Re: your reaction to
Forget family members…plenty of parents themselves are fine with giving their kids soda/cake/candy and other sweets. Dunno about NY but here in the South, overweight kids drinking big glasses of sodas or over indulging on other crap in public is not a rare sight.
My SIL is fine with my in-laws giving her daughter cake and other sweets during special occassions. But then again, my in-laws live in a different state and only see the little girl 2-3x/YEAR so its far from being their usual routine.