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?

[frogspoon]

Several people have mentioned that the girl may be used to eating as she likes at home. It's also possible the opposite could be true.

Growing up portion sizes were strictly controlled and snacks and sweets were rationed. As a result going to other people's homes, including babysitting was the first opportunity that I had to eat without rationing and control.

If she is young and has little experience babysitting, she may just have wanted to make the most of the opportunity to eat cake etc, which she does't get at home.

[Flatbread]

Or better still, do this

[AskSiri]

frogspoon my cousins were the same.

They never had junk food in their house ever. When we would go to my Grandmas house she would have huge variety packs of crisps. My cousins would eat 4 or 5 packets in one sitting because they never got this kind of food back home.

[ClippedPhoenix]

The moral of the story is look after your own kids then

[Bunbaker]

"The greedy pig comment is a bit harsh but eating that lot is pretty greedy so YANB totally U. "

I think it is greedy as well. I'm amazed at the number of posters who don't think that is a lot of food. It's no wonder we are a nation of fatties.

[bonnieslilsister]

Don't you just hate it when people go rooting in the bin for information/evidence

[TheCraicDealer]

Have just remembered my best friend being found asleep on a sofa in another mate's house clutching a block of Cathedral Cheddar when we were students. One corner was chewed off. Your pizza thread reminded me AskSiri.

[Viviennemary]

I think she was cheeky to eat that much food. But your payment was very generous. But if you said help yourself to anything you like she probably took it a bit too literally. Anyway next time get a padlock for the fridge.

[HeartsAreEveryWhere]

Don't you just hate it when people go rooting in the bin for information/evidence

Sorry to disappoint you but I didn't. I's emptied the bin before we left and put in a new bin bag. Made myself a cup of tea and put the teabag in the bin and saw the wrapper.

[frogspoon]

Also Hearts, have you checked the fridge for foil/cling film wrapped chunks. In my house we always take the wrapper completely off the cheese and wrap it in foil. It seems to last longer that way, but could easily get confused with something else wrapped in foil.

[HeartsAreEveryWhere]

I am being unreasonable about the coke and I'll definitely hold my hands up on that one.

But a spaghetti plate, half a large cake, a family size malteasers bag, a whole block of cheese is in my opinion an awful lot to eat.

And that's just the things I know she ate.

[HeartsAreEveryWhere]

Yes I've checked frogspoon and there was definitely no cheese left inside the fridge.

[GlobalNN]

It looks lie a case of munchies to me..

[GlobalNN]

like

[Bunbaker]

That's more than munchies. That's gluttony.

[frogspoon]

Everything bar a whole block of cheese sounds plausible.

Dinner- spaghetti (topped with cheese)
Dessert- A slice (or two) of cake
TV nibbles- malteasers (easy to lose track of these)
Late night snack- A bit more cake

Yes it is quite a lot of food, but she did consume it over five hours.

She probably overstepped the mark a bit. You left a 15 year old (who may not be used to managing her portion sizes) to make a decision about how much was acceptable to eat and she got it wrong. She's 15, she'll learn, I would let it go.

[BackforGood]

I find that incredibly greedy, and rude tbh.
I have a 16 yr old ds, who is going through a growth spurt and is permanently hungry it seems, and who likes to have 'supper' but there's no way he'd help himself to any more than a piece OK, possibly 2 of cake from someone else's house. As for the cheese

I thought that even before I saw mention of the spag bol and the maltesers. That really is bad. My dd (14) babysits and has a biscuit or 2 or maybe a bag of crisps, and wouldn't dream of eating anything else.

[MrsMushroom]

Does anyone else really fancy a big bite off a block of Cheddar now? I never bite cheese from the block but I have a strong urge to do just that!

[ApocalypseThen]

Yeah. I've turned the spycam the other way and disabled the fridge alarm. I have some equipment to reseal the pack too so it'll be the perfect crime.

[MrsMushroom]

I'm off to the fridge then. Might find an entire trout or something.

[Babybirdz]

Check the toilets for at sign of vomiting. Just saying could be a eating disorder. Seems large quantity of food.

[Mimishimi]

Depends on how large the cheese was, YABU about the cake and coke.

[cafecito]

I haven't read the whole thread, sorry- but...

a. you told her to help herself. My 15 yo sister could easily eat all of that and still complain she is hungry

b. My first thought is an ED, perhaps bulimia, perhaps some kind of purging anorexia- VERY hard to stop if she started, maybe her spaghetti or maltesers was a trigger food and it set her off. Nobody would try and do this in someone else's home, if at all, likely she had little control really over it if that's the case- in which case you are being really mean posting such a thread.

however I imagine it's just the teenage munchies, coupled with boredom. I am impressed she left you half a cake,whichever way around it is.

Don't make a fuss over it, next time just have less cake around and maybe a whole load of fruit to snack on

[HeartsAreEveryWhere]

cafecito it never crossed my mind that this girl has an eating disorder. Now it has been said I still don't think she does but ... I will keep an eye on her and may have words with her mum.

I would be being very mean if I knew she had an eating disorder and then complained. Surely you can see the difference?

And I already said I baked the cake as a trial thing as I am making another one for the weekend for a friend.

And we have loads of fruit in the house. I regularly do Jason Vale juice diet so will always have a wide selection of fruit in the kitchen.

I'm also unsure as to why everyone assumes she's bored? - there is a tv, loads of dvds, I told her to order a movie from sky box office if she liked the look of any, she had the use of the iPad, free wi-fi, she had her phone, we have a playstation and a wii, magazine etc. I also said she was more than welcome to bring a friend but she declined.

Surely that night can't be any less boring than an ordinary night in her own home.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Blimey!

I used to babysit a lot at that age, and the parents always used to say "help yourself to food." I understood this to mean, say, a couple of cans of Coke, a cup of tea, a few biscuits or a slice of two of cake. Maybe make a sandwich. Not "please go ahead and eat the entire contents of our fridge."

It is greedy, but it is also about manners and consideration for others. What if the cheese had been needed for packed lunches? I had an au pair who used to come down in the night and drink all of the milk in the fridge, eat all the bread, cheese, salami etc and leave us with nothing for breakfast or packed lunch. The first time she did it, I read the riot act about consideration for others. The second time, she was hauled unceremoniously out of bed at 0700 and despatched to the shops to replace what she had eaten. She didn't do it again.

For those of you who say "Oh mine do that at home, and it's fine" do you not teach them that it's not necessarily acceptable behaviour to do that in someone else's house? Personally, I wouldn't find it acceptable at home - if I am planning to cook lasagne for dinner, I would take a very dim view of coming home to find no cheese or milk.