Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To make DD put the rest of her ice cream in the bin.

315 replies

IdaMay19 · 22/07/2019 19:58

DD is 11. This morning she has had two Magnum ice creams. I have just came in from the garden to find her sitting at the kitchen table, eating a third.

I was a bit annoyed, and told her that she shouldn't be eating the third ice cream as she had already had two that day, and she should think of leaving some for other people. I thought that perhaps DH didn't realise she'd had two earlier and was allowing her a treat, so asked if she had checked with DH if she could have the ice cream. She said yes. At that point DH wandered in and I said "you do realise that's her third Magnum today?" he said "I didn't know she was having it?"

DD then said "well I asked if I could have supper". I told her she was lying by omission, because supper has always, for almost a decade, been fruit or toast,as she knows well,and she knew that neither DH or I would have said yes to supper being the third Magnum of the day!

By this point I was annoyed that she'd been sneaky more than I was annoyed at the actual eating of the ice cream, so I made her put the rest of it in the bin. She's now stomped off in a huff.

AIBU? I know it's summer, but as well as the ice cream she's had fries and a Coke on our day out today, plus biscuits when we called to see a relative earlier, and that's on top of egg and toast for breakfast and a huge dinner. She's active and very slim, but that's a huge amount of sugar compared to our usual amount, so that was me relaxing for the summer!

OP posts:
speakout · 22/07/2019 20:44

Sounds like she was hungry.

ReanimatedSGB · 22/07/2019 20:44

The 'obesity crisis' is a bit of a myth. What is unhealthy is setting up all these stupid taboos around food. Making a big deal out of a couple of icecreams is ridiculous, and insisting she throws one away is pointlessly spiteful.

sawyersfishbiscuits · 22/07/2019 20:46

Nope YANBU she was being selfish. I'm sure I would have reacted in the same way or similar. Id also be asking her to buy another box of Magnums, cheeky madam!

IdaMay19 · 22/07/2019 20:46

Ha, if ensuring my 11 year old child learns how to make healthy choices in terms of diet is bullying, then I'll take that. Nobody can just eat whatever they want all the time without endangering their health. We do eat for pleasure - we grow our own food and cook from scratch every night and DD helps. She makes a great chicken and cashew curry.

I made her put it in the bin because I didn't see why she should profit any further from her lie!

OP posts:
Butterymuffin · 22/07/2019 20:46

If she'd been allowed to finish the third one, there's no disincentive to do it again. You did right.

speakout · 22/07/2019 20:48

ReanimatedSGB

Totally agree.
Right now I have supplies of ice cream in my freezer open to all- rarely touched.
I don't paint ice cream as a "treat"- and they don't either.
I fact last Magnums I had to thrw out as they were over 6 months old.

Must be a hungry kid that can eat 3 Magnums.

Brefugee · 22/07/2019 20:50

For me it's more about the fact that a Magnum is a big expensive sort of treat so you don't buy a shedload and not let every family member have one before you start pigging out on them.
Having said that they're revolting and so I don't buy them at all

thentherewascakes · 22/07/2019 20:50

YABU to talk about healthy choices and buy her chips and coke on your day out!

Toast or fruits is not great "supper' either.

Of course 3 magnums is a bit much, but her general diet sounds quite poor anyway.

Allyg1185 · 22/07/2019 20:50

I would have told her to put it in a sandwich bag and put it in the freezer. Then told her that was her treats dones for X amount of days for being sneaky

Teacakeandalatte · 22/07/2019 20:51

Yabu she should have given it here.

Cheeserton · 22/07/2019 20:51

YABU and a bit of a bully

LOOOOL! 'Bully' indeed! Yeah, let's just let our kids stuff their faces with sugar and fat, because otherwise we're 'bullies'...

When you think you've heard it all on here, sure as eggs is eggs another little gem pops up.

IdaMay19 · 22/07/2019 20:51

Speak out are you trying to imply I'm starving my child? Don't be silly. She gets plenty to eat and like I said, she could have had some bloody toast!

The reason she had two Magnums was because she had one earlier and then her brother took a bite of his and decided he didn't want it after all, so she had it too.

OP posts:
AE18 · 22/07/2019 20:52

If she was allowed to take snacks whenever she wanted I would consider it not the end of the world to have 3 as a one off, but YANBU at all given the lying. Magnums come in boxes of 3 and are expensive so eating a third knowing nobody else could have one then is selfish behaviour and she was obviously well aware of that because she did it without asking knowing you would say no. Tbh I probably would have eaten it myself or told her to give it to someone else rather than bin it, to bring home the point that others should get one too, but I wouldn't have let her eat it regardless.

TaxiPlease · 22/07/2019 20:52

Do you monitor her carb untake before she has toast?

It's anything that causes insulin resistance that is the issue.

Carbs are fueling the obesity crises and the record nunber of diabetes cases.

It was overly controling.

I completely agree with Ponoka. Making her bin a Magnum and saying she should have had toast instead makes zero sense!

I also find the moral outrage about the DD's "greed" in previous posts a bit weird and frankly quite unhealthy. Much better to help children understand the health implications of too much sugar rather than trying to shame them for "greed" / overeating.

Lucylou321 · 22/07/2019 20:53

YABU for not eating it yourself! Magnums are expensive and I hate wasting food. YANBU about anything else she sounds greedy and sneaky and I don't know how else you'll get the message across to her.

thentherewascakes · 22/07/2019 20:53

Yeah, let's just let our kids stuff their faces with sugar and fat, because otherwise we're 'bullies'...

WHO's buying the sugar and fat rubbish and has accustomed their kids to eat that?

1CarefulLadyOwner · 22/07/2019 20:54

Tell her how many calories are in a Magnum.

Allyg1185 · 22/07/2019 20:55

thentherewascakes

How can you say her diet is quite poor when the op has only given a small snapshot of what shes had to eat today? How would you know what a normal days food is for her child? You must have seen something in that post that I didn't Hmm

TheRedBarrows · 22/07/2019 20:55

Ugh, 3 Magnums in a day is a huge amount for anyone, let alone an 11 yo.

I would stop keeping ice creams in the freezer.

Or just get the fruit all-ice lollies.

thentherewascakes · 22/07/2019 20:56

4 x Magnum are £3.20 in Tesco, let's stop with the luxury item shall we? Grin

They are by design supersized ice-cream, why on earth would you buy those instead of smaller size ice-cream if you are that concerned about healthy eating?

The message sent to these kids is more than confusing, they haven't got a chance in hell to make sense of it.

speakout · 22/07/2019 20:56

Speak out are you trying to imply I'm starving my child?

You put words into my mouth.

I suggested she was hungry. Which she obvioulsy was.
You are the parent- the adult.
A nutitious meal would have been the better option.
Something under your control.

INeedNewShoes · 22/07/2019 20:57

Wow. A lot of the responses on here are indicative of the obesity issues in this country.

It is never a good idea for anyone to eat three large ice creams in a day, let alone having already had Coke.

OP, I don't know if I would have made her throw the ice cream away as I also want to teach my kids that wasting food isn't ok but I completely agree with you that 3 ice creams in one day is way too much.

I think I'd say that she's eaten three days' worth of ice creams so no more now until Thursday.

EarringsandLipstick · 22/07/2019 20:57

Oh Christ some of the replies on this thread, berating OP & then criticising her allowing her DC toast!

OP YANBU - definitely not. I fully agree, I think you are recognising that DD is having extra treats as it's the holidays but she's pushing the boundaries massively & lying was the last straw.

CookPassBabtridge · 22/07/2019 20:57

I agree with telling her it's not good and she was sneaky etc, so would have said no treats tomorrow or something like that. Throwing good food away is ridiculous.

thentherewascakes · 22/07/2019 20:58

Allyg1185

I repeat, the diet of that child that day is very poor, I am just reading the OP.

2 Magnum, chips and coke, and advised to fill on toasts or fruits ...

I know, I know, it's not coke, bladibla (expect it is, pun intended), for a kid aged 11, it's pretty crap, even if you disagree.

Swipe left for the next trending thread