Disgusted by excessive Xmas treats!

[PinkPomeranian]

My kids are doing a final clear up before going back to school tomorrow, and 8yo trotted off to fetch her Xmas sweet haul which she had forgotten about and therefore barely touched.

Seeing it all laid out I am absolutely astounded by the amount of chocolate/sweets she has accumulated. (Even more horrified to realise that 5yo currently has a pile half this size despite receiving the same stuff as her elder sister!) This is over the last month alone. She also has two large tins full of the sweets she's been given at parties and Hallowe'en etc. I don't think our friends or family are particularly big on sweets so guess lots of little or one-off things have just accumulated.

AIBU to be a bit taken aback by the amount she's received? And what do other people do with it all? I don't think she'll get through it all but seems a waste to bin it.

She won't get through it before when?

DS had maybe 5 selection boxes, plus sweets. My 2 year olds had the same 😂. All gets emptied into one box and we do treats from it. There's no massive rush. If it lasts too Easter, so be it. There was Easter choc til Christmas. No one binged on it. No one is obese (well I am but I didn't eat his chocolate).

To me the bigger issue is then having a private haul hidden away, not that their treats will last them a few months.

One chocolate bar per weekend day and one small choc after dinner in the week isn't going to make her fat, toothless or greedy.

Melt the Santa's (and DSs) down and make cornflake cakes for everyone.

Ration the rest and encourage them to share with others

Put it in tv and eat over next few weeks/months. Foodbank. Cooking eg Santa could be Easter choc crispy cakes.

Tv = tin!

at eating the chocolate santa in the bath

That sounds like an ideal afternoon

Sign up to Olio and give it away. Apologies if it's already been said.

It's not even that much!!

You cant work out what to do with it all??

1 they eat it
2 you eat it
3 add it to things like chocolate cake, home made ice cream. then eat it
4 donate it to a food bank

Its not a challenging problem.

Looks like nothing compared to the mountain DS received from friends and family this year and he's not even 3 yet. I've already asked more times than I can count for people not to buy it for him, so what I generally do these days is just keep a small quantity of the better quality sweets/chocolate for weekend treats and donate the rest to a food bank.

Op do you have an issue with food or an eating disorder. Or did you start this for a laugh? I don’t think anyone can understand the use of such hyperbole for a few sweet treats.

My 2 year old has had significantly more than that. I am eating my way though it - it's obviously my duty as a responsible parent to make sure it doesn't end up in her tummy.
I did 32 kinda treat bars this weekend alone. It's such a hardship. Chocolate fingers next. I can do a box in an afternoon with some effort.

She's definitely allowed to work her way through it, but she thinks it's too much for her
Ah ok, knew it would either be competitive undereating or a stealth boast. Let me guess 🙄 She prefers carrots & houmous or sushi

@Brieandcamembert

That doesn't seem a huge amount tbh! Surely she can have it over a couple of weeks.

I'm desperately hoping no child ways that many sweets and chocolates in a few weeks. Months maybe. I actually do think it's an awful lot of sugar.

I really don't think giving it as a dessert sets up healthy eating practices either. I always realise on here how skewed the UK attitude is to feeding children junk foods.

Desperately hoping?

Did you attend the same drama school as the OP by any chance?

You write as if you have no responsibility for your DC.

We have absolutely loads of sweets around from Christmas. What will happen is, they'll slowly be consumed over the next few months, some will be put away in a cupboard so I don't have to look at them, and eventually forgotten about/ binned.

I am probably going to bring some in and leave them in the staff room at work tbh

Why does an 8 year old think that’s too much to eat over the space of a YEAR?! Do you really mean YOU think it’s too much?

I’m with other posters and I don’t think that looks like too much. Most of the chocolate items are 1-2 servings (bar the big Santa) and the sweets are individually portioned. Spaced out a few times a week that would be gone by end of March. Stop being so dramatic.

She's definitely allowed to work her way through it, but she thinks it's too much for her
Tell her she has months to eat it and it's OK to share. So if she opens the PIGS on Saturday she shares with you and Daddy. When Granny visits get the big box of sweets out (likely to have a longer date).

I do think it's odd to buy an 8 yo a large tub of sweets for herself, to me that's a family tub to share.

So she has a little when she wants (without any messages from you or Dad about weight, unhealthy eating etc) and reevaluate what's left before Easter.

If you swap eggs with lots of people from school fro example suggest something different like all going out somewhere fun?

OP- it sounds like your DD doesn't have a concept of keeping the treats and eating them gradually over a period of time. Maybe you could try to teach her how that works because there really is is no such thing 'too much for her' unless she's eating it over a short period.

It's just like a bottle of gin- you don't drink it all in one go!

@Megan2018

My 2 year old has had significantly more than that. I am eating my way though it - it's obviously my duty as a responsible parent to make sure it doesn't end up in her tummy. I did 32 kinda treat bars this weekend alone. It's such a hardship. Chocolate fingers next. I can do a box in an afternoon with some effort.

You're an inspirational parent Megan. You should do a blog. How I ate my child's way to a healthy adulthood.

What a shame Santa didn’t bring you a grip for Christmas. You need to get one.

Mine received a lot more chocolates and sweets than that and have nearly scoffed the lot already! Actually I ate most of the toddlers.

I just showed my 8 yr old. "I could work with that." 😂

You know the Santa’s are hollow yes?

Buy some crisps op, if she really can’t get through it she needs extra training, tell her to alternate chocolate with crisps, clears the palate nicely I find .
It really isn’t much at all! If it was my kid I’d feel offended .

It's just like a bottle of gin- you don't drink it all in one go!

Ha, yes! “I’ve been given a bottle of gin for Christmas but it’s just excessive as I only drink one G&T at a time!! I’m horrified anyone thought to give me so much excess and I just don’t know what to do with it”

Take it all to your local food bank and stop being so bloody dramatic. Much better to find the sweetie haul uneaten than a shitload of empty wrappers and a hugely obese child.

I don't look on that as a big haul.

But I'll tell you something. If you make a fuss about it, or throw/give some away she'll know next time to wolf it all as soon as she gets it.