How much is too much?

My sons received way too much Easter candy. My mom and their aunt sent them Easter baskets filled with American candy. Our family here brought them all chocolate Easter eggs.
Im the kind of mom that moderates their kids sugar intake. The candy is put up and they have to ask for it. If I didnt do that they would nosh on it all day long. Am I wrong? Am I being too strict? My 7 year old eats basically nothing but peanut butter and jelly.I cant get him to eat hardly any real food at all.  But he can live off chocolate and other sweets if I let him.
I just recently threw away leftover Xmas candy I had put away. I do feel guilty sometimes but then I hope they may thank me for it one day.
How much is too much for your kiddies?

my parents did that with my halloween candy as i always got a lot.  i would have to ask.

and when i was done they would remove more candy and throw it away, slowly so they don't notice.

cruel, but i was a very healthy child.

I let them eat it on the day(although truthfully, they don't get that much) and then I pretty much throw it away.  Or their father would eat it all.   

My mother never cared how much junk food we ate. Nor did she advise us on the importance of good dental hygiene. As a result I started getting my teeth filled when I was just 11.  

I don't like my kids having too much candy either.  I tend not to get them Easter eggs because I think one is more than enough for them and their grandma gets them one.

I have broached this subject with my family and they don't give them candy anymore.  My mother is sending plastic Easter eggs and stickers instead.  I would suggest doing that as well. 

Our daughter doesn't get candy.  She's only 21 months.  I made her a lovely Easter basket and put cuddlies and videos and other non-food item treats in it. 

My ILs gave her loads of Easter chocies and DH ate them.  She did, however, find a white chocolate bar.  She has never been given a chocolate bar, but she seemed to know exactly what is was, said, 'Mmmm' as she unwrapped it, and scoffed half of it quickly before I took it off her - it was 7.30pm and too close to her bedtime for sweets. 

She does get home baked goodies, ice cream occassionally, jellies and such.  Just no candy. 

Well, she's still little so I agree with you, but I don't think the no-candy policy works much past nursery school age.  Limit it, sure, but I think it's the same as when parents say 'no tv' you actually end up having less control because they tend to over-do it when they're out of your sight. 

Well, she's still little so I agree with you, but I don't think the no-candy policy works much past nursery school age.  Limit it, sure, but I think it's the same as when parents say 'no tv' you actually end up having less control because they tend to over-do it when they're out of your sight. 

Oh, definitely.  I just think right now it's too much for her system to handle.  The one time she had milk chocolate she threw up.  Yuk.  I had soft enamel and my teeth were hell when I was wee.  I had to have sweeties severely limited as a result.  Hope she doesn't inherit that.

As for TV, well . . . let's just put it this way, she hums along to the 'Neighbours' theme and knows that the East Enders song means it's bedtime. 

i was candy free until 3.....then my grandfather gave me a lollipop!

i was happy with raisins as my candy until then......

but i never had sugar cereal until i was 14 at camp.  it was the biggest treat EVER!

Sorry, expat.  I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you.  I was just remembering some bad experiences of kids coming to my house to visit my children from 'No TV/No Candy' households.  Not happy memories.  

Sorry, expat.  I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you.  I was just remembering some bad experiences of kids coming to my house to visit my children from 'No TV/No Candy' households.  Not happy memories.  

No worries.  I'm a pretty relaxed mum - she ate out of jars and was formula fed  .  The no-candy is basically until we see how her teeth are doing.  Her dad is one of those luckies who's never had a cavity.  Whereas I'm lucky to still have teeth in my head.  Also b/c she threw up that chocolate and it was nasty, man!  Yuk. 

I home bake stuff b/c it's cheaper than buying biscuits and we are po'. 

I am all for moderating children's diets.  As the saying goes, everything in moderation, including moderation.  So there will be binge times for any human, that's just how life goes.

I do think it is confusing to kids (and really, unjustifiable) for relatives to send all sorts of candy and then it is put away.  If the gifts are for the child from the relatives, then the child deserves to have more say in how the gifts are regulated.

So it comes back to the question of what is allowed in the home in the first place, whether one buys a bunch of sweets at the store and brings those home, or lets relatives 'gift' these sweets into the home.

I don't expect my kids to thank me for any parenting style I use, especially in the food area.  I've watched too many parents wait for that gratitude and be extremely disappointed when 1. it didn't come or 2. the opposite occured.

My parents didn't allow any sugar in our home.  Like so many children, I got my first sweet from grandma (who loved to undermine my mom).  But we never were allowed sugar, even into our teens and so we smuggled the stuff into the house, lied, binged, hoarded.  That sort of thing.   

I go for the moderation approach as well.  I don't say no, but try to be sensible.

On the day (Easter, Halloween), I let them indulge.  However after that, I have a huge Tupperware cake container that it all gets dumped into, then up on the top shelf of the pantry. 

I give them a treat after school, then after dinner (but only if they've eaten well and a piece of fruit first).

I hope it doesn't sound too harsh, but junk food was a free for all when I was growing up.  I've battled with my weight since I was a kid and have a mouth full of fillings.  I'm trying to hard to set up better habits for my boys while I still have some say in it.

My brother in law just brought over another large chocolate Cadbury Easter egg for each of the kids. Just what we need around here! I wish there was a way of declining the gift without being insulting. The sticker idea another poster mentioned was a good idea and I think the kids would enjoy that better than more and more and yet more sweets!

I think moderation is sooooooo important -- I'd probably let them eat what they wanted on the day of the holiday (within reason, of course) and then limit it to one piece of candy (per day) as dessert or something after that.  Otherwise, you're right -- they'll just sit in front of a big pile of candy and eat until it's gone (and hey, who could blame them?   ).