You are effectively absolving the parents of responsibility even at ages as low as 3-4(!). I'll say this: I think it's very fashionable to put no guilt on anyone ever even when it's objectively clear who's guilty. Same goes for sugar intake. Children don't have jobs, they have no money of their own. They are not going to get addicted to sugar products unless you give them the money to buy these products or you buy them. My parents gave me 8€ a month. I got addicted to sugar products because my parents bought cereal and I ate it with milk every day and then I ate toast with nutella. Once again: This is the fault of parents, not the 4 year old or 6 year old or frankly even the 13 year old. They have no money to buy an ipad or even a single candy bar unless you give it to them. And no, they also don't "need" a smartphone. Other kids bully them if they don't have a smartphone? Tough, get over it. I got weird looks because my parents gave me rainbow colored pants to wear and I had acne. Tough stuff, I guess life isn't perfect. Casinos, alcohol and smoking are addictive too, my parents always warned me about that. So that's why I never got into those things. I was warned by good parents (in that area). I was never warned about sugar, they didn't care or know. So I got into sugar.