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How many times should a kid have dessert in a day!?

ladyfosho's picture

My SD is five years old and we get her every other weekend. After lunch and dinner (and sometimes breakfast too) she wants dessert. This seems ridiculous to me. Besides the fact that she barely eats her meals (because she wants the dessert), I don't think a kid needs to have junk food everyday, and definitely not after every meal. Am I just clueless or is this a little much?

GoodbyeNormaJean's picture

Well, at my house we only have dessert after dinner, and not every day. It's only for people who finish their meal, too.

Still Have Hope's picture

Start having fruit for dessert and then she can have it after every meal.

smileygirl's picture

In my home after dinner only unless it's a holiday, you have the option of either fruit or an individual portion of a dark chocolate bar (think real healthy dar chocolate).

BS always opts for fruit and SS's usually choose the chocolate, which I later find hidden in their room. Win / Win

The cocolate bar was actually a suggestion of a dentist/nutritionalist friend of mine and I love it. It's how she "rewards" her kids.

crazylifepartyof6's picture

We only do dessert occasional, and only after dinner. However, They need to eat all of their dinner in order to get dessert or a bed time snack. If they don't eat their dinner, plate stays on the table for when they are "starving" later. lol

BSgoinon's picture

We let them have a snack after dinner IF they finish their dinner. Anything from fruit to ice cream depending on what we have in the house. Sometimes it is just a piece of bubble gum.

helena_brass's picture

We only have dessert after dinner, and only if the kids finish their dinner. There are exceptions of course, like if we go out for ice cream on a hot day or if I'm baking cookies in the afternoon. Dessert doesn't have to be extravagant though. The kids will opt for fruit sometimes, and if not are usually satisfied with a quarter-sized marshmallow or two.

Soon-to-be-Step-Mommy's picture

Dessert is once a day, after dinner, ONLY if skid has eaten a good amount of their dinner!!

ladyfosho's picture

Yeah, if we give her fruit for dessert, it has to have fluff, sugar, whipped cream, or the like on it. She'll eat eat fruit plain as a snack, but dessert has to be "junk food".

being a step sucks's picture

My 6-year old wants junk all the time, but this is primarily due to her visits with her BF and bio-grandmother, who cater to her. I battle with her about food all the time...she wants to eat all the time. She weighs 93 pounds and will be 7 in November. I feel so bad, and know that it will be hard for her to get rid of the potbelly she has. I've enrolled her in sports (soccer, lacrosse & dance), but what her BF and grandmother do sabotages all the good.