The report is full of maybes, but the message is clear: children who are given sweets daily have poor self-control and tend to become unhappy, violent adults.
It’s not just the red ones either. Parents know that red food colour has a tendency to make children frenetic and irritable, but this study illustrates the consequences of spoiling children. When children are given sweets every day they develop the expectation that they get what they want without trying. This leads to angry and violent response as an adult.
The study (of 17,500 people) may have qualifications, maybes and buts, nevertheless the data proves the old wives’ tale that spoling children makes them brats and that they remain that way as adults. Parents need to learn to say “no”.
British Journal of Psychiatry: Confectionery consumption in childhood and adult violence
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