When I was little, my favourite sweets were Love Hearts. I loved the way they tasted – sweet but tangy, and I use to giggle at the secret message on every one. If I (reluctantly) shared them with my parents or siblings, I’d force them to read the message before they could eat them.
I think it’s so cool that Swizzels still make my faves, and my own kids adore them too. In fact, Swizzels make lots of people’s childhood favourites because they specialise in selling those retro sweets we all used to chomp in the 90s (I cringe to think I’m old enough that things from my childhood are now considered ‘retro’.)
My Childhood Summers vs the Kids’
My childhood summers used to be filled with long days of playing outdoors, lots of denim and tie-dye (hey, it was the 90s!) and spending my pocket money on sweets from the newsagents. In fact, sweets were such a treat, my mum used to give me them as little rewards for helping out.
Things have changed a little since I was a kid, but not really that much in the scheme of things. While the temptation is to stay in and get absorbed in screen time, my kids are more than happy to run around outside. I don’t give them pocket money yet, but I do buy them sweets for a treat just like I had when I was little.
How we’re expecting to spend this summer
It’s an odd time right now with various rules about travelling and meeting up. We hadn’t planned to go away this year anyway because we’ve got a cute new addition to the family, and we felt she’s too young to take very far without added stress.
This year our plans are much more local and might mean we spend more days at home. The trouble with keeping kids at home is, the house tends to get untidier by the minute, creating heaps of extra chores. I’ve started to encourage the kids to help clean up their mess a bit by incentivising it with sweets.
It’s handy to buy sweets in bulk in order to always have a supply on hand. The kids would only buy sweets if we gave them pocket money, so I’m cutting out the middleman. This has the added bonus of giving myself and my husband a sweet treat (when the kids are in bed, they can never find out we eat their sweets!)
So far, the children don’t mind helping to keep the place in order and are delighted by their sweets as a reward.
Keeping friendships alive
The children didn’t go back to the classroom when the schools reopened, so they haven’t seen their friends in a while. We thought it would be nice to write Greg’s friends little notes and deliver them with a selection of our sweet collection. It’ll help remind them of him (5-year-olds’ memories are short) and give us something nice to do too. It will also get us out the house as I can put the baby in the pram and bring Greg out on his scooter.
Things are very different for Emma too. She’s going up to secondary school in September and also hasn’t seen her friends in months. I think we’ll probably do something similar with her to let her special friends know shes thinking of them and can’t wait to start a new school together.
It’s funny how sweets are a universal treat that never go out of fashion (even for preteens) and can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. All I know is, I’m looking forward to a sweet summer ahead!