I have children in my life that love sweets, but they also love my healthy cooking that involves lots of greens and a variety of fresh produce. They like cauliflower mash and cauliflower pizza crusts, lentil and vegetable pastas, baked rutabaga fries, fresh fruit, frozen banana "ice cream,"and other such modifications.We do bake and decorate cookies together at Christmas, and I do serve cleaned up versions of cakes, cobblers, etc. but only for special dinners. We also emphasize being active together walking or biking. I use the modification vs. perceived deprivation approach. It's the people, the occasion, the attention, and the time spent together that matter most to me.

Ohhhh sounds perfect! Can you share your frozen banana ice cream recipe! I think modification is certainly the key! Thank you for commenting!

Very interesting.
I don't eat sweets so with my kids and nieces and nephews I have never given them sweets as a cozy food. The smell of baked sweets bothers me so everyone in my family knows you come to me for the home cooked meals. So when I don't feel like cooking and I ask my kids what they want for dinner because Mom is not cooking they say your food Mom. So I'm considered the chef of the family. They know that I can make the fatty yummy food and the healthy version of it. I usually stick with mostly organics and they can taste the difference. My kids love my chicken meatballs, and my chicken tacos and say it's better than the beef version. I have nothing against beef, I'm just trying to show variety and lower calorie options. So I personally don't push the sweets.

Great question Anna and so good to read the experiences of others.

Alex, Do you just switch out the beef for the chicken? I suspect its ground chicken? Sounds like a good option! I have never thought of doing that before. It also sounds like you have not made sweets your "love" coupon. I am afraid that many of us have not always thought this way. Thinking back, my mother loved to cook and she was also not a sweets person until later in life and at Christmas time. I mostly remember her making Italian type foods. But her bread was a staple that got us through the week until payday...Bread and molasses. lol, I guess I have to take what I just said back. Sweets did hit our home pretty hard because we ate a lot of bread and molasses. When I got married and lived with my husbands parents, there was a ritual that Saturday morning was bake morning. You were done just past noon and could sit and have chocolate cake topped with homemade frosting. It was so ritualistic that you could set your clock by this... Everyone of their children and grandchild lived through this. But if they ate them all early, none would be made until the following Saturday, Because it was always available, I do not think the kids over-ate them. Ironically, none of the kids had a weight problem. Many of the grandchildren have weight issues and sugar taste-buds. The parents would say when they were little ones: "no sugar for you" and then before you know it, they are not eating more sugar than we had. So much processed food out there these days. I think awareness is the key and small changes. Good food is good for us in so many ways and it can create healthy boundary messages if we create strong relationship memories to go with them that can be drawn upon later.

Thank you Gwen. Its so nice to see that you are still here!

Anna, the banana dessert is just frozen bananas in various forms and fashions. I blend with my immersion blender, adding a small amount of unsweetened vanilla almond cashew milk (with no carrageenan). From there the possibilities are endless. Our favs are adding a small amount of orange oil and vanilla extract (read the labels of the extracts) (tastes like a dreamsicle!); adding vanilla extract and frozen berries; adding almond extract and frozen peaches. Does not refreeze.

You can also make it with only bananas and no milk in a food processor. Or any combo of frozen fruits. I also have a Yonanas, which is a little machine you feed the frozen fruit into and it comes out the front like soft serve but it doesn't do any better than in the food processor. Maybe a little easier? Maybe not? You have to cut the bananas up smaller for it before you freeze them. I have the cheap one, it was $4o but I do like it.

Yes, I use ground chicken and I buy the one that is mostly white meat so it's like 98% fat free. It's delicious. The chicken meatballs I cook them in the oven with chicken broth. You cover them half way with chicken broth and make sure you cover them with tin foil and you just let them cook. They come out so moist and delicious. My kids go crazy for them, I have to make so much extra because they fight over who ate all the leftovers. It's kind of cute. Even my pickiest loves them. I do add eggs and some bread crumbs to them in a bowl and whatever seasoning you would like. I just brown them a little to keep the shape. Because it's chicken sometimes they more oval than round. My boys don't seem to mind!

Lyn, that sounds interesting.

I buy my kids they Yasso greek yogurt frozen pops They know it's not ice cream but they love it. They really don't have many ingredients and the sugars and calories are low. Just some healthy idea alternative to the sweets.