why is it that some parents give their children soda and refined sugars?

Question

just wonder. please don't say that is is a treat because if u care about what goes into ur childs' body u should know that is no treat at all. and please don't say that it is inexspensive because water is cheaper than soda and is far more beneficial. giving children these things forms addictions to bad sugars and will be a hard habit for them to kick later in life when their teeth are decaying, they have diabetes or they care for their health.

Answer 1

I never gave my daughter sweets when she was small (she's only 3 now) but now at school she refuses juice at snack time and I send a sippy cup of water for her. So she chooses water over juice. She doesn't even like chocolate milk! The only candy that she'll eat and only occasionally is chocolate. She just doesn't have a sweet tooth and for that, I'm very thankful! I had friends act like I was terrible for not giving her soft drinks and sweets but I just didn't see the need. She was perfectly happy with her healthy stuff. I think when people give small kids sweets it makes them develop a taste for it-

I keep the one year old nursery at church once a month and there is one mother who always tells me that her son's sippy cup of sprite is in the bag!! Who gives a one year old sippy cups of sprite??? To me that is just crazy!

Answer 2

I let my kids have candy and pop, but not all the time. I think sweets are okay, as long as they're moderated. My children don't drink pop everyday, and they certainly don't eat candy everyday. I have a theory, if you deny them the this type of things, it's only going to make them want it more! Let them have a little bit occasionally helps, by keeping them from bingeing on it, when they do get it. I do try to keep sweets as healty as possible. I don't see anything wrong with a little dish of pudding, or a granola bar, which my kids consider candy. It might be different if my kids didn't eat healthy, but I got lucky. I once gave my kids celery with peanut butter as a yummy, good-for-you snack, and they wiped the peanut butter out and ate the celery. I recently found my 3 year old walking around the house eating a cucumber. There were plenty of less healthy things in the fridge than a cucumber, but that's what he WANTED. If my 18 month old twins will eat peas, and carrots, and an apple for a snack, I don't fill bad letting them have a homeade chocolate chip cookie for desert after dinner. It also depends on how old my kids are. I don't feel bad for letting my older two, 7 and nearly 4, share a pop every once and again, but my 18 month old twins have never tasted the stuff. Snacks around my house isn't CANDY, it's cheese and crackers, carrots and ranch dressing, apples and peanut butter. My 7 year old has to take a snack to school everyday, and he takes granola bars, fruit cups, and once he took homemade cookies (2). I think kids will eat, what you give them when they're babies. If you expose them to good things, they'll eat good things, but I don't see the harm in something with no nutrional value, every once in a while.

Answer 3

Every parent has their own style of parenting. Most learn from their parents on how to raise a child and base their decisions on their own childhood.

Personally, I feel that sugars and sodas are fine in MODERATION, just like everything else is. If your child has a little bit of soda every now and then but still has a balanced diet, it is not going to lead to addiction and it is not going to lead to bad health.

Everyone always blows these things out of proportion. And usually, in my experience, it's the children of parents that deny them the sugars and sodas that have more problems later in life - ie poor eating habits and the such. This is from personal experience I base this opinion on. Having been around someone that was denied sugars in childhood, now that is pretty much all they eat.

Answer 4

some parents think that parenting is about trying to be your childs best friend. in doing so many parents give-in to the childrens's request for instant plessure. since children have no concept of "long term" or consequences the drawbacks are not taken into consideration. for example a child will not see soda as weak bones and rotten teeth in 10 years but as a treat.

ps.parents do see sweets and drinks as a treat and many soft drinks here in UK are cheaper than bottled water,

Answer 5

I don't understand giving it to them every day. (Although my parents gave it to me!)

I do understand having it as a treat occasionally. Two of my three kids like root beer and probably get some a couple of times a month. The rest of the time they drink mostly water (but occasionally milk, juice or lemonade).

You can care about what your kids eat and still allow them to indulge in something that isn't always the best choice every now and then. It's called teaching moderation.

Answer 6

I see nothing wrong with giving a child candy and sodas as long as you don't give them a hole lot just a litle ( and I am 14 1/2 ) yes it can be harmful IF you have to much of it

Answer 7

What wrong with a treat now and then? I have a friend who grew up with none of that stuff in her house and when she came to our house, she indulged, while we only occassionally wanted it. Now that her she has kids of her own, her house is full of these things because she missed out on it when she was a kid. It's not as though growing up our meals consisted of all refined sugars and sodas. There are many things that parents do to harm thier children and giving them an occassional sugary treat isn't one of them.

Answer 8

I give my daughter sprite and a couple of tootsie rolls. She eats regular, healthy food, and then she can have a small snack. She gets no caffiene whatsoever, and she brushes her teeth twice a day, sometimes more. It's not laziness on my part, cause I take care of her very well. She gets a treat every now and then, but for the most part it's healthy foods only, and lots of milk.

But maybe I should sign up for the "Perfect Parenting" classes that you teach, shouldn't I?

Answer 9

With sugar it is really hard to avoid. You know with Halloween candy, with going to people's houses to visit, with grandparents, with the lollipop they give at the bank, etc.
Soda on the other hand is a different story, I never ever let my son have soda.

Answer 10

Why do people smoke? Why do people eat fast food? Truth is that parents give their children refined sugars because thats what the child wants. They see products like fruit roll ups on tv and "must have" what the other kids are having.