Too many sweets?

[tigwig]

Hi everyone, since Halloween with all the extra sweets and treats in the house I have got into the bad habit of letting her have a treat after her lunch and tea so this means she is eating at least one small bag of sweets a day. Do you think this is too much and will rot her teeth eventually? Now I have started it I don't know how to stop because she expects something nice if she has eaten all her meals and it is a good incentive for her to eat well it just concerns me that eating sweets everyday is not very good. By the way I am not talking about a big bag of sweets just those 10p haribo ones. Do you have any other incentives for your children to finish their meals? I have done star charts before cos she was a terrible eater when she was younger.

[ethanryan]

what about the cartoon character yoghurts, or the charater mini boxes of raisins and other dried fruit. we got them from tesco or asda. they work for my boys and there healthy. my son is potty training now and the boxes of raisins are there for when he uses his potty

[boobesque]

What about fruit? Does she enjoy fruit? Emmy (although 14 months so easier to control lol) has fruit after lunch and a fromage frais or yoghurt after dinner.
She knows what colour buttons bags are though lol

[tigwig]

she does eat a little fruit, yoghurts, custard and raisins but she doesn't consider these as treats unfortunately! She expects chocolate or sweets after these.

[juleejules]

I think you need to be strong and put a stop to this expectation that there will be sweets after lunch and tea. What about making some sugar free jellies and putting in pineapple etc. Let your daughter make them and use a variety of different shaped moulds for added interest.

[boobesque]

You can't put pineapple in Jelly, or kiwi, the enzymes stop in setting! :)

[juleejules]

I've not had a problem with pineapple in jelly - in fact you can buy jelly with fruit including pineapple in lots of supermarkets!

[remy lover]

Just remember tigwig that "7 days make a routine" .... with regards to children and animals.....

just think what may happen in the future years to come when the expectation is money/car etc.



wish you well

Remy

[annie0000]

I would remove all the sweets from the halloween bag except a couple of packets - then tell her that there are only two packs left and when they are finished that's them gone. Then, as there is not the supply there, the expectation that she will continue to get them everytime will be gone. It is then up to you to give what you think is appropriate. I don't think it is necessary to ban all sweets - what would your childhood memories be without the occaisional indulgence! Also, the best time to give sweets is when eating a meal. The only real issue for me with it, is rewarding eating with more eating, it sets you up for eating disorders or obesity in later life. You are using sweet things as a reward. What about using extra minutes with a favourite game or saving up tokens for a comic or something instead.

[mimififi30]

Hi there,

I would do the same thing. I would have the box of sweets that you have left (assuming that it isn't equivalent to her own body weight, if so, taking out some of them to leave a small pile) and let her visually see that the pile is running down. When you give her the treats, offer her the box/bowl/container for her to help herself to one. As she gets to the last one, she will have a visual clue that that is that, as they say and there is no more left. This will also stop her thinking you are the bad guy...!

Hope this works, and I'm sure, after the last bag is consummed, a few days later, she would have forgotten that she even used to have sweets after every meal...

Good luck.