Is it worth limiting children to sweets?

To forbid or not to forbid - that is the question. Children love sweets. Whatever you do, it is unlikely that it will change someday. There is no need to hide, however, that excess sugar in the body is harmful - and quite seriously.

Addiction to sweets is also a big problem - as dangerous as alcohol or drug addiction. A total ban, especially for older children, does not seem like a sensible solution. So how do you reconcile a childhood love of chocolate with a common-sense approach to the subject?

Are sweets acceptable in a children's diet?

Most parents are divided into two extremely different groups: the first gives up and turns a blind eye to the sweet snacks that children enjoy, while the second introduces a categorical ban on eating this type of product. However, you have to bear in mind that the little ones are exposed to sweets almost everywhere. Birthdays or other holidays in kindergarten, a visit to a friend, Christmas with the grandparents, the godfather's arrival - it is impossible to take gifts from your own child or to point them to pointing fingers. A few-year-old does not yet understand what is wrong with sugar and why his peers might eat it and he could not. By limiting his pleasure associated with eating small sweets, you are doing him a great disservice. Hence, it is best to approach this issue in moderation and introduce some product rationing.

Common sense is of course the key to success in this matter. By completely forbidding your baby sweets, you run the risk of your toddler rebelling. After all, sooner or later he will have universal access to sugar - be it in kindergarten, on a school trip or at a friend's. In order to avoid the problems associated with consuming a lot of unhealthy carbohydrates, it is worth teaching your child from the very beginning which sweets are good and healthy and which are better to avoid. By serving him as delicious, but much more natural, snacks as dried fruit, you will avoid the situation in which he will be hoarding bars under the bed.

It is also not worth giving up popular, less healthy sweets, such as bars, chocolates or ice cream. No diet, not even an adult diet, should be based solely on unhealthy carbohydrates. However, nothing prevents you from diversifying your diet with various types of desserts while maintaining the right proportions. Sweet compotes made of natural fruit, a scoop of ice cream with nuts and raisins or jam, waffles with peach and pineapple, light yoghurt cake with strawberries or even the popular "Kinderki" - everything can be eaten if served in the right amounts. Controlling what your offspring eats allows you to completely eliminate the risk of addiction or physical diseases associated with excess sugar in the body.