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Original poster

How would you feel if you're 7 yr old had eaten..

67 replies

dameofdilemma · 29/05/2019 21:23

Bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes
Chunk of cheese and packet of crisps and fruit juice
Giant bag of choc buttons and fruit shoot
Mac Donald's veg burger and fries and juice

In one day.

Dd is at GMs for the week (we need the childcare and they both love seeing each other). I don't want to ask what she's eaten the rest of the week but pizza and ice cream were mentioned.

I don't want to hurt MiLs feelings, she's lovely and we're grateful but am also now worried about dd being there over the summer hols and gorging on junk food.

Am planning on speaking to dd (we talk about sugar rotting teeth and importance of 5 a day etc) to try to get her to make choices for herself when she's down there. But she's 7. She won't say no if someone buys her a big bag of chocolate!

OP posts:

BlueberrySkies · 29/05/2019 22:36

Yes it’s an awful diet. You are what you eat. No wonder there’s a health and obesity crisis. I'll never understand this obsession with thinking grandparents should have the green light to feed such crap.

Nanalisa60 · 29/05/2019 22:38

Well free child care comes at a cost!! You could ask her if she could teach your dd how to make homemade soup!! Or how to bake some homemade cakes!!

I remember one of my Nana’s always made me home made chips(fried in lard) and eggs for tea I just loved it!! And we always made jam tarts!! Happy days!!

Just remember sugar sandwich!! Door stop size white bread loads of butter then caster sugar!! A treat only ever given at Nana’s!! If I gave that to my granddaughter her mother would report me to social services no doubt!! Different times!!

hippoherostandinghere · 29/05/2019 22:38

I think it's great that they have such a good relationship that she can stay for a whole week.

However, a week isn't enough time to have such an influence on her eating habits. That builds up the other 51 weeks of the year that she's with you.

If my 7 year old age that much I'd just be happy she'd ate something. Appetite of a fly and underweight to go with it.

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BrieAndChilli · 29/05/2019 22:44

Are you veggie?
I’m just wondering if MIL is not confident in what your DD can and can’t eat so is sticking to packaged food that she knows is safe? If so maybe you could give her some meal ideas?
Or they could have had a day out and about and so grabbed food from various shops?

junebirthdaygirl · 29/05/2019 22:46

Yes as a GM l agree with others saying why do gms have to be associated with crap. I ate perfectly sensible dinners at my GPS, spending weeks there in the summers. All my mothers grandchildren loved her sensible dinners asking for more and wondering when was she doing their favourite. Now l give my gc nutritious food with lots of veg and usually one small treat. I know her favourite meals and have those when she is here.
We do loads of arts and crafts and fun games but l don't want her to associate our house with junk.
Surely GMS should be the sensible ones here.

Original poster

dameofdilemma · 30/05/2019 08:11

I feel I'm presenting MiL a bit unfairly....she's a really good cook and when we're all down there she/we all cook healthy meals.

Every day won't be that unhealthy by any means but MiL wouldn't say no to dd whereas we would and dd will capitalise on that!

I'm grateful for the childcare and that they have a lovely relationship. Will speak to dd when she returns and try to get her to take a bit of responsibility for making healthy choices.

OP posts:

Grumpbum123 · 30/05/2019 08:17

It wouldn’t bother me at all, however I was unreasonably annoyed when my H have my 7yr old a pot noodle after being nagged for one!

imamearcat · 30/05/2019 08:44

I wouldn't really approve of the giant bag of chocolate buttons (why not just have a regular sized bag?) but the rest of it wouldn't bother me.

BenWillbondsPants · 30/05/2019 08:52

It would have raised an eyebrow from me but we've long since adopted - what you eat at Grandma's stays at Grandma's attitude. She loves them and for the most part would feed them really nice home made food but they're was always far to many cakes and biscuits on offer. They were only ever there for a day at a time so it wasn't really a massive deal. Any more than that, then yes it would have bothered me.

Do you think she would really give them things like that to eat every day over the summer holidays? If so, then it is a bit of a problem and you might have to rethink childcare if you don't feel you can talk to her about it.

Scion457 · 30/05/2019 09:24

If it’s a one off day then I’d be a little annoyed but I wouldn’t mention it. If it’s a whole week of eating that much crap then yes it needs addressing. I’d feel ill if I’d eaten like that all week.

Ask DH to have a word. Send her with a bag of apples,some bananas etc if need be.

The thing that annoys me when gp’s let them eat crap like that is that I don’t understand why they don’t care in the same way that we do, about our children’s health. Absolutely let them have an ice cream, a desert, pop corn etc as well as a decent meal.

Junk food does not equal love.

Stravapalava · 30/05/2019 09:46

Grandparents like to treat their grandchildren. It's not ideal but I wouldn't worry about it too much as a one off in the school holidays.

Marinkazurie · 30/05/2019 10:25

I would care about the front shoot because we don't buy those for DD, but DD is 3 and I wouldn't care about the rest.

Scion457 · 30/05/2019 10:26

Grandparents like to treat their grandchildren. that’s my point. Feeding them crap all day isn’t a ‘treat’ is it?

Original poster

dameofdilemma · 30/05/2019 10:39

The MacDs is not a regular thing and not somewhere MiL would ever normally eat herself. Her other (teenage) granddaughter wanted to go (and has a terrible diet).

MiL always has plenty of fruit and veg in her house. It's just dd also knows there are cakes crisps juices and biscuits too so will angle for those. And MiL is far more generous with those than we would be.

It isn't just childcare though, they adore each other so I can't honestly say dd can't go down there anymore. I'm re looking at the summer hols tho to see if I can reduce it from three weeks to two.

Dp sees nothing wrong with it provided DD eats healthily at home so he's no help.

OP posts:

ItStartedWithAKiss241 · 30/05/2019 10:41

This is exactly what my children would eat at Grandma’s. Never thought to be concerned x

HappyDinosaur · 30/05/2019 10:46

I would not be bothered at all, I think people need to be a bit more balanced - the odd bad food day is not the end of the world. I really think all these children being brought up with very few treats and no sense of balance are going to massively rebel in the future.

AuntMarch · 30/05/2019 10:59

The amount of juice is the only really bit that would really bother me if, as you say, you don't believe every day would be MaccyD.
(I'm also assuming there was more to lunch than crisps and cheese, but also not the end of the world anyway)

A "giant" bag of buttons isn't going to do much harm as long as it's not daily. And that's assuming the teenager didn't help eat them anyway.

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