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sweets
20-03-2011, 12:04 PM
Do you ever give your mindees sweets or chocolates?

i rarely do but the other day i only had 2 mindees so i popped them in the double buggy and went for a long walk, on the way home i called in the shop for some milk and for a treat i bought a packet of chocolate buttons, the children were really excited and we shared them on the way home, only 1 pack between the 3 of us and i prob had more than my share! lol:blush:

i did feel a bit guilty for giving them chocolate but then thought NO i shouldn't as it was a treat and not an every day thing.

is it so wrong? i was brought up having sweets prob every day and i expect a lot if not most children still do. So why is it we can't give them to them now and again.

AnnieM
20-03-2011, 12:09 PM
I give them as treats every now and then, as long as parents don't object. As long as it's not every day I can't see it being too much of a problem, I do only buy chocolate though. :thumbsup:

Ripeberry
20-03-2011, 12:32 PM
One of my mindees is never given chocolate at home by his parents (or so they say). But he knows what a bar of chocolate looks like and he keeps bringing me the wooden food basket and pulls out the chocolate going "Yum, yum!"
Me thinks granny is giving him some :cool:

But I don't give them sweets or chocolates, they may get ice cream with sprinkles, but that's it really.

Twinkles
20-03-2011, 12:35 PM
Only as a special treat.

However, I have one family who are very keen on healthy eating.
They are vegetarian , everything has to be organic , freshly prepared etc etc.

I have supported them completely with this.

The other morning they arrived and said ' She wouldn't eat much breakfast. The smarties went down well though !!!!!!' :eek: :eek:

I will never again carefully consider whether I should exclude my children from having a treat if this child is around.
To think ,I felt guilty if she had a bit of chocolate cake after lunch !

We will continue to eat healthily and will have the occasional treat too.

PixiePetal
20-03-2011, 12:53 PM
healthy as a rule with occasional treats - I bake cakes a lot and we make biscuits together but there is an odd custard cream or choc digestive about if they eat meal, fruit and yogurt or if we are out for the day. :thumbsup: Parents are happy with everything.

I had one child from 18 months - very healthy eating family - or so I thought until she got old enough and told me her secret with mummy and she had sweets/choc on the way home :rolleyes:

Another child knew what the purple wrappers meant that I like :o the healthy eating mum did say she succumbed to the odd diet coke and dairy milk :D

I find the ones who have nothing make more of a deal of it when they get older and become obsessed with sweets/choc where the ones who have occasionally take it as normal

Adiamond
20-03-2011, 01:09 PM
I don't normally give sweets or chocolate BUT I sometimes give the lo's a biscuit as a treat.
I agree the ones who are not allowed a sweet or chocolate will more than likely be the ones that will over induldge on these things as soon as they get the chance :rolleyes:
One of my old los apparently wasn't allowed these sort of things until one day they arrived at mine, lo had chocolate all over her face at 8am :eek: mum said she wouldn't eat her breakfast this morning but she has just eaten a full packet of chocolate cookies on the way here :eek:
guess what lo had for her breakfast everyday after mum let her do this??? and I had to put up with lo being rather excitable for the rest of the morning :rolleyes: x

Hebs
20-03-2011, 01:29 PM
yes i do but only as a treat,

i bought mindees choc the other day, first time since christmas :thumbsup:

The Juggler
20-03-2011, 03:24 PM
as long as no objections by the parents I love to treat my little ones. Those who used to stay for tea got a chocolate biscuit but now I don't do tea, we rarely have anything.

Toddlers on a wed is a biscuit (just the one - the amount of children who are allowed 3 or 4 is worrying) and birthdays we always have chocolate cake but on Fridays I only have 1 mindee and if we are in a park we often stop for coffee and a choccie biccie :thumbsup:

keatingschick
20-03-2011, 03:33 PM
The thing is, when my children were born I intended NOT to give sweets/chocs, personally I dont LIKE chocolate. My mum would say that it was mean not to let my son have chocolate, and said I should let him "as a treat" but I said "how is it a treat?" a treat is something you LOVE but you only get once every so often. If he has never had it he doesnt KNOW its a treat and there is no benefit to him having it, having said that my mother won:angry: but my son was obsessed with sweets and had alot of dental problems as such and it was ME that had to go along to the dentist with him!!!

Now the thing is, I suppose because I dont LIKE chocolate, I dont actually buy it so I rarely buy it (also my daughter is diabetic but loves chocolate so I tend not to buy it so we dont have the rows when she wants it but cant have it), now my mindees, I have a child who I have looked after both his brother and his sister. When they were both little the mother was very specific that she didnt want them having biscuits/sweets etc, and so I wouldnt give them any and would always ensure that if we went on any visits to toddler groups I had a healthy snack with me. Recently the other little boy I mind is a relative of this boy, he came in in the morning (8.30) munching a pack of choc buttons, his mum said "dont forget to give X one" and pushed one into the babies mouth. I asked if he was allowed chocs (thinking maybe she knew different her being a relative) and explained that when I minded the other 2 I was instructed not to let them have sweets/chocs etc, and she got all defensive with me saying that the older 2 MORE THAN make up for not having any and they have loads now, and sort of hooked the choc out of the babies mouth in a huff!! (this is the parent who I am having the dispute with at the moment cos I feel we have a strained relationship).
When the mum came to collect the baby I asked her and explained I wasnt being funny but that I didnt give him choc/sweets anyway and I just knew from the others that she never let them have them. She said CERTAINLY not at 9 months and CERTAINLY not at 8.30 in the morning!!!

So...I just respect the parents wishes, but also I suppose cos I dont really like chocolate/sweets anyway and dont actually view it as any kind of treat then its not something I would think of.

I do know though that a minder friend of mine used to have CHOCOLATE parties every so often and she told the Ofsted inspector at her visit, and the inspector said that was great - everything in moderation.

zippy
20-03-2011, 06:28 PM
i made banana smoothies laden with loads of ice cream and made cupcakes during an inspection, when inspector questioned it i i told her i thought healthy eating had its place but i believed more in teaching children about moderation and that every food group has its benefits even ice cream - think of all that calcium lol got graded a good so she must have bought it, i don't believe in changing what i believe just because a handbook tells me to or if an inspector comes calling

Rubybubbles
20-03-2011, 06:50 PM
hmmm everything in moderation I think. I don't as a rule give sweets ect, but we do lots of baking at least 1-2 times a month (saying it loud, doesn't seem alot):blush:

LO I mind is 2 in april and I hate it when we pop to the shop as he shouts chocolate, crisps ect ect as he has anything he wants with mum:( Up until now I have been providing food, but he is cutting down to part time and will be bringing his own lunch:rolleyes: going to have to sort out what to bring leaflet me thinks!

Chell
20-03-2011, 06:57 PM
Only as a special treat.

However, I have one family who are very keen on healthy eating.
They are vegetarian , everything has to be organic , freshly prepared etc etc.

I have supported them completely with this.

The other morning they arrived and said ' She wouldn't eat much breakfast. The smarties went down well though !!!!!!' :eek: :eek:

I will never again carefully consider whether I should exclude my children from having a treat if this child is around.
To think ,I felt guilty if she had a bit of chocolate cake after lunch !

We will continue to eat healthily and will have the occasional treat too.
Smarties aren't vegetarian as they contain cochineal.

Deb
20-03-2011, 08:39 PM
I think that was the point of the :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

and they are dyed using red cabbage now :

god bless wiki :)

flowerpots
20-03-2011, 09:28 PM
I NEVER EVER let my children eat sweets but i do give them a little bit of choc once in a while, i think everything in moderation is nice. I always respect the parents wishes but will never give mindees sweets. :)

fionamal
20-03-2011, 09:35 PM
We have a treat on Fridays. Normally Choc Chip muffins or cookies or sometimes it could be a milkyway but other than that its normally fruit, raisins or a biscuit

My own 2 like a bit of chocolate after dinner and I dont mind that as they generally eat healthy meals anyway and brush teeth after dinner and then again before bed.

babs
20-03-2011, 09:52 PM
i dont give out sweets and chocolate regularly but birthdays i do a party and we have goodies... my own son use to throw up on chocolate when he was little and wasnt allowed it, he grew out of this and now eats chocolate to much if you ask me.... but hes now 19..:rolleyes: i think in moderation everything is good for you.. i do have mindee arriving eveymorming having eaten sweets or chocolate for breakfast, and also has them in lunch bag but they go home again in bag...

Cazz
20-03-2011, 10:43 PM
and they are dyed using red cabbage now[/COLOR]



Red cabbage is a vegetable so does that mean that smarties are actually healthy?! :D

I normally give the children a few wotsits or quavers for lunch after they've eaten their sandwich or wrap. It's literally a few and the parents know and are fine with it. I sometimes give them a biscuit as well but this is only occasionally.

I've had some new mindees start recently and when mum came and signed the contracts I asked if they ate fresh fruit (unlike my daughter who refuses) and she said that they prefer fruit to chocolate and sweets and they only tend to have them at nanny's house :rolleyes:
Several times a day for the first week the older child asked me if we are going to have some sweets soon :rolleyes: By the following week he stopped asking and just made a comment that that they don't have sweets at my house :D

The thing is they came to me from a nursery that they have attended from babies and I wouldn't have thought they got sweets there! Although they were at home with mum for about 3 weeks before they started with me.


Mind you, one evening last week dad turned up earlier than usual and they were still sitting at the table eating their yogurt. I asked the older one if he had finished and wiped his hands and face and dad said "Come on then - lets go in the car and have some sweets" :eek: He had literally just eaten his meal!

I'm rapidly discovering that quite often what parents tell you when they visit and what they actually do at home are worlds apart!

I agree that sweets and chocolate shouldn't be excluded completely from a child's diet because they will want it all the more if they've been denied it. We also do baking fairly regularly and sometimes have a sponge type desert for our evening meal.

Daisy1956
20-03-2011, 11:07 PM
I think that there is no problem with sweets and chocolate so long as you have the parents permission and it is in moderation.

Kimmy050983
21-03-2011, 07:59 AM
I don´t give any sweets and chocolate, i think it´s up to the parents to decide what treats and when their children should have it.. but then Jamie doesn´t eat any refined sugar, that doesn´t stop him from having treats, organix do a fab range of biscuits, cereal bars, sweetened with grape juice.
I also bake with honey :)

nokidshere
21-03-2011, 08:13 AM
Of course we have treats and sweets or chocolate.

I bake cakes and various stuff for the children for after school. Sometimes we go to the shop and buy something "treaty" on the way home. Sometimes we have parties for no other reason than we want to!

I can't be doing with food police - gets on my nerves! I teach the children about healthy eating, everything in moderation and plenty of exercise and water.

There are no bad foods - just bad diets, bad eating habits and bad advice.

My own boys are fit and healthy, exercise well, eat well, sleep well. They have treats when they want them and, god forbid sometimes they have fizzy drinks too :D

Life is for living not for counting every calorie or morsel that your child puts into its mouth.

happydays1
21-03-2011, 09:42 AM
Of course we have treats and sweets or chocolate.

I bake cakes and various stuff for the children for after school. Sometimes we go to the shop and buy something "treaty" on the way home. Sometimes we have parties for no other reason than we want to!

I can't be doing with food police - gets on my nerves! I teach the children about healthy eating, everything in moderation and plenty of exercise and water.

There are no bad foods - just bad diets, bad eating habits and bad advice.

My own boys are fit and healthy, exercise well, eat well, sleep well. They have treats when they want them and, god forbid sometimes they have fizzy drinks too :D

Life is for living not for counting every calorie or morsel that your child puts into its mouth.:clapping:

Im sorry but had to quote this. Very well said excellent couldnt have put better myself.
Children should be taught about choices and how to make healthy ones. Its not all about telling them what they cant have.
(This is my opinion, all entitled to our own):)

AliceK
21-03-2011, 09:56 AM
Of course we have treats and sweets or chocolate.

I bake cakes and various stuff for the children for after school. Sometimes we go to the shop and buy something "treaty" on the way home. Sometimes we have parties for no other reason than we want to!

I can't be doing with food police - gets on my nerves! I teach the children about healthy eating, everything in moderation and plenty of exercise and water.

There are no bad foods - just bad diets, bad eating habits and bad advice.

My own boys are fit and healthy, exercise well, eat well, sleep well. They have treats when they want them and, god forbid sometimes they have fizzy drinks too :D

Life is for living not for counting every calorie or morsel that your child puts into its mouth.

Here here :clapping: . I agree totally. When I was inspected Ofsted could see a placemat I had made with a mindee showing different food groups for different meals and included was treats. She loved the fact that I was talking to the children about healthy eating, making healthy choices but ALSO having treats.
Everything in moderation in this house. I do have 1 mindee who isn't allowed anything chocolate, biscuits, crisps etc and I respect the parents wishes but on the eatwell plate doesn't it show a small portion listed as foods high in fat or sugar. Don't children need a certain amount of sugar/fat to keep them going? (or is that just my excuse :laughing: )

xxxxxx

snufflepuff
21-03-2011, 10:27 AM
I also agree with everything in moderation. We do quite a bit of baking so the mindees get cakes, biscuits, jam tarts etc. If they have crisps is the organix range. They always get a sweetie when we visit my Grandparents! Of course if the parents said they are not to have sweets/ choc etc i'd respect that.

I was very careful about what I gave my son when he was still a baby, he ate very well apart from the odd choccie button, and ate every bit of fruit and veg offered to him! But then he got very ill around his first birthday and he stopped eating, now over a year later he still hardly eats. So if I can get him to eat a few crisps or some oven chips or something else equally 'bad' it's a bonus and, in my eyes, better than him eating nothing at all.

AliceK
21-03-2011, 10:37 AM
I also agree with everything in moderation. We do quite a bit of baking so the mindees get cakes, biscuits, jam tarts etc. If they have crisps is the organix range. They always get a sweetie when we visit my Grandparents! Of course if the parents said they are not to have sweets/ choc etc i'd respect that.

I was very careful about what I gave my son when he was still a baby, he ate very well apart from the odd choccie button, and ate every bit of fruit and veg offered to him! But then he got very ill around his first birthday and he stopped eating, now over a year later he still hardly eats. So if I can get him to eat a few crisps or some oven chips or something else equally 'bad' it's a bonus and, in my eyes, better than him eating nothing at all.

This is a genuine question. Why does everyone think oven chips are bad? I genuienly (sp?) don't get it. I guess if a child was having any kind of chips every day then that wouldn't be great but otherwise surely oven chips aren't bad.
My DD refused to eat any proper meal after her operation and all she would eat was chips at meal times. (she was only 13mths old) I spoke to her clinical psychologist as I was at my wits end and I was advised to chill out, keep offering her what everyone else was eating but to give her chips on her plate and not to worry. When I gave the psychologist a list of all the other foods she would eat in a day her response was "I know of children with a far worse diet than that". My DD has only just started to eat normally again 4mths ago after 2 years of living on virtually nothing for her main meals. She will now eat most meals.

xxxx

snufflepuff
21-03-2011, 10:46 AM
This is a genuine question. Why does everyone think oven chips are bad? I genuienly (sp?) don't get it. I guess if a child was having any kind of chips every day then that wouldn't be great but otherwise surely oven chips aren't bad.
My DD refused to eat any proper meal after her operation and all she would eat was chips at meal times. (she was only 13mths old) I spoke to her clinical psychologist as I was at my wits end and I was advised to chill out, keep offering her what everyone else was eating but to give her chips on her plate and not to worry. When I gave the psychologist a list of all the other foods she would eat in a day her response was "I know of children with a far worse diet than that". My DD has only just started to eat normally again 4mths ago after 2 years of living on virtually nothing for her main meals. She will now eat most meals.

I don't think chips are bad, but then I also don't think chocolate is bad. Many people do though on both counts. I think theres a bit of a stigma with chips, perhaps from back in the day when they were always deep fried and covered in salt and vinegar?! But oven chips are just potato, nothing wrong with that!

It's good to know your DD is now eating well, gives me hope that one day my son might eat a 'normal' diet again!

AliceK
21-03-2011, 11:03 AM
I don't think chips are bad, but then I also don't think chocolate is bad. Many people do though on both counts. I think theres a bit of a stigma with chips, perhaps from back in the day when they were always deep fried and covered in salt and vinegar?! But oven chips are just potato, nothing wrong with that!

It's good to know your DD is now eating well, gives me hope that one day my son might eat a 'normal' diet again!

Agree with it probably being a stigma about deep fried chips.
Try not to worry too much about your DS, easier said than done I know but believe me getting stressed about it and trying to make him eat won't work and may make things worse. As soon as I had an expert telling me not to worry I calmed right down and just accepted that that's the way DD was for the time being. Keep calm, give him what he will eat along with trying other things as well. He WILL get there in his own good time :thumbsup: .
Good Luck xxxxxx

snufflepuff
21-03-2011, 11:08 AM
Agree with it probably being a stigma about deep fried chips.
Try not to worry too much about your DS, easier said than done I know but believe me getting stressed about it and trying to make him eat won't work and may make things worse. As soon as I had an expert telling me not to worry I calmed right down and just accepted that that's the way DD was for the time being. Keep calm, give him what he will eat along with trying other things as well. He WILL get there in his own good time .
Good Luck xxxxxx


Thank you. I know I don't help myself as I get so stressed out over it- I try not to let him see that though, I just praise him lots when he does eat something. It's a viscious circle really, he doesn't eat well so he's always getting ill, and every time he's ill he eats even less!

keatingschick
21-03-2011, 11:24 AM
:clapping:


Children should be taught about choices and how to make healthy ones. Its not all about telling them what they cant have.
(This is my opinion, all entitled to our own):)

:( Sadly I have to, my 12 year old is type 1 insulin dependant diabetic. Diagnosed 3 years ago and so has known a life PRE "you can't have chocolate" so sometimes its a real battle.

Like I said I dont personally like sweet things or chocolate and so dont consider them a treat but she does, and if there was chocolate in the house she WOULD want to eat it no questions asked, I suppose its a case of something you can't have being more appealing, so I generally just dont buy them.
Recently I bought plain-ish biscuits because we were going to a childminding party, but it was cancelled and so they've been here, and she has been coming home from school every night and wanting them as a snack, and we've just been back to the diabetic clinic today and it became apparent that its had an effect on her. So the biscuits are going out of the window!!

She is allowed stuff IN MODERATION, but it tends to bring about huge "discussions" (remember she is nearly 13 and hormones are in full swing) as to WHY she is diabetic, who is to blame and why can all her friends have lunchboxes bulging with chocolate and she cant.

So...for me its a case of having to declare a no sweet/no chocolate area.

I'll be honest at times it has niggled me that parents will walk in with sweets for the child, knowing full well my own daughter can't have them, at the end of the day it is a medical reason, and if she had say a peanut allergy and I was asking them not to bring nuts into the house, that would be acceptable.

Aimi-jo
21-03-2011, 12:55 PM
Of course we have treats and sweets or chocolate.

I bake cakes and various stuff for the children for after school. Sometimes we go to the shop and buy something "treaty" on the way home. Sometimes we have parties for no other reason than we want to!

I can't be doing with food police - gets on my nerves! I teach the children about healthy eating, everything in moderation and plenty of exercise and water.

There are no bad foods - just bad diets, bad eating habits and bad advice.
My own boys are fit and healthy, exercise well, eat well, sleep well. They have treats when they want them and, god forbid sometimes they have fizzy drinks too :D

Life is for living not for counting every calorie or morsel that your child puts into its mouth.

Well said!!
The only thing i dont do and will never do is fizzy drinks!! My mum gave my son cola when he was 2/3:angry: I was furious, the poor boy had to go through fizzy drink rehab:laughing:
I think at some point in there lives they are gonna come into contact with all of the above and if you never have these things! how can you teach them right from wrong.Everything in moderation!!:)

sweets
21-03-2011, 01:07 PM
Are we self employed business people or do we work for ofsted?

yes quite rightly we have to be registered with them but do they have the right to dictate nearly everything we do?

As i have said in a previous post i have written permission from parents to give calpol if i think its neccesary, but i will always try and get hold of them first. thats good enough for me. Ofsted saying we can't do this is taking the choice away from parents which in my opinion is wrong, they are not ofsteds children.

i work in partnership with PARENTS not ofsted. :thumbsup:

Cazz
21-03-2011, 01:21 PM
Thank you. I know I don't help myself as I get so stressed out over it- I try not to let him see that though, I just praise him lots when he does eat something. It's a viscious circle really, he doesn't eat well so he's always getting ill, and every time he's ill he eats even less!

I know how you feel. My 3 year old dd doesn't eat much either (never has) - I've become aware how much less she eats compared to other children a similar or younger age since I've been childminding. I'm of the same opinion - it's better for a child who doesn't eat much to be eating something rather than nothing.

At her 2 and a half year health visitor check she was exactly on the average line for her weight so it seems that she just doesn't need as much food as other children.

She won't eat any fresh fruit and very few vegetables despite loving just about all of them when she was weaned. She got a nasty tummy bug when she was about 15 months old and her eating preferences were never the same again. She has smoothie drinks and fruit tubes so she's getting her fruit intake.

As I previously said, I give my minded children a few wotsits or similar at lunch-time - my dd knows if she eats her sandwich she is allowed a few of these and it would be unfair to give them to her and not the mindees. I have spoken to all the parents and they're fine with this. I give the mindees lots of fruit during the day and always offer to my dd in the hope she may decide to copy them one day.

She's not a huge fan of chocolate or sweets but does have them occasionally as a treat at the weekend. I tend not to give these to the mindees though apart from a special occasion. We do have a biscuit sometimes though.

I agree that we shouldn't be dictated by Ofsted as to what we feed the children. Most childminders are sensible and know about balanced diets - we have no control over what the parents give them at home as they don't have to answer to anyone!

claireLouise
22-03-2011, 01:18 AM
We have sweets and chocolate at special celebration e.g birthdays, Christmas and Easter but only with prior consent from parents. I have a permission slip for baking and eating products at snacktime - always extra to sent home so parents are more than happy!

keatingschick
22-03-2011, 08:42 PM
Are we self employed business people or do we work for ofsted?

yes quite rightly we have to be registered with them but do they have the right to dictate nearly everything we do?

As i have said in a previous post i have written permission from parents to give calpol if i think its neccesary, but i will always try and get hold of them first. thats good enough for me. Ofsted saying we can't do this is taking the choice away from parents which in my opinion is wrong, they are not ofsteds children.

i work in partnership with PARENTS not ofsted. :thumbsup:

:clapping: :clapping: Do you know something yer exactly right Sweets. And to be honest I think thats why I dont feel THAT BOTHERED even though I have the dreaded visit next week.

At the end of the day I think that the 2 children I am now minding - well I've one leaving, but the 2 I will be left with are very likely going to be the last 2 I ever mind.

One is the child of my best friend and one I have looked after his older brother and sister.

At the end of the day, clearly both parents are happy with the way I work and happy with the care their children receive. Neither of then would know the EYFS if it ran up and slapped them daft (even though one of them is ACTUALLY a nursery nurse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: )

All that they care about is their children are happy and safe and that I am pretty much working in a similar way to how they do.

So, why should I give myself a week of sleepless nights and tie myself in knots over someone coming to my house.

It IS horrible we all know that, and the thing I used to think was its because our job is sort of "parenting" and I suppose if they judged us I felt it was our PARENTING SKILLS we were being judged on....and maybe since my 2 are 13 and 15 and pretty amazing kids, then I've decided that I'm not going to let some official come in and make me feel inadequate.

So yeah I agree Sweets......


Saying that towards the end of the week I'll be a bit of a wreck :laughing: :laughing:

sweets
22-03-2011, 08:44 PM
Are we self employed business people or do we work for ofsted?

yes quite rightly we have to be registered with them but do they have the right to dictate nearly everything we do?

As i have said in a previous post i have written permission from parents to give calpol if i think its neccesary, but i will always try and get hold of them first. thats good enough for me. Ofsted saying we can't do this is taking the choice away from parents which in my opinion is wrong, they are not ofsteds children.

i work in partnership with PARENTS not ofsted. :thumbsup:

i have written this post in the wrong thread! lol. it was supposed to be in the calpol thread! :laughing:

Ali56
22-03-2011, 09:02 PM
Of course we have treats and sweets or chocolate.

I bake cakes and various stuff for the children for after school. Sometimes we go to the shop and buy something "treaty" on the way home. Sometimes we have parties for no other reason than we want to!

I can't be doing with food police - gets on my nerves! I teach the children about healthy eating, everything in moderation and plenty of exercise and water.

There are no bad foods - just bad diets, bad eating habits and bad advice.

My own boys are fit and healthy, exercise well, eat well, sleep well. They have treats when they want them and, god forbid sometimes they have fizzy drinks too :D

Life is for living not for counting every calorie or morsel that your child puts into its mouth.

Hear Hear!!:clapping: :clapping:
I can't be doing with the food police either! 2 of my own children have issues with artificial additives and I really hate sacharin and asparatime, I don't have them in the house at all, that said though, I don't think theres anything wrong with a bit of choccy, cake or ice cream here and there! We very rarely have sweets. And they all love to bake (which is very educational of course!:D ) The children eat loads of healthy stuff and are all very active and busy. So long as parents don't mind then its fine with me!:)

nicoleon
22-03-2011, 11:17 PM
i agree with everything in moderation but saying that, i dont give any chocolate or crisps etc. i find that the younger ones want to eat whatever the older ones eat and i would never give a young toddler salty or sugary foods. i let my schoolies have two biscuits each after they had some fruit and veg sticks but i've got one toddler who isn't allowed anything with any sugar or salt in and on the days that mindee is here, schoolies know to wait. as soon as mindee's dad turns up they come to me and ask for their biscuit...