!

I don't know whether it is because the fact that they have enough from parties and the party bags, and also from grandma, tho, or whether thay just don't eat them that much because they know they are there for saurdays and so can take or leave....(IYGWIM?).

I do find tho that their sweet tooth is satisfied from ice pops and fruit, and also cereal if they are peckish. that is the one thing we go thro a lot in this house.....whenever they get peckish, out comes the cereal. DS1 can go thro 4 bowls a day[shcok], and you can still see all of his ribs!!!! He has one high metabolism....

Original poster
thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 07/08/2006 00:58

blimey. I'm flattered. two posts in less than a week on the front page...(I'm also nearly in tears at what I;ve just read)

OP posts:
Quootiepie · 07/08/2006 01:00

i anticipate letting DS have sweets once a week? id rather make a cake or something for pudding for something sweet. I never really had sweet as a kid, so im not really used to them being around.