2 year olds don't need soda - When did you let your kids start having it

I love my late DH's family but at times they do things that drive me :crazy: They feel it's no big deal to give my boys diet soda (or any diet beverage for that matter). They will let them drink out of their cans as often as they like.

I have numerous issues with this:

A. I don't want them drinking soda of any kind. They are 2 1/2!!!!!

B. I don't drink soda that often, but now when I do they throw a fit because they want a drink. It does not matter if it's in a can or in a cup. I stand my ground and don't give in but it's still a pain to deal with two kids screaming over soda.

I've mentioned it to them before but they think it's no big deal and I'm just being uptight.

I don't see them all that often but it just annoys me that they won't listen to me when I tell them not to give them diet drinks.

If you allow you kids to have soda, at what age did you introduce it to them?

 

My kids are 5, 5 and 8 and they don't drink any kind of soda. I do tell them it's bad for you - and it is, regardless of being a diet soda or not.

Heh, I really gave a lecture to my 7 yr old neice for drinking soda. Maybe she'll remember that in a few years but she knows now that not all adults condone it.

I'd work on both fronts - the kids and the family. I'd also take away the cans from the kids if they have one and let the adult know the kids are not allowed to drink soda.

 

My kids are 10, 7, 5, & 5. I almost never let them have soda. Its a treat when they do get it. And that is only caffeine free. I would NEVER give them diet soda bc of the aspartame. I do not drink soda at all, just don't like it (gives me the hiccups!) so its not hard for me to keep it away. I think the first time I let my kids have it was when they were maybe 4? I just personally don't see the need for it. Its empty calories that just fills them up.
You are in a tough spot, you don't see them often, but its not right for them to go against your wishes. Hopefully something will kick in with them to pick up on how you feel!

 

My kids have had soda here and there (when we go to a Red Sox game, out to dinner, etc). They are 5. My 3 1/2 year old has had it once or twice.

 

My older kids drink maybe 1 or 2 sodas (or pops as we call them here ) per week, sometimes not that. They know they aren't good for them & we don't allow them on any kind of regular basis. I have no idea how old they were the first time they tried pop. The little ones have had sips here & there but have never had more than that & they also know that they aren't healthy & are something we only allow occasionally. That being said, I don't let any of them drink diet drinks of any kind. I would much rather them have sugar (and I do tend to buy pop made with actual cane sugar instead of HFCS) than the chemicals in diet drinks any day. You are in a tough situation & I would probably just keep making my feelings on the subject known & hope they can start to respect them.

 

if I have a soda and the kids want a slug I'll let them have it - or for their once a week *gasp* McDonalds treat we all share a soda...and yes, its diet...I'm diabetic - I'm not going to buy sugared drinks *just* so they don't have aspartame or Splenda etc...they drink plenty of water (and will ask for it) and drink a variety of other stuff - currently Gatorade G2 is one of their faves...so is Turkey Hill Diet Iced Tea...

I don't believe in forbidding food - my mother did that to me and it truly did nothing but make me want what I couldn't have even more...

 

I'm a diet pepsi drinker 2 a day :blush: And we didn't let my oldest have any soda until he was 5 and then we told him he could have a sip of one of ours... nope he didn't like it. He's 10 and still has never had a single soda of any kind. I tried to get him to drink 7-up this last winter when he had the stomach flu but he couldn't stand it. His drinks of choice are milk and water.
I'm not complaining and hope that my little ones take after him. They are 2.5 and have never had a single sip and won't until they are at least 5.

I would be extremely upset if my IL's did this when I told them not too, it's a lack of respect in my eyes and that makes me mad! I'm sorry you're having to deal with it!

 

My mom introduced root beer to the kids just over a year ago I think. They took a sip and hated it (too fizzy I think). Whew! DH drinks 4-6 dt. cokes a day. I don't drink any.

 

They're 5 and don't drink soda yet. Thankfully, they don't really like carbonation.

For now, I figure the occasional juice/lemonade/koolaid/sip from my SoBe are bad enough.

 

ITA!!! :good:

My kids are 4 and 5 and are rarely allowed to have a soda. I try not to make a huge issue out of it though because of what Amy said above.

 

my girls have had pop - if we're at a party, or a special event, we'll usually pour some into their own cups for them to drink. ardon: as an occasional treat, i think it's fine. we treat juice the same way (although it's getting tougher now that they can ask for "joose" :laughing. mostly they drink milk and water.

all that being said though, if you've asked your ILs not to give your kids pop & they still are, that would rile me up.

 

They tried Sprite at a baseball game as their first soda a few months ago and both of them asked for water instead. They said it was "too spicy" (I'm pretty sure that means they didn't like the carbonation).

 

Lennon used to call it "spicy" too! He has had root beer 3 or 4 times and Sprite 2 or 3 times. Only in the past 6 months has he been able to drink more than a few sips and somewhat enjoy it. I gave root beer to the little guys once when all of the other kids were drinking it at our house and they both took a sip and asked for their milk instead. :laughing: We rarely have POP in our house, so if they happen to have some, it is always a treat.

I would also be irritated though if I asked someone not to give it to them and they continued to do so anyway.

 

I can't swear that either of the sets of grandparents hasn't slipped them a sip here or there, but we've never given the girls soda. It won't be much of an issue now since DH and I have both given it up recently-DH had a 4-5 cans of diet Coke per day habit and I was drinking 2-3 a day. I decided that I probably shouldn't be putting something into my body that I won't let my girls put into their bodies. That said, I can see us allowing Hansens natural soda or something along those lines for a party or something.

 

i gave up diet soda a year ago and only drink Whole Foods soda - at most one per day. Becca asks about it, i say when she is older.

But I will not allow the children to have any food or drinks with aspartame or splenda. That stuff scares me.

I see where Amy is coming from on this point, but soda is not food - so I have no trouble forbidding it.

As far as your inlaws, they should completely respect your rules.

if I kept kosher - and that meant no cheeseburgers, I would expect anyone who cares for my children to respect that. I'm sorry you are having to manage this, I can only imagine how challenging it is with your in laws. But I would keep plugging away on the point - maybe find another treat that they give the boys a cookie or something?

 

My kids rarely drink pop, but they probably were introduced to it very young, younger than a year, I'm sure.

I'm sorry your ILs aren't listening to you on this one. Could this be one of those times where it's best to let the grandparents "spoil" or is it worth the battle?

 

My oldest never drinks it. She's never liked it. My boys might drink 2/month, though they'd drink it more if I let them. And usually if they have some, they split a can. My girlies have had a few drinks of it, but only in the last couple of months. They're over 4 1/2. Sadly, this is the one area in my life that's "do as I say, not as I do." I LOVE soda. My favorite is diet A&W rootbeer. But I just like the fizzy burn of soda, and as long as it's not too sweet (pepsi and mt. dew) will drink most kinds. If I don't have it for a day or two, I majorly miss it. I don't think it's a physical addiction, because I drink caffeinated sodas some but not too often anymore. And flat soda grosses me out. Can you be addicted to soda fizz?

 

My daughter was 4-5? when she first had soda on a birthday party. I allow her occasionally, but since I don't drink soda at all, it does not come up often.

 

I am with Amy, in that I try not to forbid most things (gum was one that they just started getting last year at age 7). The forbidden seems to make it more attractive. But if it is something that I don't prefer them to have, I simply don't keep it in my house, and that limits their contact from the beginning. I am sure my boys started having sips of my diet coke somewhere between 1 and 2. I am not sure when I started allowing them to get their own. But you know what? Even though I allow them soda, most time when we go to a restaurant they will order, water, chocolate milk, or powerade. And many times when Marc orders a soda, he rarely drinks 1/2 of it.

 

Mine have had sips of soda with my mother and I asked her politely to please not give it to them again and she has listened to me. I feel they are too young for it now. Maybe when they are older but I'm not sure what age.

I'm slowly trying to convert our house hold to a soda free house but that is hard to do when DH is addicted to the stuff!

I totally understand why you are upset with your IL's, they should respect your wishes on this matter. I would be mad too!

 

They should definitely respect your wishes, no matter what. Also, I do think 2-3 is too young for soda. Why cultivate a taste for pure sugar - and worse, liquid sugar? Liquid empty calories are the worst, because they don't even make you feel full. I don't see diet soda as any better - even if that particular drink doesn't have calories, it's still a convincing simulation of liquid empty calories, so it can create a taste for that kind of thing.

As with anything, moderation is fine. A few sips once in a while are not the end of the world. But my experience is that at this age, you have a LOT of control over your child's tastes. If you're not giving them junk food, then they don't know that junk food exists, or they automatically put it in the category of "stuff we don't eat." So why start?

When my kids are older and there's more peer pressure and they are more aware of all the possibilities that are out there, I'm not going to forbid soda, but I won't be buying it for them (=voting with my $) either, and I'll just remind them (since they already know anyway) that very sweet things are for an occasional treat, not for every day.

 

My kids say that soda is "spicy", too.

Gum is something my kids ask for and I don't give it to them. Mainly because they don't know how to eat it/use it. They swallow it. So, when they understand a bit better, I will let them have it.

 

A&R had diet coke with their first birthday cakes. Neither of them drank it.

I'm sure that one or the other has stolen a swallow here or there from the sodas in our house. I'm with Amy (I think it's Amy) though, my kids get sugar free stuff instead of full sugar. Their father is diabetic, so we don't normally have ice cream or cookies or sweets in our house unless it is sugar free. (Including syrup, I cannot STAND regular syrup!!) Doesn't really matter though, they'd rather eat bananas and apples and "berries".

But if you've asked them to not give the boys soda, then they shouldn't.

 

They have been given soda at classmates' bday parties. DD1 hated it. For a treat DS2 will make them fruit smoothies instead of sodas. My teens drink soda, but they have to buy it with their own money; I don't drink it and don't keep it in the house. The older one is a fitness nut, so he barely drinks it. It interferes with some [blah blah blah affects muscle building].

My ILs started giving DD2 COFFEE. Black. Caffeinated. Like she's not hyper enough. :headbang:

 

Mine don't drink soda. I let them have a sip of mine one time b/c they were begging - the carbonation went right up their noses and made them cough. They've never asked again. My girls are probably the exception though, they are the pickiest eaters on earth.

 

I didn't mean it to say that your kids should have soda - if you don't want them to then definitely your IL's should respect that - my kids are like Bex's too - they'd rather snack on fruit than other stuff (although they have their share of cookies - their vice) but Abby will ask for apples or strawberries as quick as she'll ask for cookies or candy...

 

Mine tried a sip of DH's diet coke and hated it. They just started to like apple juice though (a treat for them), so my kids are a little weird.

Have you talked to your ILs about it when the kids aren't around. I could see how they might get defensive in the moment if they are giving the kids a sip and you try to bring it up then. But maybe they'd be more receptive if you talked about it at another time.

 

The only time the girls had it was at a birthday party, and the choices were soda or iced tea. I picked Sprite over the iced tea, since it's not caffeinated. Bea didn't care for it, Ainsley loved it. But she's never asked for it since.
Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing by forbidding soda (I let them have lemonade, punch, so not sure why I draw the line at soda...), but I got really hooked on soda and almost have like a "it's a drug" mentality about soda. I don't drink it nearly as much as I used to, but I would rather my kids just never start with it to begin with.

 

That may be even more true than you think. There's actually been research showing that the brain chemistry of cravings for junk food (ie stuff that hijacks our evolutionary predilection for easy calories (sugar and fat)) has a lot in common with the brain chemistry of cravings for cocaine and heroin.

 

I haven't given the boys pop, yet, and am unsure as to when I will. I do know that I will not allow diet- I grew up with a Pepsi dad who had a 2-Liter a day habit. (He now has diabetes and is addicted to Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi). Caffeine free is usually what I gravitate to- the boys were caffeine sensitive in bm, so when I tried Mountain Dew recently after months of going without it, I got a headache. I personally drink 1 pop a day or less- I enjoy the taste. Otherwise I drink water all day save a small glass of oj with breakfast.

For the OP- this boils down to the ILs respecting your wishes. It's not hard- they can even make you the bad guy (your Mommy doesn't let you have this. I'm sorry).

 

Sugar, fat, salt! (That book totally ruined TGI Fridays for me).

 

I have never given my younger kids their own soda to drink-but they have sips here and there, and I dont really mind. ardon:
My 5yo on occassion gets a sprite when we hit a drive through-again not a big deal to me because its not something that happens often.

I do think that your il's should respect your wishes, even if they dont agree.

 

I was just at a fast food place and I saw a mom asking her two girls (probably 3 and 4) what kind of soda they wanted from the fountain. It makes me sick to see parents hooking their kids on a drug like that. It's not just the caffine, and sugar/aspertame. Carbonation is really bad for you alone (just think about it- our bodies naturaly breath OUT CO2). Its not just soda pop that bugs me. I've seen a woman give her 4 mo old a lollipop at the doctor's office. Of course I don't say anything, but I certainly won't be giving my kids any corn syrup for a while.

 

my dr office gives away lollipops with splenda. That really bothers me. There is so much we don't know about these artificial sweetners, i get that people are worried about sugar, but I really would do take good old fashioned sugar over something man made.

 

Totally. I'd rather have a little of the real thing than lots of weird chemicals.

And lollipops at a doctor's office in this day and age??? :blink: Everywhere we've ever gone gives stickers instead.