Controlling your children’s sugar consumption is very essential to some parents since kids adore sugar. Eating a little bit of sweet is fine however when sugar consumption is excessive, it can create long-term dental and health concerns, thus it is fair to seek moderation in your child’s consumption. But when does rigorous become too strict? Read the story and let us know what are your views on this.
Source: Reddit
My son is 8 years old and recently attended his friend’s 8th birthday party. This friend is my best friend’s son. I don’t let my son have any/much junk food at all and usually he brings his own snacks (for this incident it was carrot sticks and ranch) to events that have a lot of sugary foods.
My best friend baked a lot, and made a special chocolate cake for her son’s birthday. When it comes to my son, I don’t let him have cake. This is personal preference for his health, not for any allergy reasons, and he is not diabetic or gluten free. My son knows he isn’t allowed to have cake because of the additives. When he told his best friend this at the party, his friend apparently got upset and told him it was “good cake”, not bad like I say, because his mom made it, and it was his birthday cake. My son ate cake, got a sugar rush, and crashed, making him cranky for the rest of the day after we left the party.
I told my friend she needs to have some kind of consequences for her son to teach him not to peer pressure other children into eating things they’re not allowed to have. She said because it wasn’t an issue of allergies or health, that she’s sorry my son was cranky but she won’t be punishing her son or talking to him about it on his birthday. She also says that she’ll just watch more closely/make sure her husband does in the future, as well as have a chat with him on another day about respecting food habits. (I love my friend, but historically, her and her husband have always said ‘yes’ to their son and not given him any consequences for anything.)
Both of us were present at the party and did not see them sharing the cake (they were outside eating in the backyard with their fathers and some other parents supervising while we cleaned up) so it’s not an issue of anyone going behind anyone’s back, just teaching children boundaries and respect.
I let my son stay for the rest of the party and be with his friend, so it’s not like I ruined the day.
Am I wrong for being upset with my friend’s son and the fact that she won’t punish her son for pressuring my son into eating cake?
Do you think the post author did the right thing? Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
