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Original poster

Do you give your DC sweets and/or cakes/biscuits every day?

67 replies

Snowstorm · 01/06/2008 11:14

I don't but I wondered whether I was in the minority or not?

I had food issues when I was younger and now have two DD's, so am trying to give them as happy and healthy attitude to food as I can, bearing in mind that they are children and that, IMO, children should have sweets, biscuits and cakes etc. in their diets but in moderation (but without them being aware of it IYKWIM). By that I mean that if we had cake in the house and they had cake after their lunch/tea one day, then I wouldn't offer them sweets on the same day (although if we were out and everyone else was having them then I would let them have some because I wouldn't want it to be an issue).

Anyway, I was just interested to know what other people did ...

TIA!

OP posts:
piratecat · 01/06/2008 11:16

yes i do.

MrsCarrot · 01/06/2008 11:17

yes, not sweets every day but usually a biscuit or cake of some kind.

Hulababy · 01/06/2008 11:19

6y DD has a small piece of chocolare or some form of cake/biscuit every day. She eats really well and has a really good balanced diet, so a bit of sweet stuff - IMO - is fine for her.

FrannyandZooey · 01/06/2008 11:19

no
I would like it to be more occasional but some times it is every day
on average probably once every two days
and yes I do think (and say) "well you had some X earlier so we won't have Y now"

MrsWeasley · 01/06/2008 11:20

yes to biscuits here. Sometimes alone as a snack sometimes after a meal as a pud!

schneebly · 01/06/2008 11:21

Same as MrsCarrot

meridian · 01/06/2008 11:21

I tend to bake alot of cakes and things.. so there is normally some sort of cake in the house... chocolate dosne't tend to stay around as DH is addicted, but there are little packets of sweets that are for treats... at lunchtime I give DS an assortment of fruit and biscuits.. or something like bananas and custard, ... so a sweet treat but there is fruit in it.. DS eat pretty heathily though, and is slim and active 4 year old, who actually likes vegtables and brown bread.. much to DH's horror.

meridian · 01/06/2008 11:21

I tend to bake alot of cakes and things.. so there is normally some sort of cake in the house... chocolate dosne't tend to stay around as DH is addicted, but there are little packets of sweets that are for treats... at lunchtime I give DS an assortment of fruit and biscuits.. or something like bananas and custard, ... so a sweet treat but there is fruit in it.. DS eat pretty heathily though, and is slim and active 4 year old, who actually likes vegtables and brown bread.. much to DH's horror.

EustaciaVye · 01/06/2008 11:21

I try to limit to once a day. occasionally it is 2 x.

Like Franny I will say No you had cake for lunch so we'll save that lollipop until tomorrow.

blousy · 01/06/2008 11:23

Sweets - never, chocolate - once a week or less, biscuits & cakes - very rarely.
I am quite strict but tbh, my dcs aren't interested in stuff like this.

Original poster
Snowstorm · 01/06/2008 11:24

Mine get a couple of biscuits and a drink when they get back from school and I tend to use cake as an occasional pudding unless we are out or it's someone's birthday ... so I guess it's more about sweets and how often you do/don't give them to your children (and sorry if this is a thread that's been covered before but I'm too lazy to search the archives which I find painfully slow to trawl through!).

OP posts:
jingleyjen · 01/06/2008 11:25

Somtimes they have more than one treat in a day, sometimes they have no treats in a day,
I take their diet in view on an average week, in an average week they have a good diet, but sometimes we have junkier(is that a word!!) days sometimes healthier.
That said even the junkier food probably doesn't count as junk in some peoples books.

bellavita · 01/06/2008 11:26

They have a milky way in their pack up for school, but they do not get money as such to go and buy sweets from the shop.

Occasionally if they are with me at the supermarket and they ask for sweets I let them choose something, but they would have to wait till after their lunch/tea to eat the sweets.

I do a lot of homebaking, so long as they have had a variety of fruit and veg during the day they can have a piece of cake or a biscuit. They usually ask me how many biscuits and I would say two each and that is your lot.

Mine are 11 this month and 8. My mum thinks I am strict on the biscuits/sweets thing.

But then I was overweight as a child and my mum is very overweight now. Mum always did homecooking and we always had fruit and veg so in that respect we did have a balanced diet, but I think because she has a very sweet tooth, we were not restricted on what we had after our meals ie. if she wanted something, then she could not be seen to be saying no to us iykwim.

I have known her to stand in the pantry with the door closed and shove down a load of biscuits!

fullmoonfiend · 01/06/2008 11:33

Home/made cake/bisucuit - albeit sometimes very dull flapjack with added seeds/fruit etc - every day.
Sweets quite often (I am strict about really chewy/hard stuff) would rather it was chocolate actually.
They are 7 and 10 and get pocket money so in theory they could buy sweets everyday if they wanted to.

The rest of their diet is healthy - always brown bread, more than 5 a day fruit and veg, water etc. They are both on the skinny side and very active.

Original poster
Snowstorm · 01/06/2008 13:13

Thanks for all of those messages - you know sometimes it really helps to know what other people do so that you can guage whether what you are doing is about average or not ... particularly if you had food issues in the past.

Think mine are doing fine but a school mum made some comment about me fainting with horror because the children were all being given sweets at a party yesterday (which totally threw me ... it's a party ... we have sweets at our parties and cakes and biscuits etc.) and it made me wonder whether I was a mean-mother on the sweet/s front or not?!

The only thing I can think she might have meant is that her child came to our house for tea some weeks ago and I made her wait to have her tea at the table as opposed to picking at the food I was preparing and also I was keen that she finished her fruit and yoghurt (as with my DD's) before she was allowed anything 'sweet' ... and she was mighty unimpressed with that.

Ah well, I should probably get over it and let it go!

OP posts:
CantSleepWontSleep · 01/06/2008 13:18

I don't give them every day, but we do 4 toddler groups a week where she usually stuffs her face with biscuits.

At home they are an occasional treat, usually if we have visitors.

Original poster
Snowstorm · 01/06/2008 13:24

yes, DD1 is a very serious eater at parties ... she LOOOOOOOOOOVES all the sweet stuff.

OP posts:
NomDePlume · 01/06/2008 13:28

In answer to OP - Yes

DS1 & 2 are 16 and 14.5 so they help themselves.

DD is 5.5 and does have a cake bar or a few biscuits in her lunch box every day. She also has 2 pieces of fruit and a pure fruit juice in her lunchbox.

I think that cakes etc have their place in a balanced diet.

3725Hayley · 01/06/2008 13:30

My DC's do normally have some sort of sweet thing every day. Although not so much sweets, they would be about twice a week.

I make all my own cakes and biscuits, as I like to know what's in the stuff their eating.

I am definately more concerned with the amount of e numbers and weird ingredients that you can't read TBH

cory · 02/06/2008 08:40

Mine get sweets once a week (if I remember). Biscuits and cake somewhat more frequently, but not every day. And when I buy or make something, it's rationed and planned; there's never lots of things just lying around for people to help themselves to.
Dc's do have pocket money, though, so theoretically could stuff themselves on sweets a lot more often than they do.

SoupKitchen · 02/06/2008 08:46

Yes- cake or biscuit
choc once or twice a week
sweets -no( they don't like them)

morethanmum · 02/06/2008 08:46

Mine eat 'treat food' every day - custard creams, little pkts of animal biscuits etc, but will equally have a bowl of strawberries - whatever I have in, really. Sometimes pancakes and jam after school etc. Apart from sweets (gelatine) and chocolate (not that often, no real value) I don't worry - they eat 3 healthy meals blah blah. BTW I also had food issues, so wd hope to avoid that (mine involved hospitalisation etc)

posieflump · 02/06/2008 08:50

No
if we have biscuits or crisps in the house then I let them have them for pudding
But usualy they only get treated when we go out , which is quite a lot anyway
Ds has a biscuit at snacktime at preschool and probably nursery too so he probably does get something everyday for all I know!

AbbeyA · 02/06/2008 08:53

I would have thought that cake and biscuits were part of a balanced diet (not as a snack but as part of a meal). Especially if home made with dried fruit, oats, nuts etc.

lisad123 · 02/06/2008 08:58

DD1 always asks for biscuits/cakes/sweets. I limit it to one a day at the most. She doesnt had any in her lunch box so she asks for a snack when she gets home which is nornally fruit and biscuit. She has 50p pocket monday on fridays and she might spend it on sweets.

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