At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Some friends were discussing this at brunch yesterday. One of my friends tried to give Jordana a piece of cake. now Jordana is almost 18 months old. I don't give her any sweets (other than fruit). I figure she will learn what sweets are on her own and ask for them. But why should I give her cookies when she is very happy wiht fruit and veggies?

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Pretty early. I always give her a taste or two of what I am having. She's 11 months.

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Ds gets tastes of sweets at parties, but they're not kept in my house. At home his snacks are cheese and crackers, fruit, puffs, cheerios, or Gerber banana cookies.

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Ryan had a few licks of ice cream at the state fair at 13 months. He eats pop tarts for snack at school when it's on the menu. I give him graham crackers and fruit at home, but I consider those healthy choices. He doesn't get sweets at home, I just don't want to deal w/the sugar high.

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Pretty early on too. Not a full on cookie or piece of cake, but tastes from mine. Then I guess after 1 year old, both my kids got a nice treat here and there, for dessert or while we were out. They eat very well otherwise, so I don't see any problem. My son lived on M&M's and Hershey Kisses when he was potty training

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Yeah, well, we are the non-sweet poster family and BOY do we get a LOT of heat about it from EVERYONE.

Until Alex was about 20 months old the only "sweet" she ever had was her 1st birthday cake. I politely declined anytime anyone would offer her something sweet, even at her friends' birthday parties. I made sure I always brought food with us to give her instead - usually fresh fruit.

The last few months, when we are out, I'll let her have a little taste when she asks for something. For example - this past weekend we went to a birthday party with these INSANE elmo cupcakes that were pretty much all icing and a little bit of cupcake. Alex asked for a piece, so I removed all the icing and gave her the little cupcake. Next to her plate, I gave her a bowl of fresh fruit.

I was SOOO proud of my little girl when she took one bite of the cupcake, threw it back on the plate and instead went to town on the fruit

We do not have any sweets at home - she thinks a "cookie" means a slice of raisin bread

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

We don't really give sweets at all, it didn't start out intentional...

We went out with a friend this weekend and his child was being difficult and they were trying to calm him down, they asked us if they could give Bella a ring pop and I snapped back quickly with a no...I felt bad, but the only candy Bella ever had was reeses peanut butter cups, I am not starting with the sugary treats like ring pops...

She rarely eats cake at a party and ice cream too(she tried to toss her first b-day cake and didn't eat any of her 2nd b-day ice cream cup) but that is her choice, I do offer it.

I want sweet treats to be just that, treats...not expected...I am not going to nix them completely, but animal crackers, goldfish, and crackers are her snack and nothing after dinner...

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

I have been trying to give her little tastes for a while but she doesn't want it!
She loves fruit but I didn't want her to think that sweets were taboo so I always tried to give her little tastes... she's not interested which is fine by me...

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

We have not crossed that bridge yet DS is only 4 1/2 months old, but I will not offer any sweets for as long as possible.

IMO I think that the eating habits of most adults are so unhealthy, I think if we can teach your kids good eating habits early on it can only help them. I really credit my eating habits for my fast metabolism (I rarely eat sweets or junk food), and hope to pass this on to DS.

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

The only cookies I have given are animal crackers and teddy gramhs. He isn't a big fan of other sweets. They don't have a lot of sugar in them so I don't mind giving them to him and he only gets it when we go out (thats my bibary)

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

I started to give Noah bits of chocolate at around a year old. He only gets choccies once in a while and he does have a sweet tooth....

But everything in moderation.

Re: At what age did you start giving your kids sweets?

my girls eat sweets and everything in moderation. They started eating like this at about 15-16 months. I don't want to make issues around food. I will explain to them when it's time to try and eat healthy for their bodies and to eat stuff in moderation..Portion control.