Do You And/or Your Kids Have a Sweet Tooth?

My husband and I also both "need" sweets on a daily basis. What I do is try to make healthy foods in to a "sweet"...sometimes my daughter buys it, other times she doesn't. An example would be cut up strawberries that she can dip in a sour cream/sugar dip...or dried apricots (which she loves). I keep a lot of dark chocolate around and she occasionally gets a piece. Since I'm a big baker, there's almost always something in the freezer or on the counter...and she knows it. Having said that, I bake pretty healthy things...always adding flax and wheatgerm to the batter...and using agave nectar and cutting back on sugar when I can. I guess I don't say "no" a whole lot but that might be because I am the baker in the house and I know that what is going in to her body isn't all that bad. At the same time, sweets never replace a meal no matter how hard she begs, and generally I limit her to one dessert-like food a day.

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My son does... and I don't. Which makes things interesting.

When he was little, he'd save his money and get a starbucks card. Strawberries and Creme frappucinios were one of his altime favorite things. (strawberries, milk, ice).

I got an "icecream soccer ball" for him at one point, and it's absolutely beloved.

He saves his halloween and easter candy ALL YEAR. (He gorges for a day or so, and then doles them out essentially 1 candy a day, or ever couple days. These things literally last all year long).

Greek Honey Yogurt is as much a staple in our house as milk/butter/eggs (it tastes like cheesecake). In fact, it's sooooo much like cheesecake, I've gotten it into molds, let it set, and put fruit compote over it and had people beg for the recipe.

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We love them too of course. I eat what I want and I don't worry about the kids. I give them smaller portions when I like and they don't complain about my eating my sweets right in front ot them LOL! Kids learn early in life that there are seniority levels. Grown ups get the best chairs. Grown ups stay up later. I drink my monster soda. But they get water and milk and only an occasionally highly watered down juice and that's seriously more like flavored water. I don't keep soda in the house. But I bring it back from Micky D's in upwards of 3-4 times per month. Some parents tell me only non-caffinated softdrinks on those occasions or no soda at all. I honor their wishes and their kids get used to the fact that they will see their friends have soda while they have water. Life isn't always fair.

We need to limit the ice cream and chocolate coming into this house. I refuse to diet. But when my clothes get tight I can abstain until they fit again :)

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Dark chocolate covered almonds. Eat about 3, just enough to satisfy the craving. -- Almonds are healthy, dark chocolate is healthy. I buy them in the bulk section of Sprouts.

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I have a "snack tooth" a salty one lol. My daughter has a HUGE sweet tooth and she loves her teeth...a lot more now since she's getting adult teeth so I tell her what too much candy can do to your teeth...and she's pretty good after that.

Oh my. I am the candy bar every day person...lots of sugar in my coffee...sneaking candy as I pass by the kitchen...etc...and I do basically either sneak it all or eat it after they are in bed.

Here are my rules for them on candy. In the AM, I let them each have a SMALL handful of dark chocolate covered pomegranate or goji berries...all good for them. My six year old chews gum...sugar free, of course, but she likes those "dessert flavor" gums lately. I'm fine with it because they are sugar free.

If my 20 month old is good at the store, I let them have a bag of reese's or m&ms on the way out...I totally don't care that it's bribery, because we hardly go to the store and I am okay with them having SOME candy.

I don't generally keep candy in the house for them...but I do have a stash of candy bars. Can't help it...it's like I need them. :)

Hubby and I think chocolate is the greatest thing ever created and DD (age 4) is turning out the same way. We are also fans of any kind of baked good (cookies, pie, cake, etc.) and ice cream. I also love gummy candy so that is my treat when we go to the movies. My approach is usually to just not buy the stuff at all and then there is no temptation. But it's Girl Scout Cookie time and our neighbor is selling them for her daughter and it's always good to help out your neighbors...

DD doesn't get dessert every night, and I know people say it's wrong to use it as a bribe, but our deal is that if she does a good job on dinner, she gets some dessert. She doesn't eat enough dinner - no dessert. She eats really healthy otherwise and if the incentive of an Oreo cookie is what it takes for her to eat more broccoli and chicken, so be it. We grew up the same way and no food issues as a result. I don't eat sweets in front of her, unless it is something we are having together - otherwise, we will have something after she goes to bed and the stuff is stashed where she can't see it or get it. She will ask for some things at random times - like a Hershey's Kiss at breakfast - and my answer is NO. I am telling her that there are foods that are "sometimes foods" that are yummy treats but we can't eat them all the time and we need to eat more healthy foods that help us grow up healthy and strong. She doesn't eat much in the way of processed junk (no Pop Tarts, Fruit Roll-Ups, snack chips, etc.) so I don't feel that the occasional chocolate chip cookie or cupcake (especially since we baked them together) is going to ruin her.

I only drink soda sporadically and I am trying to cut back further from that and only drink water. Hubby does not drink soda at all. And DD has no interest in it. My mother let her try some once a long time ago and DD thought it was "yucky". For now she is okay with it being a "grown up drink" - same as coffee and alcohol.

Lol! I'll take out kid's with me to the grocery store and I'll ask them if they want any "treat's" and they will literally say NO! I'm like really??? So every once in awhile I'll grab a bag of Oreo's and the kid's look at me and literally tell me "Mom? That's not healthy!" It shock's me! As for the Halloween candy they collected, it's still in the kitchen cabinet, three big bag's full and they won't even touch it lol! I guess my hubby and I will occasionally have a sweet tooth, mostly at night time while kid's are asleep and we pig out on reese's piece's, peanut butter cups and those darn almond joys! Oh well! Guess we just can't help it! Lol!

oh yes I love the sweets and my oldest says he wishes all he could eat would be sugary foods. I don't worry about it too much. I don't keep a lot of sweets in the house. We have fruit snacks pretty much all the time, and they can usually have a pack of them sometime during the day if they have eaten their meal well. My kids love chocolate milk so I use this chocolate infused Stevia in their milk. It is a totally natural sweetener and gives the milk a touch of chocolaty sweetness. I slice up apples a lot as a sweet dessert and a couple times a week I have some kind of dessert after dinner, usually toward the end of the week as well. I don't really make a big deal of limiting sweets persay. I was raised to not keep sweets in the house, to get your sugar fix when you are out. That way you don't have sweet or fattening foods around when you have a craving. So that is what I do around here. We pretty much just get a sweet treat out and have the occasional dessert at home. My kids love valentine's bc they end up getting extra chocolates etc, so this a great week for them :D

Let me tell you- I should have bought stock in Little Debbie years ago. lol If my kids finish their dinner, their reward is 1 Hershey kiss. 2 if they try something new. Chocolate is good for everyone. I don't care what anyone says. :)

For the most part we all eat very good but we have a sweet fix at least once a day, it can be yogurt, ice cream ,Popsicles ,pudding, hot chocolate etc....usually after dinner.

ugh. i am horrible. and my son is just like me.

i am working on my diet now, so i have cut back a lot of it...but when i buy impulse sweets i try to get sugar free, that helps. sugar free chocolate is actually darn good and hits the spot for that craving.

but if the nutritionist told you no sweets during the week (good idea) i would really try to do it myself, too. we should try that rule. i like it.

i absolutely would eat chocolate every day if i could! lol. and ice cream...OMG that sounds sooo good right now!!

Oh, yes, unfortunately. It is soooo hard to say no to sweets. I do a couple of things to eliminate some of the sweets. First, I'm not a baker, I only bake on birthdays or holidays, so that limits that. Second, we do not have soda in the house--only Vernors when we have a tummy ache. My kids drink milk or Simply Lemonade daily. I tell my kids that once in a while sweets are okay, but your body needs healthy foods to stay energized and grow. I'm afraid if I totally so absolutely no sweets, they will crave them more. All in moderation.

No, I'm a fat eater, chips, dips, grease, yum...Now hubs, he can eat bags and bags of candy every day and not think twice about it. I'm afraid he's going to go into some kind of sugar coma or something! Of course our kids like candy, but they don't ask for it all the time. We do try to have ice cream once or twice per week and same for cookies. I don't want to deprive them of it because obesity runs in our family and I know if you don't let them have it at all or restrict it too much, it will make them want it even more. So we do allow it, but just not every day and not tons of it. Good luck!

My family is lucky because none of us have a sweet tooth. We do make sweets for special occasions and I always have a nice birthday cake for the birthday person. We LOVE to bake and prepare sweets, we just don't LOVE to eat them. My neighbors get some great treats!

We probably take 1 slice of birthday cake between the 3 of us to taste and sing HB then I slice it and keep it frozen until I need space. Sometimes daughter's friends will eat sweets I have on hand.

I am glad we don't have to deal with that issue, it make it easier to keep our teeth and our bodies healthy.

As long as you eat them in moderation you should be fine.