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I usually give him some fresh fruit or Greek yogurt for dessert after dinner.

Not always...but she gets fruit after dinner a few times a week. I don't want her to expect something sweet after every meal...like DH!

LO loves fruit, so she usually gets something or those Gerber cheese puffs, she is currently obsessed so I give them to her as a dessert/snack.

Fruit isn't dessert to me, it's part of the meal. I classify desserts as things like chocolate cake, cheesecake, pie, cookies, ice cream, etc.

Fruit is usually served as part of the meal in our home. As far as dessert goes, not often will C be given dessert but every once in awhile he'll ask for a cookie or cracker so he'll get one if he asks and if he ate decently at dinner. If he didn't eat much dinner but still asks, he doesn't get one as I'd rather him get his calories from better choices.

@hilsy85: I don't think you are creating bad habits. Even if it turns into a cookie or something "less" healthy, if you teach moderation, it can be a good and pleasurable part of the meal. When LO was very young dessert was plain yogurt. Now it is either yogurt or fruit. We rarely have "real" dessert. But for example tonight we had strawberries and then some chocolate that we recently received as a gift. He had his one piece and that was it.

@hilsy85: oohhh. LO has never gotten sweets. Besides fruits. I don't plan to start any time soon.

And I wouldn't be too heartbroken if my 5 year old comes up to me asking for a apple post dinner as opposed to ice cream!

i save the fruit part of his meal until last only because he will refuse the veggie if i'm giving him fruits at the same time. he literally will pick his veggies and sometimes the main dish up off the tray and throw it on the floor.

if anything i think it is teaching them that fruit IS dessert and i don't see anything wrong with that. when they're older hopefully their go to "sweets" will be fruit.

I always give fruit as part of the meal so I don't treat it like a dessert. So DD doesn't get dessert but I'll treat her to things like ice cream once in a while. I usually do that as part of our mommy-daughter dates!

ETA - It's actually just frozen yogurt, but I tell her it is ice cream! LOL.