How often do your kids have treats?

[porkypig]

Really interested on what other parents do.

By treats, I mean, like a few biscuits or a chocolate bar or a few sweets etc x

 

[seoj]

That was tough to answer- I don't see everything my teenager eats anymore (now that she drives and if off doing her own thing more so these days)- I try to encourage good eating habits, but yeah, I know how I was as a teenager when left to my own devices! LOL.

As for my LO - she can go several days with no real "sweets" then a bit here or there. Usually her treat is fruit- she doesn't like cake or frosting or ice cream. So on occasion she'll get a few dark chocolate chips or a little of the homemade chocolate bar I make (which is healthier with coconut oil and sweetened with honey). Otherwise I guess I'd consider a pumpkin loaf from Starbucks a treat too- although I'm trying out my own recipes to make a healthier version as well

 

[rosie272]

Charlie has something every day! When I pick him up from nursery he usually has 2 biscuits (either hobnobs or digestives) and a piece of fruit, this tides him over until dinner. He has Haribo sweets or Hula Hoop/Space Raider crisps - that's about all he likes treat wise (he's not a chocolate fan at all) He has Haribos or gummy sweets every other day (the really small bag). The sweets and crisps are a pretty recent thing, he never got much stuff like that before he was 4 - only because he didn't like it. Don't really class any of it as 'treats' though.

 

[OmarsMum]

Chocolate, cookies, crisps & candies never- he doesn't eat them. He gets a cake from Starbucks or Cinnabon (the small ones) once a week & we share as I feel those are too big for him to eat the whe thing & a McD happy meal nuggets once a week or once every 2 weeks.

 

[lindseymw]

My two have something pretty much everyday.

We don't call them treats, it's just food. They have biscuits, cakes & chocolate (not all three mind you!). They don't tend to eat sweets, never really buy them.

 

[Rachel_C]

We don't tend to do 'treats' either. Cakes, biscuits, the occasional packet of crisps are just normal food. We don't sit and scoff them all day every day but they're part of a decent balanced diet and I don't place any limits other than health on things like that.

We do call things like a Kinder Egg a treat because it has a toy in it, or a chocolate lollipop isn't the kind of thing we normally have in the house so that would be a treat too... but so would mangoes because I don't normally buy those either! They probably have a 'treat' like that once or twice a week, but we usually make cakes/biscuits a few times a week and we have crisps once a week or so too.

 

[stephx]

We don't tend to do 'treats' either. Cakes, biscuits, the occasional packet of crisps are just normal food. We don't sit and scoff them all day every day but they're part of a decent balanced diet and I don't place any limits other than health on things like that.

We do call things like a Kinder Egg a treat because it has a toy in it, or a chocolate lollipop isn't the kind of thing we normally have in the house so that would be a treat too... but so would mangoes because I don't normally buy those either! They probably have a 'treat' like that once or twice a week, but we usually make cakes/biscuits a few times a week and we have crisps once a week or so too.

This

I don't limit her on anything x

 

[JASMAK]

We don't buy this stuff, so they don't have it very often. I cant say how often as it varies. Being Easter, they have had a lot lately, but then when we were on holidays I remember only a couple days out of a three week vacation, where they had ice cream. Normal day life without occasion, they do not. If they ask for a treat, they usually ask for sugar free gum, or popcorn is a favourite, but even those two are rare. My husband is diabetic and as a family we have to be realistic about sugar.

 

[Noodlebear]

Normally - pretty rarely. I have no objections to him being given the odd treat but I'm really trying to eat right and figured that while he doesn't ask for chocolate, crisps etc there's really no need to be buying stuff like that for him on a regular basis. I'm making the most of getting away with not having them in the house although over Easter he ate quite a lot of junk, it has to be done!

 

[embojet]

We don't tend to do 'treats' either. Cakes, biscuits, the occasional packet of crisps are just normal food. We don't sit and scoff them all day every day but they're part of a decent balanced diet and I don't place any limits other than health on things like that.

We do call things like a Kinder Egg a treat because it has a toy in it, or a chocolate lollipop isn't the kind of thing we normally have in the house so that would be a treat too... but so would mangoes because I don't normally buy those either! They probably have a 'treat' like that once or twice a week, but we usually make cakes/biscuits a few times a week and we have crisps once a week or so too.

Exactly this too

 

[Abigailly]

We don't have treats in our house. My mum was a vegan, clean eating, exercising machine who was always trying to instil her great diet into us. Because of it both myself and my sister have come away with eating disorders.

Therefore, occasionally she'll get a bag of harribo, or a bag of crisps etc. But we don't tend to call them a 'treat'. She's not a dog. She doesn't get rewarded with food. They are just another food that she's trying. When we're at the shops I'll ask her what she wants to take home for snack and she'll say 'Maybe strawberries, or rice cakes, or crisps, or cashew nuts'. It's how I feel it should be, she doesn't differentiate between them. She knows they are all things that should be eaten in moderation.

Phrases like 'Aren't you a lucky girl, getting some cake' just make a 4yo see a forbidden fruit and it automatically becomes more appealing.

 

[aimee-lou]

crisps, cakes and biscuits are all part of a balanced diet for us. A biscuit or a small piece of cake is often offered as part of lunch alongside a piece of fruit as 'dessert'. In a lunchbox I would do the same. Crisps again I would say we have something in that genre most days as part of lunch - things like wotsits, frenchfries, twiglets and frazzles are very popular in this house! lol.

I'm not much of a snacker myself - I was brought up (in my opinion wrongly) to binge eat at mealtimes. We didn't have crisps, or biscuits or chocolates in the house as my mum struggled with her weight and as a result when I did get something to eat, I would eat as much as possible. Even now I don't really snack, but regularly skip breakfast/lunch in favour of a big dinner....which I know is really bad. I try to encourage my children to eat smaller portions more regularly. Snacks are offered in the morning and afternoon and there's always drinks available. I always have a selection of things like cereal bars, fruit, cartons of juice and bags of mini cheddars in my bag for while we're out and about....I have 3 growing boys and if I bought on the hoof all the time I'd be bankrupt! lol

Sweets I try to moderate, and chocolate. Its not good to have it everyday - for one thing it stops being special lol. At the moment we have leftovers from easter and they're allowed 1 pack of haribo (the mini-packs) a day but if they don't ask, I don't offer lol.

 

[porkypig]

It's so hard isn't it to get the balance right? I don't want to deprive them or completely restrict them of 'treats' but there also has to be a limit too. Xx

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

we usually buy sweets walking home from school x

 

[Noodlebear]

It's so hard isn't it to get the balance right? I don't want to deprive them or completely restrict them of 'treats' but there also has to be a limit too. Xx

I agree. I think once or twice a week sounds like a fairly good balance.

 

[aimee-lou]

We don't have treats in our house. My mum was a vegan, clean eating, exercising machine who was always trying to instil her great diet into us. Because of it both myself and my sister have come away with eating disorders.

Therefore, occasionally she'll get a bag of harribo, or a bag of crisps etc. But we don't tend to call them a 'treat'. She's not a dog. She doesn't get rewarded with food. They are just another food that she's trying. When we're at the shops I'll ask her what she wants to take home for snack and she'll say 'Maybe strawberries, or rice cakes, or crisps, or cashew nuts'. It's how I feel it should be, she doesn't differentiate between them. She knows they are all things that should be eaten in moderation.

Phrases like 'Aren't you a lucky girl, getting some cake' just make a 4yo see a forbidden fruit and it automatically becomes more appealing.

Funny this is another bugbear of mine. When I was growing up I'd get cream cakes as a reward for good school reports, good exam results etc etc. What kind of a message is that sending really?! Here, you've done really well so have something unhealthy. Even now if I've had a good thing happen I'll buy more sweets, cakes etc, without even thinking!

 

[kerrie24]

Mine get some sort of sweet/crisp ice lolly or a can of pop after school but once a week I will not buy that and they wait till 6.30 for the ice cream van.
They have crisps and biscuits in their packed lunch and dont see those as treats.

 

[MoldyVoldy]

We don't tend to do 'treats' either. Cakes, biscuits, the occasional packet of crisps are just normal food. We don't sit and scoff them all day every day but they're part of a decent balanced diet and I don't place any limits other than health on things like that.

We do call things like a Kinder Egg a treat because it has a toy in it, or a chocolate lollipop isn't the kind of thing we normally have in the house so that would be a treat too... but so would mangoes because I don't normally buy those either! They probably have a 'treat' like that once or twice a week, but we usually make cakes/biscuits a few times a week and we have crisps once a week or so too.

 

[Loui1001]

We are fairly relaxed here, we all eat very well and DS has a very balanced diet so I have no issue in letting him have a biscuit or some crisps. I count a treat as something he chooses himself from the shop when he's allowed to, sometimes he'll pick a bun or cake but other times it's fruit. We were at a farm shop at the weekend and he bypassed the fudge and pastries to choose an apple and orange

 

[Erised]

Daily, but like the others it's not called a treat. She has free range to fruit, trail mix, cucumber, tomatoes and the like all day long and once a day she's allowed something from the sweet box. We do occasionally have something like some crisps (share a little bag between the 3 of us), a chocolate covered rice cake or biscuit with lunch but just see that as food rather than something special. It's just a small part of the lunch being served that day.

Our usual day is...
Breakfast - cereal or porridge with some fresh fruit
Snack - some trail mix, raisins or fruit
Lunch - bread, usually with a side of either cucumber sticks or cherry tomatoes. We then add things like trail mix, fresh fruit, rice cake or whatever depending on how hungry the girls are
Snack - allowed to pick 2 things from her sweetie box. It's up to her, and she just picks what she feels like rather than caring about size or whatever. Some days she'll pick 2 single jelly beans and be happy, other days she'll go for a marshmallow and a small pack of gummy bears.
Dinner - warm meal of sorts, no deserts / afters in this house.

Any time between this that she wants food she just helps herself to fruit or asks for more trail mix.

On warm days we give her the choice to trade her sweets for an ice cream or ice pop if she wants.