Lemonade at six year old's party?

[Smithagain]

Yes or no?

DD1 would love to have lemonade at her birthday party this week. She regards it as a huge treat.

I reckon some of her friends have probably been drinking fizzy drinks on special occasions for a while. But a few most definitely haven't. Of the latter, some only drink water anyway - but we have one younger sibling coming who I'm pretty confident has never had a fizzy drink and will most certainly love it!

So do I go for it? Or put my health-conscious foot down in the interests of harmony with my mummy friends? Your votes please, mumsnet food police.

Suppose it might depend on venue perhaps?

Sim43,

I can totally understand the mother addicted to diet coke wanting her child to drink only water. This makes perfect sense to me. I am addicted to chocolate because I was fed a lot of chocolate rice as a baby (by my lovely father, sadly now deceased, and his only crime I must add). I am now quite paranoid about my own children avoiding chocolate, even though they do eat a fair bit for one reason or another. It's just trying to do a good thing for your child rather than being a hypocrite.

If the mother is drinking diet coke she needs to keep the bottle hidden and not be drinking it in front of her DC. She obviously knows that it is bad for her DC so she ought to know that it is bad for her and that she would be much better off drinking water! She should have coke as a treat only.
I love coffee but I know that it is not good for me so I limit it to one cup a day and only have two on special occasions.

We live in Surrey and have been to lots of childrens parties and have never seen fizzy drinks.

At my DS last party (5th) there was only bottled water to drink. His party was at Krispy Kreme donut factory store though! not one child out of 22 couldn't make it! Lots of parents there eating donuts...

Oh dear, I am feeling very bad now: I live in Surrey and today gave ds, aged 2, his first taste of lemonade. How very common of me! It was his birthday and we were on a picnic. I had forgotten to take water/rice milk/diluted apple juice (delete as applicable) and it was either the lemonade or a cup of tea. Under the circumstances, lemonade seemed preferable.

Ds loved it btw. Also, his cousins loved the loud belch which inevitably followed.

LOL Abbey
I wish I had your restraint when it came to coffee! 2 cups for special occasions You have made me feel positively reckless reading your post - rare occasion these days so thank you!
(and I am one hell of a worrying, overly anxious, neurotic and painfully shy mum)

(I love these threads, they remind me that as difficult as it can be having a pre-teen and a teenager, at least all this stuff is behind me!!! Just wait til alcohol comes into the mix...)
Seriously, I know it's difficult, but just go with what you believe in whilst respecting other people's wishes. With hindsight, I truly believe that a lot of this is about parents wanting to prove what great parents they are. And I know for a fact that some do one thing in public and another at home!!

Unrelated to that last comment, we had a party once where a child ate 13 cocktail sausages. Which is a bit OTT - but her family was vegetarian .

I used to be a bit of a coffee junkie, Lemontart, and feel so much better now that I have cut a lot of it out, as would coke addict Mummy if she drank water! She would also be thinner!
I have teenagers and realise that the things that I used to worry about are not important! A 6 year old having a glass of lemonade at a party isn't something to worry about.
I found that a lot of parents who were very strict about what their DC did or ate had to give up as they got older.
I suspect that some of the diet control comes from overweight parents who are determined that their DCs won't be overweight. They are able to control the diet of the DC but they haven't the will power to control their own diet. Long term it won't work unless they set by example. You might get away with your DC having water while you have coke or eating chocolate cake while your DC has a rice cake up to the age of about 8 yrs but it won't be so easy as they get older. (please note that I only said some).

Message withdrawn

I rushed out to buy lemonade for dd's 5th birthday after reading this thread. A few children had it, mainly the adults.

After all the guests had gone home, we cleared up the house and I went out and got a Chinese takeaway for our dinner (too knackered to cook). dh and I opened a bottle of white wine, and as the little one was 5 and drinking at home is now legal I gave her a sip. She wasn't too impressed.

Blimey. I grew up in Surrey and one of the most popular birthday treats was for the birthday girl ('s parents) to take her friends to the Wimpy, where fizzy drinks were mandatory, and part of the whole TREAT of the thing is that we all had Knickerbocker Glories (particularly overladen icecream sundaes) and all went home feeling a bit sick.

Ok, this was back in the early 80's, but am reeling somewhat to hear that things have changed so much. What will I be allowed to serve by the time my boy is old enough for his own shindig?

I'd give squash but not lemonade.

As a fizzy drink fan myself, I would say go for it!!

I would not be a happy bunny if I were offered nothing but water (or squash if I was really lucky). It's a bit like those visits to people's houses where the children are offered brown bits of banana and desiccated fruit while the mummies sit there scoffing choc-chip cookies. What's that all about?!