No policy. Just dessert. Sometimes, sometimes not.

We treat two servings of fruit/day as the norm and then we try to make sure DD has only one other sweet thing a day (including juice, an extra serving of fruit or a sweet breakfast). If she's had an extra serving of sweet during a day, we don't do dessert unless it's a special treat (ice cream on a hot day, e.g.), we're out and it's offered (we always let her have a cookie/dessert at a friend's if it's offered) or it's a special occasion where the family is having dessert (< 1x/month). If she ate enough of her dinner (we serve a little extra of each thing so she can choose what to eat, expecting her to eat about 75% of what's offered; the rest goes into lunch for the next day) and asks for dessert on a night we wouldn't otherwise give it, we make seltzer w/ a bit of fruit or herbs or juice or something with the Sodastream as a treat... and she loves it.

No strict policy. Just sort of keep track of it. If they have had some earlier in the day, probably wont offer it after dinner unless it is a special occasion. If they don't eat a good portion of their meal, they don't get dessert.

We just try to teach our kids that treats are ok, in moderation, but that our bodies really need the healthy foods to grow and work properly. All about balance and trying to make sure they have a healthy understanding of nutrition.

Anonymous wrote:We have dessert occasionally, sometimes it is once a week, sometimes it is once a month. We defenitly have dessert for each family member's birthday. My kids normally would not eat cake or cupcakes at other kids birthdays parties (those pre-made from the grocery stores or american bakeries). I do bake maybe once or twice a month. It is usually seasonal thing, like peach pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie, sometimes oatmeal cookies or breakfast muffins. If I do that, we will eat it for next three days, so on those days we would have a dessert every day. We do stop occasionally for frozen yogurt or gelato. No strict policy, just common sense.

haha, omg. I'm sorry for serving your kids subpar desserts at our birthday parties!

We have dessert occasionally, sometimes it is once a week, sometimes it is once a month. We defenitly have dessert for each family member's birthday. My kids normally would not eat cake or cupcakes at other kids birthdays parties (those pre-made from the grocery stores or american bakeries). I do bake maybe once or twice a month. It is usually seasonal thing, like peach pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie, sometimes oatmeal cookies or breakfast muffins. If I do that, we will eat it for next three days, so on those days we would have a dessert every day. We do stop occasionally for frozen yogurt or gelato. No strict policy, just common sense.

We don't have one. I grew up with anti-sugar parents and am totally obsessed with it as an adult. I would have dessert for every meal and only eat dessert! My kids are allowed to have treats when they want. They don't like cookies, pie, or cake. They rarely request to have dessert.

Sometimes we have desserts, sometimes we don't. Often when my kindergartener asks for dessert, she is specific, like can I have some fruit with yogurt sand granola or apples and peanut butter (even when she may have had that exact thing for breakfast). When we bake cakes or cookies we have that, but that's a handful of times a year since we generally bake to bring food somewhere and keep just some at home.

Anonymous wrote:We just don't do dessert. Fruit is part of the dinner.

Yeah, cause there is no sugar in fruit.

Dessert every other night, plus or minus. My sweet little boy loves candy and other treats, but he will turn them down if it's not a dessert night. Summer has been a lot more relaxed as we've had a lot of ice cream and other summer treats and some of the camps he's been to have given out candy. I don't sweat it as he is super active and skinny and otherwise has a great, varied diet.

We don't have a policy.

Not being American, I guess we didn't realize the strict "no dessert" thing was a thing. We usually have dessert every night. Some nights it's icecream, some nights its straweberries and cream.

I guess our policy is always to have dessert!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have a policy. I usually let my kids have desert (cookies, ice cream or whatever we have around the house), unless they didn't eat dinner. if they've already had too many sweet things that day, then I say not tonight.

We do exactly the same.

Basically the same.

Anonymous wrote:Question for the 'fruit as dessert people' - do you guys not have fruit unless it's dessert? My kids love it; I add it to almost every meal at home. Apple, orange, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mangoes are consumed throughout the day and also goes into the lunchbox. I might stick a handful of blueberries on the salad I'm trying to get them to eat. Do your kids really accept fruit as different enough to qualify as dessert? Why do you eat so little fruit? Or, when you say fruit, do you mean something more special than an apple or orange?

Plus 1

Anonymous wrote:Question for the 'fruit as dessert people' - do you guys not have fruit unless it's dessert? My kids love it; I add it to almost every meal at home. Apple, orange, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mangoes are consumed throughout the day and also goes into the lunchbox. I might stick a handful of blueberries on the salad I'm trying to get them to eat. Do your kids really accept fruit as different enough to qualify as dessert? Why do you eat so little fruit? Or, when you say fruit, do you mean something more special than an apple or orange?

They don't eat "so little fruit." They just don't want to eat a real dessert very often.

I like fruit, but it's hardly dessert. If someone served me fruit as dessert (unless it was part of a pastry or ice cream), I'd feel ripped off.

Anonymous wrote:We're still in review mode on our family dessert policy. It's under Board review right now, and will be finalized by the end of the fiscal year.

Assuming it doesn't require more revisions! Lol

Anonymous wrote:Question for the 'fruit as dessert people' - do you guys not have fruit unless it's dessert? My kids love it; I add it to almost every meal at home. Apple, orange, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mangoes are consumed throughout the day and also goes into the lunchbox. I might stick a handful of blueberries on the salad I'm trying to get them to eat. Do your kids really accept fruit as different enough to qualify as dessert? Why do you eat so little fruit? Or, when you say fruit, do you mean something more special than an apple or orange?

In my house an apple is not dessert. After school, the kids come home starving. They usually cut up an apple, add some PB, and grab a cheese stick to hold them over until dinner.