Easter over indulgence

[briecranberry]

Anyone dreading Easter?

Im trying to heal my bad habits and be a good influence on my small child and set a good example

But thinking about Easter, im already wound up by the sheer volume of chocolate everyone will give my small 5 year old

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, her father.

Mounds and mounds of sugary crap wrapped in colourful foil

Why does everyone like feeding kids so much?

We get loads here too but as long as they're given in moderation I see no issue with it at all.

Sometimes we've used the chocolate to make crispy cakes and gave them out to grandparents etc too.

Food bank. Dc can know some dc didn't get any eggs... Sharing and all that.

Food bank is a good idea

I get this! The constant stream of junk food stresses me out! We still have our Halloween supply come Christmas; then our Christmas supply lasts til Easter; and Easter supply lasts pretty much til Halloween. Throw in some birthdays and it is ridiculous.

Ration it out. A small bit every couple of days

There isn't actually all that much chocolate on an egg these days.

Using it baking is a good idea too.

I tend to put the extra eggs away in the cupboard (DC mainly like looking for the eggs in the garden more than eating them) and then use the chocolate throughout the year for baking/to make hot chocolate.

Easter eggs are mainly packaging. Don’t let your own issues affect your child.

My mum used to eat all my eggs and I was only left with the sweets inside. I was 13 when I found out 🤣

There won’t be much chocolate. After a week or so I break up the remaining chocolate into a food bag for easy storage and use it for treats and baking.

Can you ask them to get her something else instead? My DD has a Yoto so in the past have suggested they could get her a card for that instead of an egg if they want to or nothing of course, my mum sometimes knits her a spring jumper or similar. We're on holiday this Easter so will avoid it all anyway. My only advice is don't just throw them in the bin DSS's mum used to do this in her frustration about the amount her kids got and they would be really upset about it. Food bank is a.good idea if you have the child's consent I think.

Food bank is the answer to all of those issues. No need to hang on to sweets for months.

We allow a bit of excess on the day itself, sane with Christmas and birthdays. Then it’s all put together and rationed out when they would usually get treats/used for baking and shared out.

Im not keen on donating themed treats to the food bank after the event, it feels off to me. I do however donate a few Easter eggs prior to Easter/selection boxes prior to Christmas etc.

No, we don’t hold onto them, we do eat them, it just takes time - my daughter is only 7 and would be upset about us getting rid of her “gifts”

We do donate to the food bank, but not our children’s gifts.

Well quite! That's what I'm trying to do

You sound like fun

My in laws love buying sweets. Even for xmas and birthdays they wrap up packets of sweets and chocolate as well as gifts

I don't understand why they think this is a suitable gift. Its like quantity is their goal

@Andanotherone01

Brilliant. Thanks

Just melt it into a rocky road and chill out. Fucking hell

No you aren’t. The angst you’re feeling over this is due to your issues with food.

No problem. I was going to say more but I think @smashinggrapes has nailed it 🙄🙄

You might want to rethink that. Allowing your child to hoard sweets for months sounds like setting her up for issues.

DD will end up getting loads, but she’ll share it with us and it ends up lasting ages. Most v young children are actually pretty self regulating with stuff like chocolate, I’ve never known her to actually eat that much of it in one go. Food banks is also a great idea, I’ll suggest we donate some there too, she’s got into charity stuff during Lent.

This.

I just let the gorge themselves on chocolate for a week. It's a week a year. They still eat fruit and veg. I think you are massively overthinking this and likely to pass your own food issues.
I come from a family of slim healthy exercise lovers. We all just let our children enjoy their sweets and chocolate and once it's gone that's it.

How does a well stocked sweet cupboard cause issues? She asks for a sweet/piece of chocolate and gets one, provided it’s an appropriate time. Sometimes multiple times a day, sometimes not for several days on end. What issue could this cause?