Hard Candies and Crazy Kids
I am trying to get back into a regular routine with my blogs and so here I am with my first post in … well, a little while 
When I haven’t blogged for awhile, I get intimidated thinking that my blog post needs to be a thousand words long and contain some important insight. In reality, of course, I know that it’s more about connecting with people and being honest.
So, to that end, I posed a question on Twitter yesterday regarding hard candies … I have never given any to my kids (2yo “E” and 4yo “J”), but we were at our corner store yesterday and the guy behind the counter (who apparently enjoys watching my kids ransack his store) gave us some peppermint hard candies. He gave them directly to the kids, but i wasn’t sure whether i wanted my kids to have them, so I scooped them up and told them that we’d have them for dessert last evening. Once we got home, i posed my question on twitter to see what other moms thought. I only got five responses (I think most parents were already serving dinner to their kids!) and here’s what they said:
- All moms thought that the 2 year old is too young for hard candy
- Three out of five moms thought that the 4 year old could probably handle hard candy
Special thanks to @katekasserman @cafeofdreams @Trishinspace @deannaschrayer and @PeggyBristerHS who responded to my question.
I tend to be ultra conservative on issues like this. I figure, why take a chance when my kid would be just as happy with some chocolate instead of something that could be potentially dangerous? So, I talked it over with J and he was perfectly happy being bribed with chocolate (surprise, surprise!) and he didn’t miss the hard candies at all. Of course, my 2 year old didn’t even realize what they were in the first place, so she certainly didn’t miss them.
So, what do you think? At what age do you consider hard candies to be safe for kids?
It’s always so nerve wrecking when trying to figure out if a child is old enough to start eating certain things. My daughter, who is 7 now, I was much more timid about. I don’t think I let her have hard candy until she was four, it may have even been closer to five. My son, however, who turned three in Sept. took it upon himself to try one of his sister’s peppermints. I watched him very closely and he did fine (he is one that doesn’t suck candy, however, and chews it up as soon as it is even remotely possible, lol. You should see him zip through a candy cane, lol. In any case, I will let him eat a hard candy, but only if he is sitting still and within my vision.
Very interesting post!!
Thanks, April! I’ve found that also, I often tend to be a bit more lenient or less conservative with my daughter because she seems to have learned a lot of things from her brother and, frankly, is a bit more physically coordinated than he was at her age. I try to question myself constantly for whether I am letting her do things because she is really capable of them or whether i felt i was being too conservative with my son. In other words, I don’t want to allow her to take more risky behavior before she’s ready just because i was too overprotective with my son. Anyway – it’s interesting to see you going through the same pattern with your little one doing things before you would expect him! Thanks for your comment!
Definitely agree that 2 is too young. Although I say that and my 2 year got a candy cane today that she immediately dropped on the floor and it smashed. I do give her dum dum size pops that she does fine with. We actually took all the small hard candies away from the kids at Halloween. In large part be because I figured they wouldn’t like them.
Do you give J gum? I haven’t let C have any yet. Don’t trust him with it I think.
Thanks for your comment, Deb! Our doctor gives out dum dum’s in his office, and both of the kids have them. We supervise them closely and don’t let them run with them in their mouths, etc. Dum Dum’s and candy canes are a bit different than the hard candies because part of it is usually sticking out – i guess that’s why i feel a bit more comfortable with them.
We haven’t done gum yet, although I chew a lot of gum and J has been asking me lots of questions about it and he’s been begging to try it. I don’t think he’s ready. It wouldn’t hurt him to swallow it, i just don’t want him to choke on it. Thanks for your comment, Deb!
2 is definitely too young, in my opinion. 4 is still scary. i don’t give my 4yo hard candy, but she does eat lollipops. i’ve convinced her that it’s better not to bite them because then they last longer – and we do supervise her closely.
Sounds like we’re right on the same page, Maya! Thanks so much for your comment. So funny, but my kids don’t bite on lollipops. They both suck them until there’s nothing left but stick. It’s good that you mention that, though, because if a child does bite off a piece, they could easily choke on that. Thanks for reading!
In case you wanted to know… The American Academy of Pediatrics says hard candies can be safe for children age 4 and up. http://www.aap.org/publiced/BR_Choking.htm But of course only you know what your child can handle. We personally waited until around age 5 for my daughter.
That’s an excellent reference point, Ashley – Thanks so much for sharing that & Thanks for reading!!!