For those of you who do eat junk food/sweets/fast food occasionally or regularly...

[mommy212]

When did you start to allow your children to eat these things as well? Dh and I have been discussing this (way in advance- LO is only 6 months) and we are pretty sure we can keep junk food and fast food away from him for several years as we do not eat these things very often ourselves. However, we both have a major sweet tooth so there is almost always something sweet in the house for us. We both know we can't keep sweets out of the house all the time and don't want to adopt a "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" policy with sweets. How can we tell him he can't have a cookie even as we eat one? But at the same time, we do not want to start him on an unhealthy diet or get him hooked on sweets! Please advise.

[berry987]

Eat them after your child goes to bed! DH and I are mostly healthy eaters, but we DO get massive cravings for ice cream with magic shell occasionally . We just wait until the kids are in bed, DH makes a run to the grocery store, and we indulge all by ourselves.

Edit: I just want to add that we let our kids eat sweets, but only good quality ones (well, except on Halloween...we let them go wild for a couple of days) -- organic lollipops, homemade cookies/brownies. We don't do fast food very often at all - just emergencies like unprepared road trips.

[mamadelbosque]

We eat at McDonalds far more than I'd like to admit (probably about once a week, on average), more in the winter, less in the summer (due entirely to the fact that they have indoor playgrounds and there is simply nowhere else to go and play inside around here), as in the summer we tend to goto parks & pack lunches and play, and in the winter thats just not an option...

I think DS1 started eating chicken'nugets & french fries ~18 months or so, being honest, DS2 is sure to have them much sooner (though hes 8 months and still not eating much solids...). I started buying DS1 'happy meals' ~2-2.5 when he started eating mroe or less everything in them.

As for other sweets... I have a sweet tooth like nothin else, I admit. But I generally indulge after the boys are in bed... though DS1 does get a piece of candy whenever he goes poopy on the potty (used to get an m'nm every time he went pee but we've phased that out.

[MissE]

I have a sweet tooth like crazy but I won't buy anything sweet because if I get a cookie out I won't eat any of it since my kids will drive me bonkers asking for a cookie. So in the end I'll just give one to them and I have to scarve mine down in a second they don't look. I don't want to do that, I like to enjoy my food LOL. So no cookies or candy in the house = no fights, no tantrums and less sugar all together.

If I really feel like I need a cookie I make them myself. I often bake banana/zucchinibreads so at least I know it's not overly processed and I can control the sugar amount in it.

As for fastfood. I think both my kids 'started' eating a french fry or chicken nugget at around 18 months. We don't do it very often anymore as I just feel bad giving them food that has no nutritional value. We go to Chick Fil A about twice a month but don't always eat - they have toddler time there every Thursday morning with face painting, games etc. DS (3yo) asks for chicken every now and then and I'll let him have it. It won't hurt as long as I know that he eats his veggies and healthy stuff the other 28 days out of the month.

[lil_earthmomma]

They got their first sugary treat on their birthday really. I made the cake, it wasn't full of HFCS and crap, but there was sugar, there was icing etc. To be honest, neither were that interested. They still prefer berries to the cake when I serve berries with cake.

I have allowed them treats since then, but try to limit it and candy/junk food don't reside in our pantry.

[cristeen]

I think in part this is going to depend on your definition of junk food...

We don't do "fast food" as in McD, BK, etc. We do get burgers and fries on occasion from locally owned places. Or I'll make them myself at home. If I'm making them at home, then I have no problem feeding them to my family when they're ready for them. If I'm buying them... this is still an internal debate in progress (like you, my guy's only 6 mos).

As for sweets - any sweets we have in the house are (generally) home-made. And most of the time I cut the sugar from what the recipe calls for and/or use honey instead. These will be limited, but they will still be allowed them when they're ready for them.

The real problem comes in around holidays. Already, grandma has inundated us with sweets. I had to send a bag to the office with DH after Xmas and another after Easter. And they're all the cheap drug-store stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how to approach this... I have about 8 months to contemplate and fight that battle. Because bottom line is that I don't want the stuff in the house NOW, when he's not even eating solids yet. Mommy has a massive sweet-tooth and even just having it in the house is detrimental to my health. I don't want to have to fight that battle with both grandma AND a 1 yo.

[lil_earthmomma]

Originally Posted by cristeen

I'm still trying to figure out how to approach this... I have about 8 months to contemplate and fight that battle. Because bottom line is that I don't want the stuff in the house NOW, when he's not even eating solids yet. Mommy has a massive sweet-tooth and even just having it in the house is detrimental to my health. I don't want to have to fight that battle with both grandma AND a 1 yo.

I approached the grandmas about this. One was very receptive and I suggested that she buy one nice treat, or bake the boys a treat rather than buying them a bulk size bag of crap. She does this and loves it! The boys love it and I feel better about them eating her lovingly bought or made treat.

The other grandma has ignored my gentle pleas and suggestions. So... I often forget the treats in her house!

[Storm Bride]

I honestly don't know. The age has crept younger and younger, though. DS1 was 10 when dd1 got here, 12 when ds2 got here, and 16 when dd2 got here. It's just not practical to expect him to never eat junk food, so it's around and in the house more than it was when he was a baby, yk?

DD2 has already had a nibble of homemade french fries a couple of times. I wouldn't have let her eat that, but dh did.

It's really varied wildly between the kids, and depending what kind of junk food we're talking about, yk?

[velochic]

We don't eat fast food. Ever. (Dd's never eaten in a McDonald's). But we do have sweets in the house. Good chocolate, all-natural ice cream, homemade pastries. We let dd start having this kind of stuff around 18 months or so. We were living in Germany at the time, and there's nothing quite like European pastries... especially German pastries. We eat these sorts of things about once a week at most now. Perhaps more around the holidays. We eat only all-natural, so that rules out most "junk food" and all "fast food". Still, my crème brulée really hits the spot when you're looking for something sweet, and my homemade potato chips are better than anything you can buy. We indulge, but try to do so smartly.

ETA: dd is 8 and has never had soda pop. This is something we just won't allow in our house. Ever. I'm sure one day she'll want to drink one at a friend's house or at a party. We won't ban them. I just hope that we can teach her to at least go for the sodas with real sugar instead of HFCS.

[happysmileylady]

I let my little ones have it when I feel they are old enough to safely chew/eat it. For example, DD is not quite a year and a half, and at Easter this year she got an egg or two with M&Ms. Her presents from us were sidewalk chalk and a STUFFED chocolate bunny (ie stuffed bunny made to look like the typical choco bunny), the easter egg came from grandma. We parceled out the M&Ms one or two at a time because otherwise she would take a handful and shove them in her mouth all at once and choke on them. She also got some marshmallows and again, we dished them out one at a time so she didn't choke on them.

But, in regards to nutrition, we don't prevent her from having it if we are having it. We don't generally keep candy in the house, so Easter was really the first opportunity. My sister owns a cake shop, so we do have a lot of cake, and I do let her have some whenever we have some. But, because we don't want her to have this stuff all the time, it has actually served to cut down our own intake of junk. If it's bad for her, it's bad for us to and we shouldn't be eating it anymore than she should. But if it's ok for us to eat, it's ok for her to have. I am really big on setting the example, so if I don't want her to have it at all, none of us have it.

The only real exception to this is pop. I have an addiction to it really. I have been known to give her a TINY sip or two when I have it, but she will not get her own drink for quite a while.

[Bri'sgirl]

I truly wish my kids had never eaten McD's, but they have and it's history. I will not go there any more and my kids are ok with it. Once in a long while, I will take them to Chick-fil-A, especially during the winter months. I think they are the lesser of the fast food evils. But, before I really ate well, my kids started junk foods at around 18 months old. The grandparents and aunts really tried to undermine our efforts to minimize the sweets and junk, but I explained to them that, not only is it something that we do not want our kids having, but my youngest ds has a severe reaction to red food coloring. They are finally starting to come around and ask me before they offer anything to the kids. Luckily, my kids understand a lot of my reasons for not eating junk and will even turn it down when offered.

[newcastlemama]

We let our children eat treats socially/at celebrations. I feed them nutritous whole foods at home (that does include some healthier homemade desserts).

Grandparents sometimes take them to get a fast food hamburger and the like for fun. Our church regularly has activities that include goodies. I want to enjoy my children's childhood and not be stressing out all the time giving them food issues. I don't remember the age when they had treats, probably when they started eating food.

If for some reason they do bring a ton of candy home I usually trow it away after a couple days since I don't like keeping stuff like that in the house and being asked about it all day long by the kids.