Holiday SUGAR for kids -- aack!

[Latte]

I haven't visited this board that often, so I apologize if this has already been discussed or belongs on another board, but now that my oldest has reached kindergarten, I am wondering -- what is UP with all the holiday SUGAR for kids?? DD's pre-school was very health conscious and always provided healthy snacks and avoided the super-sweet food offerings. But now, every school holiday event (and even other, non-holiday school events and non-school, town events) ALWAYS involves numerous sugar-y candies and sweets for the kids, and often a huge quantity, more than they can even eat at one time!

My kids, especially DD, go bananas when they eat these sugar-y things!! Also, if there is any extra to bring home, they will ask me every 5 minutes whether they can eat it, until it is gone. On Halloween, we have instituted a rule of, they can eat as much as they want Halloween night, but then we get rid of all the rest of it. Otherwise, it would be a daily (or even hourly) battle for weeks to come. So, that works well for Halloween (although they are still eating quite a few sweets on that one night, which is not ideal), but I feel like we've been absolutely deluged with candy and sweets practically constantly since Halloween, too.

Do other people have this problem, and if so, any hints how to deal with it?

[sewchris2642]

Traditionally, sugary sweets were reserved for special ocasions such as holidays, birthdays, and weddings. The problem now is that, especially in the US, sweets are available all the time in great abundance at a relatively cheap price. I minimize the effect by not having it available at home except for special occasions. That means I don't buy ice cream, cookies, donuts, etc. on a regular basis. Snacks are fruit and/or yogurt. We don't do dessert after dinner. Sweets are reserved for birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I can't control what is offered at schools and other kids' birthdays or at relatives' houses but I can control what is offered at home and plan accordingly.

[olien]

Originally Posted by sewchris2642

I can't control what is offered at schools and other kids' birthdays or at relatives' houses but I can control what is offered at home and plan accordingly.

I'm going to try to control what is offered this Christmas at my relatives house. After our 15mo was given cream puffs & caned whipped cream at Thanksgiving, I am bringing fruit salad & I will make whipped cream & let everyone know if they want to give him sweets we would like it to be these. We will see what happens

[lerlerler]

My DD reacts badly to sugar and this time of year is a problem.

After her K teacher gave her oreo cookies? Oddly enough, she "went on yellow" (their version of a warning for behaviour) I was volunteering in the classroom the next day and joked with her

"Hey, you are the teacher, do whatever you like, but E reacts badly to sugar... give her what you want but don't expect me to reprimand her if she misbehaves on a tummy full of cookies... YOU earned that yellow.. not her" ha ha ha

and she looked apologetic and said she won't do it again.

But yea, the lollipop at Hebrew school, the cookies here and there... the candycane at the grocery. We limit it but yup, we "give in" on treats once in a while, and we pay for it.

The funny thing is that my step-mom thought I was making up stories when I told her that DD reacted badly to sugar, so I said "hey, go nuts, give her anything you want"

20 minutes after a HUGE ice cream cone "the poor girl- her mother never gave her a WHOLE serving of ice cream" she was screaming, kicking and had to be carried to the car.

Hasn't happened again.

The good news is that my 5 year old actually understands most of this. If I ask her "what will happen if you eat that whole thing?" she will reply "I'll get super-fussy- can I have half of it?"

[raksmama]

I wish I could offer a solution but I can just sympathize because I am in the same situation. The older the children get the more difficult it is to control.
In my Ds (11)'s school I think he is the only one who brings in healthy snacks and he feels like an outsider. All the kids in his class get to keep all their candy so we've had a few arguments about that as well. I am concerned because I really believe that sugar eaten in the amounts considered acceptable today is poisonous.
The only thing that seems to be helping is now that DS is a little older he is becoming conscious of his looks. Many kids in his school are overweight and he is making the connection and wants to stay slim. I think it is a matter of educating the parents too but that too is backfiring because the few times
I've tried to bring up the subject I get these looks like ” That crazy granola lady". I just tell my son that one day he will thank me for the way I am controlling his sugar intake and he knows I am right.

[2lilsweetfoxes]

Originally Posted by olien

I'm going to try to control what is offered this Christmas at my relatives house. After our 15mo was given cream puffs & caned whipped cream at Thanksgiving, I am bringing fruit salad & I will make whipped cream & let everyone know if they want to give him sweets we would like it to be these. We will see what happens

Oops, my 8 month old was given a frosted (Duncan Hines canned) cupcake (betty crocker gluten-free yellow). However, I can't complain because I'm the one who gave it to her...and she had a sugar cookie (regular, with green candy sprinkles) at my work holiday party. Same story, I gave it to her.

Though I would never give someone else's kid (even my grandkid) such treats without mom or dad's okay (and here's hoping they are on the same page).

I don't treat sugary treats like anything special. If it is available, they can have it. I make cookies or something every few weeks or so, but don't get premade stuff (we're gluten-free and it can get expensive). Fruit is always available. In fact, I'm going to make fudge tomorrow. Gooey, sugary, fudgy fudge.