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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Easter eggs- how would you react

456 replies

Oilpyi · 04/04/2021 10:02

Asking for perspective, neither DH or I grew up with Easter Eggs or much in the way of things- it already seems indulgent, but I’m aware our perspective isn’t always the norm with the world the kids grow up in. That’s why I’m asking...

We’ve had a crazy amount of eggs this year. DH as a key worker was gifted a very generous pile. I got some through volunteering, kids got some from family and from clubs. I was planning to give some away as it seemed so many. They’d weren’t little or cheap either, ones with Lindt bunnies in, London, fancy M&S stuff etc plus some smaller ones with mugs. Not little eggs.

The ones from work etc were in a stack on a sideboard, along with some boxes of chocolate where they’d been for days. A box or two was open and we’d been sharing them already. Neither of us eat much chocolate ourselves and we generally have no issue with the kids slowly eating their way through it, which is what we normally do with gifted chocolate. Open one at a time/ one each at a time and let them eat.

This morning I had left the eggs from family on an armchair and said ‘Easter bunny’s been’ and left the kids while I showered. Fine them opening and eating.

When I came down they’d collected all the eggs and chocolate boxes from both rooms and had opened the lot, a huge pile of ripped boxes obviously frantically opened. They’d then made a pile each of eggs and chocolate sharing it out. Rubbish from boxes everywhere and they’d opened chocolate each and already the carpet was covered in chocolate bits (whilst I’m not Usually precious it was an instant Hoover need or they’d be chocolate stains over a wide area). The floor was a sea of boxes.

It just looked so wasteful they’d rip in like that, so presumptuous we’d not want any given to us (we normally eat a little of what we get ourselves, but not much) and just so expectant they could do it without even asking. I felt sick walking in and seeing such an expensive pile of chocolate just all opened and piled up carelessly- it was more that than either adult wanting any. It seemed so spoilt. No concept of any value or appreciation of it.

The kids are a range of primary ages from the oldest to the youngest spanning yr 1-6. I’m generally a bit irritated anyway with the older ones being messy and lazy and everything being a fight.

So- how would you react?
Say it’s Easter- enjoy and have fun
Or yes, that’s overly wasteful and spoilt behaviour.

OP posts:
RevolvingPivot · 04/04/2021 10:26

Maybe because you don't usually let them have lots of chocolate they were excited.

You left a one year old alone near chocolate. They weren't to know.

dementedma · 04/04/2021 10:26

Well, I'm with the OP. The older ones certainly knew the pile in the other room wasnt theirs. I'd have been pretty pissed off.

Tals812 · 04/04/2021 10:26

Let it go, enjoy Easter. They'll remember it as their best Easter ever. Then going forward, set rules of how you want things done. No point crying over cracked eggs. Easter Smile

CustardyCreams · 04/04/2021 10:26

Just let them enjoy it. As long as they say thank you for the eggs and don’t eat the whole lot in one sitting.

RevolvingPivot · 04/04/2021 10:27

Ok year 1 that's still 5/6 years old.

selflove · 04/04/2021 10:28

Sometimes my kids (2, 4, & 6) are wonderful and make sensible choices and are respectful, and other times they would have done exactly what yours did this morning. Sometimes kids get over excited and carried away, it happens. I wouldn't punish or be cross. I'd just say "gosh what a waste, now it's all open most of it will end up in the bin, if you'd have kept some closed we could have had a movie night next weekend with it", and they'd probably be more sensible next time. It's Easter, it's been a rubbish year, I'd let this one go.

Oilpyi · 04/04/2021 10:28

@Magnificentmug12 you are wilfully and deliberately misunderstanding and creating an entirely new narrative. The other eggs I’ve said they’ve seen coming from work and being plonked on the side, and we’ve spoken about how much dads been given. It’s not a ‘surprise’ to see them in the same place as they’ve been appeared all week.

Also you may do a hunt, I never have. Lots of people ever have. They were not expecting a hunt this year when they’ve never done one.

OP posts:
CricketClub · 04/04/2021 10:28

[quote Oilpyi]@Emmacb82 I guess that sums it up for me, I always could have parented better. Every action I do could be better, especially with hindsight. Yes I could have also laid down a load of rules like ‘don’t open the work ones‘, ‘open one each’ etc. I just expected better. I expected them to follow the usual patterns. I expected them to think a bit.

I guess I just feel a bit let down in how they acted and generally frustrated. I’m really tired at the moment that they need constantly telling to do everything from picking up wrappers they’d used to doing work. This feels like part of that and it’s doing my head in![/quote]
Please don’t worry. I get your frustration.

It’s done now so re-establish boundaries.
Each child has a pile so line the eggs up or give them each a bag to put them in and limit what they take throughout the day.

Damage limitation to stop them from scoffing the lot within the hour!

Flowers FlowersFlowers

SmidgenofaPigeon · 04/04/2021 10:28

‘Kids need supervising’
A year six child should not need that much supervising at all! That’s ridiculous.

They do often need a clear instruction and lots of reminders. But you don’t actually have to eyeball them while they do it Confused

Oilpyi · 04/04/2021 10:29

Year one, not 1. Year six to year one in age, 4 of them.

OP posts:
Oilpyi · 04/04/2021 10:29

So aged 11 to 6

OP posts:
islockdownoveryet · 04/04/2021 10:30

@Oilpyi

Those who say ‘kids need supervising’, do you honestly never leave a year 6 child to have a shower? How do you manage? Do you sit them in sight if you cook? Take them in the garden in you hang the washing out? They are all ks1 and ks2 children, not toddlers.
They’ll be fine of course but a big pile of chocolate and they made a mess . Yes I’d be annoyed but it’s your own fault for leaving all the chocolate out .
MarthaJonesPhone · 04/04/2021 10:32

Its appalling behaviour. They are old enough to know what they did was wrong.

I think I would take all the chocolate away, letting them have some when I decided.

I'd also give them a massive telling off, I would tell them I was disgusted by their behaviour and that they wouldn't be getting any Easter eggs next year.

I really don't think its funny as other posters have said. I just find it incredibly entitled.

CricketClub · 04/04/2021 10:32

I would also get each child to take some of the chocolate out of ‘their pile’ and decide it between you and your DH (stealing chocolate is not ok! 🤣)

selflove · 04/04/2021 10:32

And although the biggest one might have known the pile of eggs in the other room wasn't explicitly "for them", if they'd been having bits through the week already, and it wasn't stated those eggs were out of bounds, I can see how they ripped open their own eggs in excitement to make a big pile then all it takes is for one child to say "LETS GET ALL THE EGGS AND MAKE IT EVEN BIGGER" then bam it happens. Even a 10/11yr old would get carried away in the excitement. Probably if the year 6 one was alone in the room, he/she wouldn't have done it alone. But four kids of similar ages is just too much fun, and sometimes they get carried away. I always think that sort of chaos is part of the loveliness of big families, and the excitement of four kids and a ginormous chocolate pile is something they'll remember for a while.

Magnificentmug12 · 04/04/2021 10:32

Yes but 11 years old is not a adult is it, and shouldn’t be responsible for the other siblings. If you can’t manage it, (leaving them to go and have a shower), how is a 11 year old supposed to manage it?

11 years old is still a child and still has the possibility to get over excited at Easter when chocolate is around.

Your looking at this from a adults point of view, they are children, are you really saying you lack the ability to see this from someone else’s point of view? I would understand that from a child, say...11 years old.....but not a adult. Adults should be able to see both sides.

It’s done now so don’t worry, get off mumsnet and go and enjoy your Easter, this thread will just wind you up and put you in a bad mood so just leave it be and go have some fun

FloraFauna27 · 04/04/2021 10:33

OP I totally agree with you.

They are more than old enough to know they shouldn’t have done that, and I dislike greediness in children. I can’t believe the amount of posters telling you that you are wrong.

SHE DID NOT LEAVE THE OTHER EGGS IN THE ROOM. THEY DELIBERATELY SOUGHT THEM OUT.

My daughter is 6 and I would not be happy with this behaviour.

LostInABlizzard · 04/04/2021 10:35

I too think your message was unclear, but it's a shame they haven't learned self-restraint.

Hopefully this will be a lesson for them that you can have too much of a good thing.

PerspicaciousGreen · 04/04/2021 10:35

Can I ask, have you asked them what they were thinking? Not in a yelling way, in a sitting them down and looking them in the eye and asking them what they thought they were doing way?

I had some weird thought processes at that age and it'd be good to know what theirs was.

TeeBee · 04/04/2021 10:35

If in five years, you can look back at the situation and laugh, it's not important enough to get worked up about now. I don't think it'll turn them into serial killers. They made a mistake. Get them to help tidy up and next time hide the ones that you don't want them to eat. Happy Easter.

Emeraldshamrock · 04/04/2021 10:35

It is overly wasteful IMO the chocolate tastes off if out of the foil for long.
We've opened 2 each.

SmidgenofaPigeon · 04/04/2021 10:35

All I can think is some of these posters are going to be raising some very entitled and over-indulged children.

VodkaSlimline · 04/04/2021 10:36

I would be annoyed by the greed and mess too but at least they were sharing the chocolate out equally! Had they allocated any to you and DH though? If not I'd take the whole lot back and reserve the nicest bits for yourself Grin I think the family eggs were fair game but the ones from the sideboard should have been left - maybe that wasn't made clear to them though.

Without wanting to sound horribly worthy, if next year this egg surfeit happens again and you know before Easter that you will have far more eggs than family members, choosing some to donate to the food bank would be a good message for the children.

Torple · 04/04/2021 10:36

In our house, the Easter bunny leaves a trail of little eggs to find and a bigger egg (or this year a bag of M and Ms because I couldn’t find any eggs).
If my kids hear “the Easter bunny’s been” they would assume that all eggs had been left by the bunny, not only certain ones.

Any eggs we don’t want them to have we keep out of sight, to avoid confusion.

It sounds like they misunderstood, not that they were being deliberately greedy to me.

Ginmakesitallok · 04/04/2021 10:37

Wouldn't bother me. It's Easter, they are children.

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