No food

[cherrychapstickk]

hello,

As the title says really.

My 2 and 3 year old have been taken out for the afternoon by their aunt and uncle.

They ended up having them for around 4 and a half hours, I expected around 2 but they said they got carried away.

Once they'd left 3 year old burst into tears saying she was hungry (they normally have dinner at around 5) and it turns out (i checked with auntie) they've not eaten with them at all.

Had I known they were going to be 4 hours I'd of packed some food but as I didn't know and they got carried away, am I unreasonable for thinking its quite harsh not to offer your young nieces any food?

I cannot imagine having any of their children, especially at such a young age, for that duration of time and covering dinner time and not offering anything to eat whatsoever.

Mine are similar ages (2 and 4) and I wouldn't have offered any food during that time assuming they'd had lunch before we left the house and would be eating dinner when they got home.

Not offering food every 3 hours is neglectful?? Ridiculous 😂 kids don't need to graze constantly.

Ours went longer. And we weren’t neglectful: their growth curves were perfect. My cousins DD is constantly snacking and never eats a full meal. I think it depends on the child. I really think it will have been an innocent mistake.

Good point. Did you pack drinks to take?

guys I've updated already, have already addressed several questions being asked.

everything is all good!

A complete non issue.

Maybe worth a bit of private annoyance, but a thread on Mumsnet?

My mum does this. She never feeds them properly, so doesn't get them anymore.

Neither would I. Drinks are a bit different but ours always had one to hand. But food was a proper square meal, which they are.

I would have assumed they’d eaten lunch by then. Maybe 5.45pm is a little late, but not outrageous.

Out of curiosity I asked DP who is about the least small child savvy person I know.

He would have offered snacks (of a probably inappropriate sugary nature) during that time frame. As would I.

Sorry “ate.” If we let them graze they tended to pick at their meal

I am shocked at pp claiming that they would not have fed their 2 and 3 year old children any snacks in between meals. That is neglect

Of all the offensive, ridiculous tripe I've read on here over the past 20 years, this is right up there with the worst.

Generations of children weren't drip-fed all day. Society is experiencing an obesity crisis, with a dose of Type 2 diabetes for good measure. But people still insist that children need to be brought up with the idea that you spend the day "snacking".

What a pile of complete and utter crap.

To be a bit more polite, I think you will find that "child neglect" is something very different.

Idiots, eh?
Not all children eat like that, no. Yours may have 🤷🏻‍♀️

Preschoolers stomachs are too small to get all their nutritional requirements from only 3 meals a day. That is why they need at least 2 healthy snacks between meals such as fruit. And yes I do think it’s neglect to deny children their basic needs.

When my sister sent her two kids out for the afternoon at that sort of age, she'd always make sure they each took a wheelbarrow with a leg of ham or freshly roasted turkey in it.

There'd usually be very little left by the time they returned.

is anything on AIBU generally a major issue though? or is this actually a talk site for people to have discussions around, well, basically anything.

fantastic idea.

food and exercise in one

I recall taking out granddaughter out when she was about 2 and forgetting to feed her! We found a place eventually but she must have been ravenous.

What, where are you getting this from, your own head?

Children having snacks all the live long day is a fairly recent thing

Should they have probably at least given snacks? Yes.

Depending on the age of the adults, 'snacking' didn't used to be a thing, I recall being astounded at the 'snack drawer'!

I'm surprised they didn't offer the kids something to eat im sure looking at Christmas lights etc they passed food shops i would always get kids a snack if in my company and ask them if they are hungry. I wouldn't expect a 3 year old to tell me my 3 year old doesn't ask and needs prompting a lot. I dont think it was done with bad intent if she doesn't have kids she probably didn't think but definitely she should have offered or at least had snacks with her for them

Neglect!

Lol

Yes our paediatrician was not a fan of snacks as it was harder to regulate the balance. Good square meals with carbs, protein, veg and fruit to follow. Ours did have milk in between sometimes but snacks were only for timetable disrupted emergencies ( and on plane, train or long car trips as much as anything to keep them occupied). Children today are often fed constant snacks for that latter reason, and that is much closer to child neglect. They aren’t babies.

Only on Mumsnet is it considered normal to make very young children wait 5 hours between meals (with no refreshments). 😂
It's not.
Are these the parents that wash their bed sheets daily and eek a chicken out to feed their family for a week.

Generations of children weren't drip-fed all day. Society is experiencing an obesity crisis, with a dose of Type 2 diabetes for good measure. But people still insist that children need to be brought up with the idea that you spend the day "snacking".

I've been surprised that parents collecting their child from school would have a mini-picnic for their child, surely they would be having their evening meal shortly after getting home.
Rather than being neglect to not feed a child with constant snacks I would suggest it's neglect to stuff a child with snacks all day.

I think if you don’t have kids, then you’d possibly assume that they would ask if they were hungry? And adults usually wouldn’t consider 1.45 - 5.45 to be over any meal times.

This! When I was a young auntie, I was always surprised at how often I had to feed the little blighters when I took them out - far more often than I would have thought of eating.