Aim: To explore the types of behaviours adopted by parents to manage their children's sugar snacking Method: A series of focus groups of 9-year-old and 11-year-old children and their parents were conducted. The data were analysed using grounded theory which provided a framework from which a theory could be discovered rather than being verified. Results: The core category which emerged was ‘policing’. There were 3 types of parental policing authoritarian contained and soft policing’. A ‘policing’ continuum of 2 inter-linking dimensions was proposed. The first dimension was symbolised as a power inequity continuum from household [food] affordability power to parental power to food [sugar] power to child power. The various types of ‘policing’ varied in the degree to which there was a power inequity which was primarily dependent upon the household food budget. The second dimension described the ‘cat and mouse game’ which existed within the child-parent relationship being characterised by the child’s desire for snacks and the parents’ wish for control. Conclusions: It emerged that parental compliance with health messages was linked to family income. An understanding of the determinants of parental behaviours to manage snacking may assist in the development of health promotion interventions to reduce health inequalities.