What To Do When Your Child Is Obsessed With Treats

Once kids get to the age of 3 or 4, sometimes even earlier if you are really unlucky, they begin to develop a sweet tooth which can go into overdrive. Those treats which they could once take or leave become their main objective of the day and this of course presents a number of problems amongst parents. Not only does this mean a potentially hyper child who later crashes once the sugar wears off, it also becomes a daily battle against your child to reject their wishes. If this has happened to you then here are just a few ways in which you can calm things down.

Eat How You Want Them To Eat

Remember just how impressionable kids can be and so one of the first steps here is to eat in the way in which you want your kids to be eating. Setting a good example is always the best way of making sure that your kids will, albeit eventually, learn how to go about behaving themselves.

Managing Treats at Home

The key is to not make treats this out of reach item in the home and this is why you should manage the treat situation. Don’t place treats in a locked drawer or hard to reach cupboard, but instead know exactly what is in there and manage your kids like that. If they think that they can grab one then they are less likely to truly want one. I often get lollies delivered from The Lolli Shop and I leave them out, counted, and let the kids see them. After a while they became far less interested and moved on to other things.

No More Bribery

We are all guilty of bribing our kids with a treat but if they have developed that dangerously addictive bend then it is no longer a good idea to do this. In offering up the treat as a prize you are only going to add value to it and make it more desirable. There is nothing wrong with dangling the proverbial carrot for a prize of some description, just ensure that it is not treat or sweet related.

Say Yes, With a Caveat

If you are constantly saying no to your kids then they are going to keep pushing and keep trying your patience to see if they can get a yes. This is why it makes much more sense to say yes when they ask for a treat, only do so with caveat. Let’s say that it is early morning, before breakfast, and they are asking for a treat. Naturally this would be a terrible thing for them to do but this is about the big picture. In such a situation tell them yes, they can have the treat, but they are only allowed 1 today, if they have it now, there will be nothing again throughout the day. This puts the responsibility back onto the child, and it puts you in a better position.

Small steps which will make the treat less desirable in the eyes of your child.