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The biggest concerns I would have about chocolate is the caffeine.

It's also quite sweet, and we are going to hold off on giving our daughter artificially sweetened things for at least a few years. (We want her to be able to appreciate the natural sweetness in fruits and the like, for example.)

Here in Germany, a company called "Kinder" makes chocolate explicitly meant for children.. I dunno how good it actually IS for children, but I like the stuff myself, and I see people here giving it to their children as soon as they are physically capable of chewing and swallowing chocolate without choking on it.

Like pretty much any other type of food, I think chocolate in moderation is a good thing. In our house, we're all lactose intolerant (I'm actually allergic), so the only chocolate around is the really expensive dark kind - from the few companies who don't add milk fat to their product to compensate for low-quality ingredients. Chocolate has become my favorite method for rewarding *very* good behavior. My son gets either a small piece of a bar, or else (more usually) we have a brief counting challenge with chocolate chips. If he can show how many he wants on his fingers, that's how many he gets (please note the upper limit of ten fingers). Regardless of its physical benefits, it's been the only way to get my very sassy 3-year-old to even attempt counting (oh, he *can*, he just won't do it when asked). Not to mention, if we're at Grandmom's house for the evening and he's crashing fast, a little piece of chocolate will get him "up" enough to stop throwing himself on the floor like a protestor at a rally, put his coat on, and get into the car...at which point the energy boost runs out and he falls asleep on the car ride home.

We have this chocolate in Canada. My hubby says that the kinder chocolate here is the same as it is back home in Germany. I would not think twice about giving it to my child, but within reason.

I think the difference is that milky white layer in it. YUM!! I want some kinder chocolate now!! I love Beunos!! biggrin

From the things Ive read and understood dark chocolate is good for you because of the cocoa in it. Apparently it has all kindsof good stuff (like the antioxidants or whatever) and can help your heart, I think?
Anyways, I do know that hubby's grandmother is 96 or 97 and healthy as a horse. And she has been a chocolate freak her entire life!!! It was really great, they put her in a nice nursing home and when checking her in the home asks for the list of medications she is on because everyone that age has a list. They said none (because she isnt on ANYTHING). They stopped, looked at my MIL stunned and said 'what?' and she told them again there arent any. The only thing that is remotely wrong with her is her hearing and her short term memory. Oh and I dont see her kicking the bucket anytime soon!! Not gonna surprise me at all when she hits 100!!! Looking at her (in my opinion) is living proof chocolate does a body good! biggrin

Sorry to rain on the parade of chocolate lovers everywhere, but chocolate is not good for you. That does not mean that chocolate in moderation isn't OK, but let's not delude ourselves. The bottom line is that chocolate is full of fat, including saturated fat. And as for the antioxidants and flavenoids in chocolate (especially dark) it's true it's there, but as a health expert pointed out, those same healthy substances are also found in more nutritious foods like berries and leafy vegetables.

I like chocolate too, so when I have a craving I usually go for something else coated with chocolate (Flipz, Raisenettes, and York are some favorites) so that I can have the sweet treat without filling up on the fattening chocolate.