She ate all the biscuits

So much magical thinking on this thread.

Honestly, try to not make a fuss about food, being 'greedy' or whatever. My lovely mum was quite controlling around food, she meant well, but my brother and I both ended up with eating disorders.

When I was a child I did something similar. I ate all my mums mints when she went to the kitchen. I was 6. My mum was very sweet to me as a child but that day she really told me off and I didn’t do it again.
My daughter did it too when she was quite young. She’s 15 now and still does things like this. E.g I bought a pack of those delicious LU buttery biscuits and I went down the road. She ate them all with no remorse. I think it’s best to deal with it asap. I wish I had

Because she's only 7 and junk food like Maryland cookies are designed to be overeaten. It's really not that deep.

This was going to be my question! Children heading for a growth spurt get very hungry - and will often head for easy calories because that's what their bodies need most.

It's obviously better to fill this need with a nutrient-rich diet. Small kids have small stomachs, so in-between meals can be a useful solution.

Many children grow 'out' before they grow 'up', too, so it's good to hear she's already slim and fit - she's got room to expand both ways as needed.

I don't think you have a big problem here, but 7 is old enough to start self-monitoring: learning to distinguish between needing (am I genuinely hungry?) and wanting (do I just fancy the flavour?)

If it's wanting, it can be helpful to remind yourself the next one will taste just the same, so why not take more time to savour this one. I'm very keen on the idea of a snack box for each child once a week. If she eats them all, so what? She'll find out whether she prefers one blowout and six no-biscuit days or a self-regulated, steady supply.

I agree she should be told not to forage for the biscuits, with good reasons. I disagree with those advocating puishment.

Is this a serious reply?

Dear God, This warrants a whole post? So she ate a few biscuits. Sounds like she's on a tight lead and this is her rebelling. She's 7 for goodness sake. Lighten up.

I was going to say this. Biscuit makers have entire teams of food scientists precisely engineering their recipes to make them delicious enough for you to want more but not so rich you feel the need to stop. It has a name but I've forgotten it.

I remember trying swiping food and getting a bollocking for it on the grounds that they were expensive and intended for the whole family. And that taking things without permission was dishonest

I feel like people suggesting syndromes etc are over complaining the issue - biscuits are just delicious.

Na, they re just taking the opportunity to criticise the op and be smug. There's a lot of that on this site

Don’t be angry, but do have a conversation about taking things that aren’t hers. She seems to have known they weren’t hers and she took them anyway. Good time to start learning that that’s not okay.

This thread all of a sudden reminded me of a long-ago experience I had.
It was my turn to live in our great-grandparent’s home out on the ranch.
A new man came to work on the ranch - to be the #1 helper, irrigator, tractor operator, et. al., and he and his family moved in to the home we had for them.
I thought it would be nice to welcome them, so I stopped by a bakery and bought the most beautiful strawberry pie you’ve ever seen - it was piled extra extra extra high with whole strawberries, held together with that gooey clear stuff - my apologies, I’m not a strawberry expert. But it was a masterpiece, right out of a painting.
I walked it the short way to their new home and was greeted warmly by the wife.
I was graciously invited in, so of course I accepted. She was the nicest, most bubbly person!
And seated at their kitchen table was an extremely obese little girl. And I DO MEAN OBESE.
She was 5 years old and had to weigh as much as I did and do - 120 pounds or 8.57 stone. Her eyes were little slits and even her forehead had fat. Her arms had roll after roll, as did her neck.
I immediately regretted that beautiful pie, that I was adding to that sweet girl’s obesity.
I was stunned.
She broke my heart.
I remember it was 4pm, because the kind woman said she was just pulling her granddaughter’s “snack” out of the oven.
If was an ENTIRE COOKIE SHEET of chicken nuggets (probably 30, which I’m sure are twice as big as the ones you can get in your supermarkets in Britain.
Snack. Before supper.
I completely overhauled my housewarming gifts from that day forward.
I still feel guilty when I think about it - that child probably never stood a chance.
I hope she’s okay.

I have always been chill with my kids about food as I cook from scratch most days and taught them about healthy eating. However we do have crisps and chocolate in the house freely available and the dc don’t even crave it as it’s there for them. By making such a big deal of cookies and treats you are making it into a “thing”. My oldest dd has gone to uni as she’s started to eat even healthier and cleaner off her own back as good foundations were set for healthy eating but a Macdonalds isn’t frowned upon either, everything in moderation and educating kids to make healthy choices much better than taking choices away and not having treats. It doesn’t need to be expensive but it’s nice to have at home. I feel sorry for your dd tbh.

No, not a joke.

She was eating spoonfuls of sugar neat from the packet!

As responsible parents it was our job to stop her doing that, and the locked cupboard was , sadly, the only way we could stop her harmful behaviour (and yes, we tried everything else, first)

When we took the padlocks off, she just went back to doing it again, even though she was 7, 8, 9, 10...

Three cookies for a seven year old is more than enough. One or two would be a decent portion size for a seven year old, surely? I don’t understand how you can say that’s being tight with food. I think it’s a generous amount.

I would be cross at her eating them all. I would teach her that she has now deprived the rest of the family of them, and that is not fair.

If she wants to scoff her share, go ahead, but it will mean she has no more if she wants some tomorrow or the next day. My son used to do this until he realised if he eats all his share in the first day, he gets no more for the rest of the week until I shop again. He has to sit there and watch others eat theirs and miss out. He has gotten much better.

Exactly this, why deprive little treats along with a healthy diet?

I’d be having words about her being greedy. The biscuits were meant for you all to enjoy another day. Pigging the lot is rude and selfish. If she feels hungry she should ask for a bit of toast or some fruit. About the other times she’s stuffed herself with rubbish, does she have a good breakfast? Protein to fill her up? At seven she is growing rapidly. Make sure she’s getting enough fluids too. People often mistake thirst for hunger.
.

A packet of chocolate chip cookies split between 3 and you had several left over

so every had 3

so tight with food

i am overweight snd had eating disorder in part due to my mums extreme tightness with food and the guilt i would simply say “you should ask first in case i needed them for something but im glad you enjoyed them they were yummy shall we get more ?

As a child of her age in the early 70's , we didnt have snacks or treats

We were given 3 meals a day , and built up a hunger for them so we ate what ever was put in front of us

Biscuits were for Sundays , 2 plain, 1 fancy , from the tea time selection

We as children would never have helped ourselves to food If we were hungry we would have to say and were given an apple/banana or slice of bread and butter

Is your daughter actually eating her meals? Does she enjoy the meals and clear what's served or push it around the plate and then complain later she's hungry

When I inherited Step children, I had some battles on my hands around what I thought they should eat, and what they would eat . So in the end meals were always serve yourself . So one liked carrots, another liked peas, one would eat breast meat, another only liked legs . I put enough food down that everyone should eat their fill - so there was no raiding the cupboards as they were so used to after dinner having not eaten enough

My wee sister would and still could demolish a pack of biscuits alone with a mug of tea, and I found out recently I could as well - for me it was a one off and I still feel sick just thinking about it I myself can inhale a bar of chocolate and not even register eating it - if Ive not eaten enough at meal times

Must be a joke right. A padlock on the cupboard?

This thread is crackers. So much weirdness about food.

It's not a matter of being "cross." I would be very perturbed, because it implies that she considers your structures something than can and should be circumvented. (Although you didn't say you actually had forbidden them.) On the other hand, you have to give her credit for being truthful.

I think probably you either need to:
>Explain quietly that you're the rule-giver and she's not to go around you.
>Explain why you are restricting her - probably more so than most families.
>Think about whether your habits are unreasonably restrictive.

Very very angry about a few biscuits. Feckin hell, would hate to know what happens when you have something real to be angry about

My 5 year old wouldn’t be wolfing down biscuits and desperately grabbing handfuls of chocolate like it, it’s not normal behavior. You know better at 7.

I'd be cross, especially if this wasn't the first time. What is dh doing that dd can go searching for biscuits. Dd needs to understand she cannot do this. A seven year old knows what she's doing, and she knew what she was doing wasn't right. The fact she bragged about it isn't good.