How often do you treat your child?

pinkmami

mumto2loves wrote: »

my daughter school doesn't give out things like that, they do get a sticker and one child a week gets put in the 'gold book'.

how about this then my friends status on fb on the last day of school was that her son had 'won' an X BOX from school for 100% attendance, no lateness and no loss of play time!!!:eek::eek:

OMG:eek: you are joking!! Blimey!

moomoomama27

My children get sweets once a week, they get about 50p and go to the little sweet shop near our house and buy mostly penny sweets!! They also get a magazine once a month as a treat and £5 pocket money, the eldest gets that and phone top up too. About once every 3 months we'll buy them a small toy each (makeup/ sprays etc for the eldest) , or a lego set / computer game to share.

I do 'treat' my children alot but mostly it's the the form of treat trips, cinema visits etc.

balletshoes

I also have a sweetie box at home, with small sweets/packets in, from the supermarket. None of my DD's friends have money for sweets every day, and neither does/will she. She doesn't need them, they are available at home as a treat.
My neighbour's kids did go through a phase of getting money after school and calling for my DD to go with them to the shop to spend on sweets, my DD got to do it the first time they asked her, but when it started becoming a regular thing I said no.

In the school holidays though, when my DD and niece are together, and theres nothing planned for the day, they do get to go to the shop if they want to, and pick a sweetie each.

Spendless

pinkmami wrote: »

I mean as sweets etc. I have 3 kids & the eldest 2 are girls age 9 & 7. They think its "normal" to have sweets every day. You see, their pal down the road who is 8 has a £1 every day (yes, without fail as she comes to our with her bulging bag of sweets to show off) to go to the shop to buy sweets & boy does she spend that £1 on them. So when my girls come into the house & ask for some money for the shop I say "not today"....they think I'm a very bad mum! They see the other girls having some so they think its the norm. I've explained that its nor in our home & having sweets as treats.

When I was a kid (yeah that old one!!) I was given some money to go on a Saturday or on the way home from school on a friday (granted we'd been good kids).

I popped to the shope earlier & this girl was there & I mentioned in passing to the cashier that my kids keep pestering for cash & she said "oh they've been here with this one (the £1 girl) eariler & she bought them sweets".......so they went behind my back so I grounded them till the morning. They're now upstairs sulking!

So do you treat your kids everyday to lots of sweets? Mine don't go without, don't get me wrong. They're well dressed, well fed, much loved, we have day trips, I buy them the odd DVD/Wii game .....but I find this girl a bit irritating in buying sweets for my girls. She's one of 5 kids I they're a very materialstic family (each have a laptop, DS, mobile....blah blah)

just want your thoughts xx

Did you tell them they weren't allowed to eat sweets today or that you weren't giving them money to buy sweets, but hadn't said anything about any someone else provided? My 2 can spot a loophole like that from a hundred miles away.

PoorCharleyBear

we are reasonably relaxed with our 4 year old and sometimes give her a sweet every 3-4 days. But often she gets bored part way through and gives it back.

Weird child seems to dislike chocolate!
As kids sweets were such a big deal, that I eat far too many as an adult and am hoping the 'more relaxed' approach will desensitise our daughter.

meritaten

my kids are grown up now so I can only really relate this to my grandkids. They do get 'treats occasionally - but only rarely are they sweets - and I am very careful what I buy them! its usually chocolate and NEVER Haribos or Maoams! Have you read the ingredients list for them? I am sure they are Toxic and none of the grandkids are allowed them - not just me - their parents say they all go doolally on them!
the treats I buy them tend to be Strawberries, Bananas and occasionally those Pink Lady apples. for sweet treats it tends to be either chocolate or we do microwave popcorn which we flavour with a bit of real sugar or melted butter while hot. (thats on DvD nights) supper then may be hotdogs or burgers or chicken dippers (the hotdogs are butchers sausages and the burgers and chicken dippers are homemade so I dont feed them junk!)
other meals the kids like to help make themselves and at seven will prepare the scrambled eggs for me to cook or they love to make prawn wraps with Pink (seafood) sauce and prepare all the salads themselves. They think this is a huge treat!
even with my own kids, sweets were an occasional thing as money was really tight - it paid off in that the kids teeth are still mostly filling free! my daughters dentist actually groans when he sees her - she never even needs to see the hygienist!
I think making sweets a daily treat is misguided parenting - I feel sorry for the poor kid who gets a pound to spend on sweets a day - she wont have a tooth in her head by the time she has kids of her own!

marywooyeah

so this kid spends £365 a year on sweets? I'd point that out to her parents, they might not give her that much if they thought of it that way!
I had strict parents and used to get £1 a week pocket money (yes, that old chesnut!) and one of my friends always had sweet money, I felt poor next to her and wanted sweets and chocolate cos let's face it they're tasty and I wanted to fit in too. I've always been a "lady of circumference" so my stepmum hammered on that you'll be fat if you eat sweets etc but I just dismissed it as her usual moaning. I think this is probably the case with your kids too - they want what she has, the freedom and the money to buy loads of sweets. does she have a weight problem at all? it sounds really unhealthy for a child so young to eat that much!
do you give your kids pocket money? If so tell them thats all the money they get that week and if they choose to waste it on sweets that's up to them - emphasise "waste" and say if you saved up for x amount of time you could have that thing you want etc, puts it into context a bit better and hopefully will encourage them to save it up for a real treat rather than some sweets.
I let my son have some chocolate or some percy pig sweets every couple of days, but limit the portion size.

Gillyx

Percy Pigs are a treat even for me. Yummy.

marywooyeah

Gillyx wrote: »

Percy Pigs are a treat even for me. Yummy.

well they have real fruit juice in them so they're healthy

yummymummy79

It varies for my 7 year old son. During school times, maybe once or twice a week or during holidays maybe slightly more often. Saying that though I have taught him about healthy eating through 'always foods' and 'sometimes foods' and he knows that sweets, chocolate, lollies etc are sometimes foods so knows not to ask too often! Mind you, we went blackberrying yesterday and he was more excited about that and eating some during it than worrying about sweets or anything!
Doesn't help that he's allowed to pick at whatever junk food he likes at his nan's (ex's mum) when he goes there twice a week, but I'm confident he's reasonably sensible.