How often should kids have sweets?

[catsofa]

I think there should be some days of each week on which a child doesn't consume any sweets/chocolate etc. Is that mean? Do your DCs have sweets every day? More than once a day? How about if they also have dessert after dinner every day?

Only just realised my expectations could be way out of step (never mind the reality for now, just wondering what we should be aiming for! )

We don't have dessert other than fruit and DS blows his pocket money once a week on sweets and that is his lot.

I was flamed for this recently but quite frankly I don't give a shit. His teeth are fine.

Mine have sweets most days. We went trick or treating and came back with 2 small bucketfuls of sweets that they're slowly working their way through with some help from me

How old are your children?
Ours don't have them regularly but they are 3 and 4.5. I'm wondering when to start a weekly treat, rather than occasional.

Mine don't have sweets or deserts daily at home. At school they have whatever desert with school Lunch, home usually just dinner without a desert. They only eat sweets from birthday parties/ Xmas things etc, but don't buy them ourselves so not any kept at home. So maybe once every 6 weeks on average?

Mine have money for treats once a week- sometimes they buy sweets, but other times they might get chocolate, special biscuits, cake.

I also let them have sweets at parties or special occasions, generally as they tend to get party bags with them in anyway.

What age are we talking about?

What do you mean buy "sweets"? Haribo type stuff or just anything sweet tasting like chocolate, cake, sugary biscuits, ice cream etc?

My DC is 3 and has a small item of chocolate or some ice cream about once a week and maybe the odd sugary biscuit or cake bar. I don't give Hariono type sweets at all

Surely it's a level within the boundaries of common sense and that you feel comfortable with. My 5 yr old gets sweets after parties, chocolate occasionally but will have a jelly or custard for pudding 3 days a week

Imo it depends what you mean by sweets. My DC rarely have sweets as in Haribo, jelly, foam sugar-type sweets. I think one DC has then about once every three weeks and the other two don't like them as much so about once every six weeks.

Chocolate sweets and chocolate bars (small ones like Rocky bars, individual Twix bars) they have at least 5 days out of 7.

They are not allowed boiled sweets, mints or lollies at all.

They have pudding about 4 days out of 7. The other three it's yoghurt or fruit. They often have to have some fruit before having a chocolate treat too.

My DCs are between 8-12 yrs.

The DC that likes the sugary sweets so has more than the others (although still not many) is the one in the family who has a filling.

We don't really do pudding as a rule but I don't put rules on when DD can have sweets. She is 5 and will normally have a small fun size milky way type sweet or a small pack of haribo when she asks for it which is not everyday.

My DSS on the other hand are very limited to what they can have and when they can have it and when they come here they are constantly asking for yoghurts, crisps and sweets.

Also when they are given a small amount of pocket money they try to by the biggest sweet they can with it. This attitude towards food as really put me off having rules on food.

We don't have regular puddings and they get sweets/chocolate less than once a fortnight. But dh likes to bake and take them to the coffee shop so they probably eat cakes/biscuits more frequently than they should from a health perspective.

DD (5) normally has a dessert after dinner. Sometimes that might be a sugary one like a mousse or ice-cream, otherwise fruit or yoghurt. I let her buy a treat eg 1 packet of sweets at the weekend, if she asks. And she gets them plenty of other times like halloween and in party bags. I do not particularly regulate biscuits, she has those for a snack.

Dd1 is 3 and probably gets sweets (as in chocolate, cake, biscuits, actual sweets etc) a few times a week. We see family at least twice a week and they like to treat her. I do like to ensure there are days where she doesn't have anything like that. She generally doesn't ask for it a lot so it's not an issue on those days usually. I don't mind her having what she likes at parties or special occasions since she has a good diet the rest of the time.

Every day. Pretty much what Downstairs said actually, could be a cake one day and a fun sized chocolate bar the next. Teeth are well looked after.

My DS is only 21 months and has never had a sweet and I'm not planning on introducing them until he asks. As for desserts we usually have fruit or yoghurt and occasionally crumble/cheesecake if I've felt like baking

I grew up as part of an incredibly sporty and very very slim family. No restrictions on treats whatsoever. We ate very healthily, fruit and veg consumed daily and in quantity, but goodness we enjoyed stuff stuff too!

I married a very sporty fit slim man. Together we have had very physical, sporty healthy children. I am very chilled about treats. I give a treat to both at school pick up (chocolate biscuit), and invariably other treats too. I despise sweets, so it's biscuits and chocolates. I don't have a single filling, and my children's teeth are perfect. They eat fantastically. So I really striggle to find a reason for them not to have a little treat every day.

I recall getting off the bus at school and the children filing in to the local newsagent to stuff their faces with sweet stuff. My sister and I would just head home, we knew that we didn't need to stuff ourselves on the walk home, because we could have sweet stuff at home. Consequently we ate moderately. Now we are all underweight, but that is simply because we all continue to do so much sport. We enjoy everything in moderation, and that is what I would like to teach my children.

Twins (almost 3) - get fruit after a meal. Yoghurt or home made pudding like crumble once or twice a week. Homemade cake or naice cafe crossaint or cake twice a week. Biscuits - rarely. Sweets- practically never. Chocolate - again very very rarely - although mainly as DS doesn't really like it. They rarely get snacks between meals which helps cut down on the sweet consumption. If out at a friends or restaurant then they get pudding or whatever else is on offer - I don't police heavily when such things are visible as I'd rather not get in to an argument or tantrum about it. Helps that I rarely buy biscuits or chocolate for me and DH - mainly because j have zero self control so if it's there I want to eat it!

My twins are 3 and will have one or two rich rich tea biscuits everyday. I bake cake 2/3 times a month. I let them have a Kinder Egg on average once a week. No sweets though as they don't like them and nor are they keen on crisps.

They only drink milk and water.

Ds is 4, he has cake for dessert on a sat, banana or yoghurt the rest of the time.

Friday he can pick something out of the treat box, which is full of things like chocolate coins, small bags of haribo, mostly things from party bags.

We don't have biscuits or crisps in the house, but I suspect he gets them from grandma .

I never had rules for treats,my dc are older now and teeth are fine no fillings

Do what you are comfortable with. I have a treat every day after dinner and so do the kids. Usually it's a biscuit or sometimes I make cake. Sometimes there is chocolate in the house. Sometimes there is crisps.

I don't buy haribo but then I don't like jellies myself!

I don't police it. The idea is they have what we have, when we have it.

I don't really have treat 'rules', though I don't like them to have too many in one day.

If I have baked brownies or cookies (or bought something) then they might have one after school everyday until they are gone, then there might be a stretch where they don't get a treat after school but maybe get ice cream or jelly for dessert or a kinder egg or donut when we are out at the weekend.

Halloween candy, I like them to eat it and it be gone (rather than eeking it out for weeks and weeks), they get bagfuls so I let them choose their favourites to go in a storage tin.

I find they get more treats in the summer hols, Christmas etc and then they can get in a habit of expecting lots of treats, so it is good to have a period where they have less. Otherwise it is not really a 'treat' just a daily expectation of sugar!