Full disclosure, I’m eating a mini York Peppermint Patty as I’m writing this… I’m just saying.
So, I’m curious, what’s your take on sweets. How often do you eat them? How often do you let your kiddos eat them? What are your favorites? (I'm a dark chocolate girl...the darker the better.)
In my dreams I’m channeling MeMe Roth* -- a sugar tyrant (Roth might be a little abrasive and over the top but as harsh as she seems, she’s pretty spot on in her thinking…), only allowing treats on absolute special occasions. But it’s not my reality. I like, no, I LOVE dessert. I love to bake, I love chocolate, I love making cupcakes and setting up a candy “buffet” for all our birthday parties. I can’t help it; it’s festive.
But while I have some modicum of self control (peppermint patties notwithstanding) my girlies don’t. They’d eat candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let them. They can’t get enough. So I have to set some guidelines. Generally I don’t buy sweets to keep around the house. (I do make an exception for good ice cream.) And I’ve tried to institute a rule that we only eat sweets if we make them from scratch (no boxed cake mix). That helps curb sugar mayhem a bit.
So spill it… What’s the sweets low-down at your house?
I didn't grow up with sweets in the house, so I don't keep sweets in the house (okay, there is a bag of chocolate chips in the bottom drawer of the fridge that I sometimes break into for emergency purposes).
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love homemade desserts but I don't bake more than once every week or two. Otherwise it would be too tempting.
I can be a candy fiend if it's available, so I just don't buy it, other than the occasional fun size piece. I actually can't remember the last time I ate a whole candy bar.
I have to admit that I get a little sweet fix with otter pops or popsicles during the summer. But we don't have AC, so they are my reward.
Our first babe just turned one and we went back and forth about cake/no cake and finally settled on a blueberry muffin with a tiny swipe of frosting. Which she never ate because she was having too much fun playing with her toys and friends to be bothered.
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting discussion with my husband though and I talked to a lot of other mom's too see what their thoughts were. A few ladies who had grown up in "no sugar" houses advised moderation so they don't go crazy and fall into a sugar-induced coma when they reach college. There was also discussion about how to help your kids choose healthy foods and nourish their bodies.
I just picked up Hungry Monkey from the library and I am interested to read it.
Avery is a great eater right now, but I really want to keep that going.
Anyway, this is a really long comment, so I am going to wrap it up!
I started off really strict with our first daughter and have gotten more relaxed as we go on. We still have some things we do though - the girls don't get any juice/soda. Our oldest potty trained with a candy bribe and still gets one piece every day. Other than that I try to stick to homemade things and honey in plain yogurt and brown sugar in oatmeal. That type of thing. But it's all a balancing act. I'm not crazy about sugar just as I'm not crazy about any one thing. They watch television but not all day. They eat some sugar but eat lots of whole foods too, tons of fruit, good dairy and vegetables, etc.
ReplyDeleteLife to me is all about balance.
We are a sugar family... I like sweets so I keep them in the house. I want kids to eat candy here and there so that when they grow up they don't go bonkers on it in an act of rebellion. We always had some candy here and there in our house as I grew up, licorice was really common, but they are kids - all kids love sweets and I don't mind indulging them in a way that gives them a healthy relationship with food in general. I have the opinion from experience that if you try to keep kids away from certain things they will be more drawn to them. Everything in moderation is my opinion! Just my two cents... I have a lot of friends that are a no-sweets household... I can certainly see their point of view as well.
ReplyDeleteWe're not a strict no-sugar household (I like to bake & there's a really great, local ice cream stand just a few blocks away), but we rarely eat dessert (except that I'm on a 2-month hiatus from work & that gives me plenty of time to try new recipes like lemon-basil cake & blueberry custard - I can't resist!). The main sweet things our daughter eats are brown sugar on her oatmeal & honey on her toast. I think moderation & modeling a healthy attitude (whether that's no-sugar or low-sugar depends on your household) is the key.
ReplyDeleteClare (2) probably gets one treat a day... a cookie or a handful of M&M's. It brings her such joy! I love to bake and it's quite rewarding to make something for her that she loves so much.
ReplyDeleteSugar is a major food group in my life. I've found that the key to following a diet are those fun-size candy bars. Just one isn't going to kill you, and it's just the perfect amount of sweet to signal to my brain "meal ended." Otherwise I feel snacky way into the night. When I decide it's time to undo a few weeks of decadence, the first thing I do is buy a bag of candy. I know that makes no sense, but it's always worked for me. When I restrict myself too much I always, always overindulge the first chance I get.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I LOVE candy, especially the "cheap" chocolate, any Halloween candy bar is a favorite...my husband loves the cakes, cookies and ice cream, so our boys are doomed. They are 5 and 8 and also love the sweets. We found we were giving them home baked goods and ice cream almost every night. So, about 4 years ago we instituted "Dessert Night." They each got to choose a night where we could eat fun desserts -- mind you we live right around the corner from a 1940's diner with housemade ice cream. Anyways, we now have dessert on Tuesday and Saturday and any other night they know that they can have fruit, yogurt, unswettened applesauce, etc. Seems to have worked, they rarely ask for a treat after dinner now, if they ask for a treat on a non dessert night, they know they'll have to trade a night...we still have candy left fromm Easter and Valentine's Day that they have completely ignored. This is not to say that on a special occassion we don't give in, 4th of July entailed cupcakes, ice cream, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids, so I can only speak for myself, but I think that sweets are totally ok as long as they aren't eaten all the time or in huge quantities. I LOVE desserts, but have a surprising amount of self-restraint when it comes to eating them. For example, I can keep a bar of dark chocolate in the fridge for weeks, only having a small piece every night. That is a system that works for me!
ReplyDeleteI think that your rules are good ones. A lot of people will just plow through whatever sweets are in the house. And by making things from scratch, you know what's in them. I think homemade sweets are ALWAYS ok. And I also bake all the time. I really can't get enough. Good thing my bf has a super healthy appetite (and by healthy, I mean big, not healthy).
We are a pretty anti-sugar house - we use agave, honey, stevia, erithrytol but go out of our way to avoid anything with HFS or sugar in it... Sam is totally allowed to have cake or icecream at birthday parties and some other homemade treats (with one of the above sugar substitutes)... For me its about setting a good example about what is good and healthy and energizing to FUEL our bodies with and what is just crap. ;-)
ReplyDeleteps- i'm not perfect. there wasn't a cupcake joint in NYC i didn't hit last year when i was there! ;-) but i actually preferred the healthy vegan ones at babycakes the best...
i think it's a great idea to only allow sweets if you make them from scratch. makes sweets just a *little* healthier than storebought stuf. i try to use honey as much as i can in my baking because i think it's better for you than regular sugar.
ReplyDeleteI let my mom's house be candy central and try to keep things under control here at home. There, Noah can enjoy orange soda, fruit snacks, M&M's, ice cream after every meal (no matter how well he eats), etc. Here at home, he can enjoy homemade chocolate chip cookies (made with whole wheat flour and ground flax seed), and frozen bananas dipped in dark chocolate. I don't keep candy in the house because if it's here, we'll eat it, if it's not, we won't. It's that simple! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't want to make such a big deal out of sweets that I create an exaggerrated allure that makes the kids want sweets even more than they would otherwise. On the other hand, I want the kids to develop healthy habits. So I stock the house with healthy options and try not to make a big deal out of cookies or candy. My kids almost always reach for a yogurt or piece of fruit for a snack - but they do love Dum Dum suckers and have one almost every day.
ReplyDeleteWe don't keep traditional sweets (candies, cookies) in the house very often. But candy does make it's way home from parties, etc. on occasion and we'll keep one item around. Our rule is only 1 sweet per day, and that might be jello, and most days it's not anything. But then when they ask, we have the ability to say yes once that day. For my daughter, it might be one of the candies in a packet, and that makes her happy. On the other hand, when we are at a party, one treat can be a slice of cake with icing, which throws her off kilter with a sugar rush, but we leave quickly after and ride it out--it's only once every week or 2 or 3.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to bake. But I also LOVE to eat healthfully. So, the kids definitely get homemade desserts (I have a major sweet tooth and love for dark chocolate)...but not all the time. The biggest thing for our family is that every night, fruit is for dessert. It is no longer on the dinner table b/c I found the kids don't like veggies as much next to sweet fruit. Now the kids cheer at "dessert" and get so excited over cherries, watermelon, bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, magoes, etc...
ReplyDelete