Almost 5 year old and candy

[lmk1]

My son seems obsessed with candy and sweets.  He even says he likes being sick, because then he gets cough drops (really just Halls Vitamin C) and he likes taking medicine.  I don't give him a fever reducer every time he gets a fever, and he's not sick more often than other kids, either.  I don't think he's saying it because he gets extra attention from me while he's sick; he's just developed a very sweet tooth, but wanting to be sick just to get medicine seems really crazy.  I don't know what to do...when he was a baby, he never had sweets, not even juice, but as he's gotten older, and we've been around more kids, other people, and grandma, the sweets just happen more frequently.  I have a sweet tooth myself, but I don't remember being this obsessed with candy when I was a kid...and there wasn't such a huge variety of it either then.  Should I approach it from an emotional perspective, like he's really linking candy to the holidays and other times when we have fun together...or is this just a sugar problem?  Should I limit sugar more, less?

[DrLauraMarkham]

You don't mention that your son has any other big issues, so that suggests that this is not emotional, but physical. I'm not a medical doctor, so I can't advise you about the physical aspects. I do know that there is a huge range of "normal" in kids with regard to their interest in sugar. I had one who had no interest and another who sometimes seemed obsessed, and I parented them in the same way.  So it may be that your son just is predisposed to love sweets.

Everyone has a different theory on whether you should or should not limit sweets. Some people don't want to create "forbidden fruit."  But since sugar is so very addictive, my view is that kids need our help to limit it.  So I would have fruit if you want dessert at your house, with sweets for special occasions.  But that is a very individual choice. And either way, your son will probably still be somewhat obsessed with sweets!