The power of children over adults when obtaining sweet snacks

Abstract

Adults' efforts to limit their children's intake of sweet snacks and drinks are being undermined by earlier and earlier influences in the child's life and by access to money, which allows the child to out-manoeuvre his or her parents. This is compounded by the provision of additional income, mostly from grandparents.

Pocket Money: Influence on Body Mass Index and Dental Caries among Urban Adolescents

“…He said "The greater prosperity, further leads to New Zealand children having pocket money to spend on sweets and confectionery" [16]. Roberts et al, reported in their study that, "access to money by children had a direct influence on sweet snacking" and sweets that are rich in carbohydrates is a well known proven dietary factor that contributes to the caries development [17].…”

Early Childhood Caries: Parent’s Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Its Prevention in Malaysia

“…This is one aspect of ECC that needs to be further explored. One of the problems faced by parents of the 21 st century is the free access of sweets to young children, either through close family and friends or through pocket money obtained by the children at an early age (Roberts et al, 2003). Hence a considerable majority of the parents have less control when it comes to the intake of sweets of their children.…”

Summary of the Presentations at the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity, December 8, 2003

“…It is well known that, in general, children prefer less healthful foods than adults; if parents elect to comply with children's preferences, then this could reduce the quality of the diet of the entire family. 110,111 Cross-cultural comparisons, such as between France and the United States, 112,113 also provide insights. The analysis by Stearns 113 shows that childfeeding manuals in France and the United States differ, with those in France emphasizing the avoidance of overweight and those in the United States emphasizing the avoidance of underweight.…”