Chocolate: for those whose children can take it or leave it

My two never got chocolate before a year old and even now probably only get to taste it once a month (maybe once a week if you include the few chocolate sprinkles I occasionally put on their yogurt). But they LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate and make a huge fuss when they're offered it.

I too love chocolate, much to my and my waistline's regret.

How do I teach them to take it or leave it? I'd love for my girls to grow up like DH who, if chocolate is around, will have a piece and then just forget about it for a few days or weeks (like I am with ice cream, cakes, alcohol etc). I try very hard not to offer it as a comfort, consolation or reward. But what else should I be doing?

Many thanks
lisa

 

to ease your mind alittle when i was young i loved chocolate so much my mom had to limit my intake. ya know the chocolate easter bunnies? well i would gobble it down yup the whole thing. afterwrds i would feel sick but it never stopped me. now i can take it or leave it but like everyone else when ya want it ya just gotta have a bar :laughing: i think it is ok for you to give it to them once in a while. why don't you do a chocolate shake, make pudding, have something with chocolate once a month where they can help make it. then it can be special. but i guess that has to wait till their older huh do they have a hard time with fruit? take foods they don't normally eat and put it in chocolate pudding. don't worry mom you won't have them waking up in the middle of the night gobbling up your hidden goods like i tried to do :laughing:

 

I don't think it's something you can teach. I think each of us either has a taste for something, be it chocolate, green beans or chicken, or not. I don't agree with teaching children that certain foods are "bad" or off-limits completely. What I am trying to instill in my children is that certain things are treats and are things to just be eaten occassionally. When it is time for a treat, I'm all for them enjoying it fully

My daughters all have different levels of "sweet-tooth"...here is an example from last night. MIL came over for dinner, and brought cupcakes, as she thinks we need desert with every meal and she knew I wouldn't have one (that's it's own thread!!) My four year old got her own cupcake whole, the little ones split a cupcake, each half was cut in several pieces. Rachel licked off every bit of the frosting & sprinkles, but didn't even bite in to the cupcake. Natalie inhaled her four little pieces - she literally was done & signing for more before I was done cutting up Hannah's, Hannah poked her finger in to her frosting and ate probably 1/3 of it that way, put one small piece of cake in her mouth and spit it out. I didn't teach them this, it's just how they are.

 

LOL, I keep getting my kids to try things like cake, ice cream, chocolate! They will not touch any of it, they are crazy I look like some freaky mom when i take them to parties and they don't drink juice or eat cake ardon:

 

My kids rarely get "treats" (chocolate, ice cream, cake, cookies, etc) except on special occasions or special outings. It's not something they think we have in the house. Although we might have some sweets tucked away for after they go to bed for the adults. But they don't know that they are in the house, so they don't ask for them! I try never to have "bad" snacks around them.... except on special occasions, like yesterday we went to the mall and had frozen yogurt cones. They thought it was ice cream cones.

 

What's worked for me concerning my son was praising him when he chose not to get a sweet after dinner when it was available. If I had dessert and he decided he didn't want any I would always make a point of telling him that that was a good decision and it was okay not to have sweets b/c they weren't good for our bodies anyway. I definitly think kids need to be exposed to sweets so you can teach them the appropriate time and amount to have and so they won't go nuts when they get them (especially for those kids that have a super sweet tooth). My son often will skip dessert just b/c he don't feel like eating something sweet and I would like to think it has been b/c of the praise he received when he chose not to have it.

 

I never really give my kids chocolate. I think they have tried a chocolate graham cracker and choc ice cream in their b-day cakes, but that's about it. They don't know it enough to have really acquired a taste for it. I stick to plain vanilla cookies or grahams as snacks.

 

QUOTE(ThreeLittleSnowflakes @ Jul 26 2008, 03:38 PM) [snapback]897850[/snapback]
I don't think it's something you can teach. I think each of us either has a taste for something, be it chocolate, green beans or chicken, or not. I don't agree with teaching children that certain foods are "bad" or off-limits completely. What I am trying to instill in my children is that certain things are treats and are things to just be eaten occassionally. When it is time for a treat, I'm all for them enjoying it fully

My daughters all have different levels of "sweet-tooth"...here is an example from last night. MIL came over for dinner, and brought cupcakes, as she thinks we need desert with every meal and she knew I wouldn't have one (that's it's own thread!!) My four year old got her own cupcake whole, the little ones split a cupcake, each half was cut in several pieces. Rachel licked off every bit of the frosting & sprinkles, but didn't even bite in to the cupcake. Natalie inhaled her four little pieces - she literally was done & signing for more before I was done cutting up Hannah's, Hannah poked her finger in to her frosting and ate probably 1/3 of it that way, put one small piece of cake in her mouth and spit it out. I didn't teach them this, it's just how they are.


I completely agree with this post. I don't think you should teach children that foods are "bad" - just that we don't eat certain things all the time. My kids are also as described above - cameron will INHALE pretty much any sweet you give him, and alisha can usually take it or leave it. It's just the way they are. I give them a small piece of candy (like one sweedish fish or one hershey's kiss) many nights for dessert, but not always. They don't ask for things like cookies, but sometimes I'll give them something for a snack (always homemade) - cameron will always eat it all, alisha may or may not eat any/all of it. I'm trying to get them to think of it not as a big deal, but understand it's not good to have unlimited amounts. I am the same way with things like potato chips.

 

Thank you all for your sound advice. I do like the idea of not having any food as inherently good or bad.

I think I probably do aim at not making any food a big deal and trying to offer them sweet things when the occasion naturally arises - rarely as I try not to have things in the house. They'll carry around cakes and cookies (which their childminder makes and offers a couple of times a week) but don't always eat them. However their total LOVE of chocolate and ice cream took me by surprise. I'm not sure why as I used to literally throw myself down stairs in order to get a piece of chocolate as a kid (my mother really strictly limited our intake - which backfired big time for me - and I only used to get offered it as consolation/reward etc - all the wrong reasons).

 

I just do it in moderation. It's not bad or off limits, but I don't keep chocolate around the house (OK, well not that they know of! I do have a stash sometimes ) But say if we are at someone's house and they have a bowl of M&M's sitting out, I tell them they can have four each, and I give them four, that's it, you are not allowed to ask for more. If it becomes a problem, I might ask the host to relocate the candy. In general, they aren't nuts about sweets or anything. I do have to control them with juice though. Bea actually didn't like chocolate for the longest time, only recently has she decided that she likes chocolate. I do give them little treats for rewards, like they can have a mini-marshmallow for getting their nails cut, since that's always a struggle.

 

We just don't offer it. Not just chocolate, but sweets in general. They occasionaly will get a cupcake, or candy, at school (daycare) but other than that..... If we have a soda, we give them juice (and we try not to have the soda in front of them)

But as for anything else, we're really good about just not having it in the house. If I have a craving, I'll get a candy bar on the way to work or something like that.

If it's that big a deal in your house - just keep it out for now until they get older. I wouldn't make it off-limits completely all the time, but the whole concept of 'out of site, out of mind' comes to mind in this situation. You never see it, you don't want it. At least at their age.

 

QUOTE(ThreeLittleSnowflakes @ Jul 26 2008, 07:38 PM) [snapback]897850[/snapback]
I don't think it's something you can teach. I think each of us either has a taste for something, be it chocolate, green beans or chicken, or not. I don't agree with teaching children that certain foods are "bad" or off-limits completely. What I am trying to instill in my children is that certain things are treats and are things to just be eaten occassionally. When it is time for a treat, I'm all for them enjoying it fully


Both of mine loved chocolate from about the first time they had it, which was on their 1st birthday. For a long time, though, it didn't occur to them to demand specific foods. If there was chocolate, they ate it with great joy, but they didn't whine and fuss for it when it wasn't there.

When they realized that mommy and daddy could actually control whether there was chocolate or not, they started whining for it and pointing at the cupboard where we keep the trail mix (which has M&Ms in it). Then I had to reduce it to something we eat very rarely, because the more they had, the more they demanded. I didn't offer it again until they gone a couple of weeks without begging for it.

Since about age 2.5, they've been able to understand the concept of something being a "treat" and not something we eat every day. So I can let them have cookies or ice cream a little more often, because they know that just because they ate it one day doesn't mean they're going to get it the next day.

I don't know if that makes any sense -- but anyway, the point is just that in our family at least, a love of chocolate seems to be hard-wired. And it's not as harmful as, say, Amy's love for butter (she'll eat it on anything, and also plain) -- I worry a lot more about that in the long run.