to think my babysitter is a greedy pig?

[HeartsAreEveryWhere]

So I went out with DH on Saturday night and my friends 15 year old babysat for us.

Came back about 1am and thanked her and DH drove her home. Decided to make a cup of tea how rock n' roll and noticed that she had eaten half of a victoria sponge cake, a whole block of cheddar had gone and she had drunk half a litre of diet coke.

I did say help yourself to food. But surely this is taking the piss?

[FairyWingsAndFlyingThings]

Are you sure she dosen't have bulimia? I could definitely eat that much while on a binge/purge. A lot of bullimics are average or slightly over weight so it's tricky to tell, but some are still quite skinny.

Otherwise are you sure she didn't give your kids some of the cake? But even then an entire block of cheese is quie excessive. Maybe it's been misplaced?
Half a litre of coke isn't too bad.

[BiteTheTopsOffIcedGems]

When we (my cousin and I) babysat as teenagers we were told to 'help ourselves' we did. We ate loads of food. Even sweets we found at the back of the cupboard that had gone all gloopy.

The kids mum asked my mum if we has eating disorders - we were very slim back then she said 'no, just greedy' :)

The kids mum didn't mind as she always said we could eat what we wanted as she knew we looked after her girls really well and loved them lots so it didn't matter.

[runningtostandstill]

Of course it is greedy! And at 15 she should be old enough to know that help yourself is not supposed to be taken literally. Is she a large girl?

[maraisfrance]

OP I think people are being a bit hard on you: I had an au pair once whom I seemed not to be able to make understand that a LARGE block of cheese or a bag of 8 avocados or a LARGE tub of hummous or three large tubs of yoghurt were designed to be shared between the three of us (we were a small household - one of us my three-year old son) and last the week. And that if the ingredients I had in mind for a meal had all been consumed by her by the time I got home, then obviously that was inconvenient and not designed to get the evening off on the right foot...anyway, I found it exasperating and a bit of a piss-take, TBH, so no, you are not being unreasonable, especially in light of good pay, a nice meal, and chocolate for the babysitter!

[LynetteScavo]

Sorry if I seemed rude about the heating, but many a time in my babysitting days the heating clicked of at 11pm, and I shivered for a couple of hours under my coat, eating my way through ta weeks worth of chocolate trying to stay awake.

[MumToOneMogwai]

Stoned as a mofo clearly, she probably ate the block of cheese stuck to a fork. A cheese lollipop

[UniS]

Surely teenage babysitters are expected to eat their own body weight in biscuits?? ( or equivalent items if no biscuits to had).

I do tend to leave out a few bags of crisps next to the biscuit tin ( with a few choc biscuits in as well as normal " family " biscuits) and squash ( my Babysitters seem to not like tea), saying "do help yourself to any of these"...

[puds11isNAUGHTYnotNAICE]

Maybe she was due on? When I'm due on i could eat you out of house and home.

Next time just put a tray with snacks she can have on it.

[Campari]

The kids probably had some aswell. Don't be so horrified.

[Schmoozer]

I also am suspicious of eating disorder here,
Tread carefully,
She will be devastated if she knows you know,
Have a tactful word with the mum,
And please make sure the mum is tactful !

[JumpingJackSprat]

next time dont invite her to help herself if you dont actually mean it and youre just going to bitch about her later. the greedy pig comment didnt come across lighthearted.

[ConfuzzledMummy]

Maybe get a lock on the fridge next time

[BeanJuice]

I don't think YAB that U to be honest - 'help yourself' isn't an invitation to eat THAT much

[ApocalypseThen]

Ah she's a kid though, you can't expect her to interpret "help yourself" like an adult.

[BeanJuice]

15 is hardly a kid is it?! I was 15 not very long ago at all and wouldn't have interpreted it like that.

[ApocalypseThen]

I think most 15 year olds would take "help yourself" at face value and wouldn't consider that it actually means "guess what I think would be reasonable and then restrain yourself. I'm watching..."

[SugarMouse1]

Do you mean that she ate the spaghetti dish and maltesers AS WELL?

I could never eat that much food!

BTW, is this girl fat or skinny? She may have bulimia, they often binge eat and then purge!

[mummysmellsofsick]

I once ate an unfeasible number of twix bars while babysitting

[julieann42]

I'm afraid my teen would get through that much....but probably wouldn't eat that much of some one else's food....althought she wouldn't hesitate to empty my cupboard

[littlewhitebag]

My DD is 15 and as skinny as a pick. She could easily eat that much food as a snack - although she hates cheese so would never have eaten that! She can eat her own body weight in chocolate/cake/biscuits/crisps all washed down with copious fizzy pop.

[PainSnail]

how old are your children? any chance they could be having midnight feasts whilst you're out?

[BarredfromhavingStella]

YABU, I could eat that easily & could've done at 15 ( & I was positively waif like )
When I used to babysit at that age & was told to help myself I literally worked my way through the kitchen....

[Flatbread]

It is taking the piss. At 15 she should know what is appropriate.

I would make sure next time that she is only given a food tray and no access to anything else.

[TheCraicDealer]

I could still make a good shift at that lot, especially over 5 hours.

Oh and if someone made me a dinner I didn't fancy it'd go down the loo as soon as they were out the door. Binning it is an amateur mistake. Unless there's a chance of toilet blockage.

[ILoveOnionRings]

Not sure with girls but I know my teenage son would have been more than able to polish off all of that and more and he is as thin as a rake.

Maybe she had some cheese with dinner, and then kept gong back for a bit more for a nibble, as you do.