Yesterday while returning from Anthony's gymnastics class (it was jump-rope day), I gave directions to a couple of lost tourists from northern Japan. In appreciation, they gave Anthony a box of chocolate. It was almost dinner time, but I said that he could have some after dinner.
We try to limit his junk food, as I've written before. We don't deny it totally, but save it for special occasions so that it doesn't become habit. He does enjoy it when he gets it, like all kids, especially chocolate.
After dinner, he excitedly passed out peaces to everyone, and finally bit in to his own. He chewed a little bit, then made a “yuck” face and went to Mommy so he could spit it out. By the time Mommy got something for him to spit into, he was crying. I gave him some milk so he could wash the yucky chocolate taste out of his mouth.
The chocolate was one of the high-cocoa-content variety (86%) that have become popular in the last decade. The higher the cocoa content, the less the sugar content, and hence the more bitter it becomes. This was mildly bitter, but certainly not the silky smooth ultra sweet taste of “normal” milk chocolate.
I said “see, chocolate is yucky!” hoping to dissuade him from a future life of junk-food dependency, to which he replied “I usually like chocolate, but I don't like this chocolate.” Drat, too late!
We should have given him this kind of chocolate very early on, so that he'd develop an immediate dislike of it. Of course, he'd eventually realize that there were other kinds, but an early lack of desire for sweets could have been nice.
I thought I'd post this as a suggestion to new parents: give your kids some high-cocoa chocolate early on, and perhaps save yourself from some “I want chocolate!” hassles later.
We are just lucky that our son doesn’t like chocolate. BTW on the 7th birthday of my husband his father let him try smoking on a cigarette. He’s never tried again.