To not get why people ration older dcs Easter egg consumption

[chickensaladagain]

Allergies, sen, dietary issues aside

Surely by the time dcs are 10 ish they are old enough to decide how much chocolate they eat?

Eating all your eggs on Easter morning and then realising that you have none left while your siblings still have them weeks later is one of life's lessons surely?

My dcs have been given free reign but I'm looking after my niece and have been told she can either have the sweets out of an egg or half a shell but not both

My 2 have both stopped at the same quantity but that's their choice -the eggs can only be eaten once so in the grand scheme of a generally healthy diet and 3 ideal weight children, is mass consumption really such a big deal?

Oh and they have 3 each, not 29

I don't really care if they snarf them down all at once provided they don't then vomit it all back up. DH, however still can't bear them to pig out on sweets/chocolate[buhmm]

My mum used to ration all my Easter eggs. Actually, strictly speaking that isn't true. Until I was the age of 11 and went to secondary school I never understood why you got a mini eggs egg, or a buttons egg as they were all the same. Turned out my mum scoffed one half of each egg and the insides before they got to me! I discovered the truth when I won an egg at secondary school and opened it - cue much laughter from friends as I pulled out two halves and the bag of sweets.

On a more serious note, all food was rationed in our house. There was nothing that was off limits, but we knew how much we were allowed to eat, for example only one pack of crisps in a day, only 2 biscuits. There was never a limit of vegetables. I've actually grown up with a really healthy attitude to food - I can have treats laying around for weeks and will slowly work my way through them.

YANBU

From about the age of 11I let mine decide for themselves how they are their eggs. Dd1 always had some left months later. Dd2 used to eat them all up by the end of Easter Monday.

If dd2 didn't eat much lunch for 2 days it's really not going to affect her whole life is it? She's 19 now, and hasn't opened any eggs yet.

My two teens have eaten all theirs already :) but then the only get two each - one from us and one from granny!

Mine only get 1 egg each so yes they can eat it all in one go if they like.

I remember my older brother eating all of his on Easter day, then buying my younger sister's from her. She made so much money from my brother and I over the years. She'd have made a good businesswoman.

We always let ours do what they want with theirs. They are 5,7, 9 and 11 and after about an hour of grazing have put the rest away for later.
On the plus side, we probably won't have to feed them for the rest of the day [bugrin]

But what if you have older kids AND younger kids? Hard to have one rule for one and another for the younger kids.

Mine are being loosely rationed...they've had some first thing and some more after lunch. They'll probably have more after dinner or this afternoon too. They're 8, 6 and 2. It's the middle one who is more likely to gorge until he's sick but it's a bit unfair to let his sisters eat what they want and just ration him.

Does it really matter though? I can't honestly see that rationing Easter Eggs at Easter is going to result in some kind of eating disorder in later life...

YABU

10 year olds do not have the impulse control of adults. Neither do 15 year olds. Their brains are not done.

Some adults could benefit from a "grownup" saying "you can have two bits of chocolate today then one a day until they are gone".

Ha! Funnily enough, the three of them got half way through their 'ration' of after-lunch chocolate and stopped eating because they were full. I'm not sure whether this proves that YABU - a bit of rationing hasn't stopped their ability to work out for themselves that they're full OR YANBU - that they never needed rationing in the first place.

they wouldn't eat the tea I cooked them as they would have filled up on eggs

Becaues I'd rather they ate proper meals, and had a reasonable amount of chocolate after the meal, and didn't end up feeling sick / being sick / having a tummy ache / etc.
No, not all 10 yr olds can ration themselves like adults well, not all adults can, but that's another thread.

DH is 40 and BIL is 42. The pattern set out in their childhood carries on to this day. DH gobbles all his by the end of Easter Sunday, whereas BIL has a little bit at a time for weeks and weeks. By the end of this week DH will be popping round to see BIL and nicking his chocolate when he's not looking.