Sweets - do you allow them? Interesting article in Guardian weekend mag

[edam]

Sense of guilty recognition when I read this - suddenly realised that I do feel smug about feeding ds raisins instead of sweets. Then again, he's only two - maybe it will be different as he gets older?
Unfortunately can't make link work but this is the URL:

www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1542389,00.html

Message withdrawn

lollipops are the only things i dont allow cos ds2 nearly choked on one. have never been so scared in my entire life. makes me feel sick even thinking about it

I don't give sweets as a 'treat'.

I give them as one of the basic food groups.

Message withdrawn

They get sweets (tiny bag for 10p) once a week when we shop, the lack of shops between us and the schools helps though1

treats always come with sweets though: I can't see why not, really, all good things in moderation.

Message withdrawn

edam- I don't like chocolate!! no-one ever speaks m to me again once \i say that!

I am not mad about chocolate.

Huttah! Perhaps we should start a social outcasts club?

Message withdrawn

we`have Saturday Sweets Day - like Topsy and Tim used to.... dd talks all week about what she is going to buy with her 50p pocket money (she is 3 and 3 months - started doing it when she was about 2.5).

Message withdrawn

Wish I didn't like chocolate.

I never buy my kids sweets except on a Wednesday evening when DS goes to a club where they get sweets afterwards. But my mother buys masses of sweets for them, so we've almost always got a plentiful supply in the house. I do ration them though, but I give them out randomly and unfairly, rather than as a treat or a reward. I agree it's about quantity; if kids are having mars bars for breakfast, then obviously that's crap, but if sweets are a small part of a healthy diet and they've got no other dietary problems (like diabetes) they're fine.

when ever DS's have sweets it's also a 'quantity' at once, rather than randomly during the day, as it's a bit like drinking juice with regards to teeth - worse for them if they eat a pack spread through the day, rather than all at once

Oh, I see, Pruni! Was thinking 'dried mango is delicious' was a bit odd, compared with choclolate - there's nothing self-indulgent about anything you can buy in a healthfood shop IMO.

DD doesn't care for chocolate. She could literally take it or leave it. She doesn't really have much of a sweet tooth yet. She'd much prefer other 'junk' foods like crisps or chips.

Mine 11, 9 and 8 only have Saturday sweets. Obviously works as they entirely forgot about them today! This is something we picked up in Sweden where it was common for children of Swedish friends only to have sweets after dinner on Saturday.

Message withdrawn

its like anything - if you make it a thing - kids pick up on it.

Er, the article was written by a guy who has just written a book about "confectionary" -- do you think that maybe he is trying to sell his book?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........Sugar has almost no nutritional value, it's empty calories. Yes "A little bit of what you fancy does you good", but most children are getting a huge amount of what they fancy. I'm all for rationing sweets.

He also lives in some sort of twilight zone where he doesn't encounter many children eating many sweets -- in the world I live in, I see children (including preschoolers) eating sweets frequently. Our consumption of sugar in this country is very high on a per person basis (30-40 kg/year ). Most foods that we eat have added sugar; it is not a necessary nutrient and it displaces calories from healthier sources. Young children require almost as much vitamins as adults, but they have to get their nutrients from a smaller amount of food; they can't afford more than a minimal amount of empty calories.

Yes, I know he's got a POV but some of the ponts he makes are interesting.

Message withdrawn

We were a sweety family and coincidentally are a very thin family. None of us has a weight problem in fact my sister has been to the doctor about how to put weight on. The thought of eating gateaux has always made me feel sick. My DH comes from a big family who love bread and cakes etc. They have a real problem controlling their weight. Obviously this is purely anecdotal but it has made me think more kindly of sweets. Calorific they are less than cakes etc. Apparently if you drink water after which my kids both love this is better for the teeth. I have always therefore allowed my kids sweets and they do not often ask for them. Again they do not like cakes and like me they are both slim. It could be just something to do with your taste. However, I personally would rather they got their sugar rush from sweets than cakes. They eat healthily otherwise and love fruit and veg. However I would be careful if my kids had ADD.

The Inferiorettes get more sweets than I'd like, via their childminder and/or their beloved father (DD1 couldn't believe her ears when I promised her a bag of sweets after her pre-school booster). What I find reassuring is that they do like sweets, and indeed chips and crisps, but they also like a lot of other sorts of food including celery (am I the only mother in the world saying crossly 'eat that sandwich as well as your celery?') - in other words, sweets aren't loaded unnaturally for them in the bizarre currency of food which we all, girls especially, acquire. Long may it last.

I read the article and kept thinking about Gillian McKeith and what she says about sugar. Not sure if she's detailed it in any of her programmes, but in her book she writes about the see-saw effect sugar has on our energy levels and causes lethargy, and I know I can feel that happening in me (I have a sweet tooth!) Cravings in themselves are proof of that I'm sure. She says other stuff too, I'm sure more serious stuff but I don't remember now. So I find it hard to believe the guy when he says that sugar isn't bad for children either. If it affects us, how does it affect LOs?

But, the article did put a smile on my face and make me feel a BIT better about what I give DD! I'm happy to chill out a bit as he recommends!