Sugar Shoulds and Should-Nots

What to do about kids' access to sweets during the holiday season.

Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

Key points

• Parents' attemtps to restrict sugar can result in kids consuming more in response.
• Telling kids not to eat sweets doesn't work. Making small changes in your food serving choices can.
• Making non-sweet choices easily and readily available increases the chance kids will pick these.

Between Halloween and the winter holidays, parents can become aware of just how many sugary treats fill this time of year. Shorter days of winter usually mean kids spend more time inside, so they are less active than during warmer months. As a result, parents may be asking themselves whether they should do anything about this. Here are the recommendations from a psychological perspective:

Should you stop your kids from having treats between Halloween and the winter holidays?

No. Well, that’s the short answer.

Why: When we limit kids’ access to things, including sugar, it often produces a stronger desire to get those things. One problem solved, another created. This can manifest in a few ways:

1. Kids get tricky and access sweets when away from parents, like at school, friends’ houses, and extracurricular activities. You can put only fruit in their lunch every day, but you can’t prevent them from trading it for cookies.
2. Kids sneak sweets and treats at home, resulting in you finding sleeves of Oreos under their bed and candy wrappers in their trash cans. Unlike when kids get treats outside of the home, you will often find evidence of sneaking at home. This can result in a situation of kids lying to parents to try to cover their tracks.
3. When they do have access to treats, like at friend’s birthday party, they go overboard. This is because this type of food has been scarce. Anytime we humans have access to a scarce resource, it’s instinctive for us to try to get as much as we can. Think of it as “stocking up,” in case the resource becomes scarce again. This can lead to much higher consumption of sweets in these moments.¹ The bigger-picture parenting goal is helping kids learn how to navigate events that have more sugar readily available to them than their typical environment does.

So, what can you do to stop the end-of-year sugar bonanza?

1. Have lots of non-sugary options available, like fresh fruit, veggies, pretzels, no-sugar-added apple sauce, string cheese, nuts (not the sugar-coated kind), hummus, guacamole, skyr (typically lower in sugar than yogurt), and olives. The easier these other foods are to access (e.g., already washed and cut up, served directly to them), the greater the chance that kids will reach for them.
2. If kids pick a sugary option for a snack, pair it with a non-sweet option to help them eat a smaller portion of the sweet treat while satisfying their hunger.
3. If your family typically eats dessert after dinner, consider skipping the gummy snacks in their lunch or the juice box after school. It's about balance throughout the week.

Try not to stress about how much sugar your kids are eating during the holiday season. If you’re feeling stressed, it’s likely to cause ineffective arguments between you and your kids. These arguments can produce even greater unhealthy eating behaviors and attitudes in kids in the short and long term.

Being mindful of the snack foods you’re buying, the amount of restaurant vs. homemade food you’re eating, and the frequency you serve sugary things at home can help your family’s sugar intake stay within a healthier range even during the holiday season.