She ate all the biscuits

[Imissmusic]

I got a pack of chocolate chip cookies for today after dinner for everyone to have a few-Dd has a balanced diet but we don’t have a dessert or biscuits, crisps etc every night or in the house that often-more on weekends or if we bake something.
I hid the rest of the biscuits away for another day.
I went to have a shower, when Dd came up to bed, she told me she looked everywhere for them, found them and ate them.

Would you be cross? She’s 7

I would be cross at her eating them all. I would teach her that she has now deprived the rest of the family of them, and that is not fair.

If she wants to scoff her share, go ahead, but it will mean she has no more if she wants some tomorrow or the next day. My son used to do this until he realised if he eats all his share in the first day, he gets no more for the rest of the week until I shop again. He has to sit there and watch others eat theirs and miss out. He has gotten much better.

Three cookies for a seven year old is more than enough. One or two would be a decent portion size for a seven year old, surely? I don’t understand how you can say that’s being tight with food. I think it’s a generous amount.

No, not a joke.

She was eating spoonfuls of sugar neat from the packet!

As responsible parents it was our job to stop her doing that, and the locked cupboard was , sadly, the only way we could stop her harmful behaviour (and yes, we tried everything else, first)

When we took the padlocks off, she just went back to doing it again, even though she was 7, 8, 9, 10...

I have always been chill with my kids about food as I cook from scratch most days and taught them about healthy eating. However we do have crisps and chocolate in the house freely available and the dc don’t even crave it as it’s there for them. By making such a big deal of cookies and treats you are making it into a “thing”. My oldest dd has gone to uni as she’s started to eat even healthier and cleaner off her own back as good foundations were set for healthy eating but a Macdonalds isn’t frowned upon either, everything in moderation and educating kids to make healthy choices much better than taking choices away and not having treats. It doesn’t need to be expensive but it’s nice to have at home. I feel sorry for your dd tbh.

This thread all of a sudden reminded me of a long-ago experience I had.
It was my turn to live in our great-grandparent’s home out on the ranch.
A new man came to work on the ranch - to be the #1 helper, irrigator, tractor operator, et. al., and he and his family moved in to the home we had for them.
I thought it would be nice to welcome them, so I stopped by a bakery and bought the most beautiful strawberry pie you’ve ever seen - it was piled extra extra extra high with whole strawberries, held together with that gooey clear stuff - my apologies, I’m not a strawberry expert. But it was a masterpiece, right out of a painting.
I walked it the short way to their new home and was greeted warmly by the wife.
I was graciously invited in, so of course I accepted. She was the nicest, most bubbly person!
And seated at their kitchen table was an extremely obese little girl. And I DO MEAN OBESE.
She was 5 years old and had to weigh as much as I did and do - 120 pounds or 8.57 stone. Her eyes were little slits and even her forehead had fat. Her arms had roll after roll, as did her neck.
I immediately regretted that beautiful pie, that I was adding to that sweet girl’s obesity.
I was stunned.
She broke my heart.
I remember it was 4pm, because the kind woman said she was just pulling her granddaughter’s “snack” out of the oven.
If was an ENTIRE COOKIE SHEET of chicken nuggets (probably 30, which I’m sure are twice as big as the ones you can get in your supermarkets in Britain.
Snack. Before supper.
I completely overhauled my housewarming gifts from that day forward.
I still feel guilty when I think about it - that child probably never stood a chance.
I hope she’s okay.

Don’t be angry, but do have a conversation about taking things that aren’t hers. She seems to have known they weren’t hers and she took them anyway. Good time to start learning that that’s not okay.

Na, they re just taking the opportunity to criticise the op and be smug. There's a lot of that on this site

I was going to say this. Biscuit makers have entire teams of food scientists precisely engineering their recipes to make them delicious enough for you to want more but not so rich you feel the need to stop. It has a name but I've forgotten it.

I remember trying swiping food and getting a bollocking for it on the grounds that they were expensive and intended for the whole family. And that taking things without permission was dishonest

I feel like people suggesting syndromes etc are over complaining the issue - biscuits are just delicious.

Dear God, This warrants a whole post? So she ate a few biscuits. Sounds like she's on a tight lead and this is her rebelling. She's 7 for goodness sake. Lighten up.

Is this a serious reply?

This was going to be my question! Children heading for a growth spurt get very hungry - and will often head for easy calories because that's what their bodies need most.

It's obviously better to fill this need with a nutrient-rich diet. Small kids have small stomachs, so in-between meals can be a useful solution.

Many children grow 'out' before they grow 'up', too, so it's good to hear she's already slim and fit - she's got room to expand both ways as needed.

I don't think you have a big problem here, but 7 is old enough to start self-monitoring: learning to distinguish between needing (am I genuinely hungry?) and wanting (do I just fancy the flavour?)

If it's wanting, it can be helpful to remind yourself the next one will taste just the same, so why not take more time to savour this one. I'm very keen on the idea of a snack box for each child once a week. If she eats them all, so what? She'll find out whether she prefers one blowout and six no-biscuit days or a self-regulated, steady supply.

I agree she should be told not to forage for the biscuits, with good reasons. I disagree with those advocating puishment.

Because she's only 7 and junk food like Maryland cookies are designed to be overeaten. It's really not that deep.

When I was a child I did something similar. I ate all my mums mints when she went to the kitchen. I was 6. My mum was very sweet to me as a child but that day she really told me off and I didn’t do it again.
My daughter did it too when she was quite young. She’s 15 now and still does things like this. E.g I bought a pack of those delicious LU buttery biscuits and I went down the road. She ate them all with no remorse. I think it’s best to deal with it asap. I wish I had

Honestly, try to not make a fuss about food, being 'greedy' or whatever. My lovely mum was quite controlling around food, she meant well, but my brother and I both ended up with eating disorders.

So much magical thinking on this thread.

Balanced diet = a packet of biscuits in each hand.

I think I’d be telling her that it’s not acceptable behaviour to take all the food and that you would have minded if she had one or 2. I’d sell it on the not being polite/ anntisocial angle rather than ‘she’s a gannet angle. Also she needs to know there is some sort of consequence if she does it again.

Oh check out Little Ms Perfect.

A packet of cookies has maybe ten or twelve in. Op said they all had some, she must've hidden the packet away with four to six cookies in it.
This whole thread is mental.

But why is food being hidden ? Also how does she have free access to be able to get to the food, what was your husband doing to not see her searching high and low for food and then eating them all. My kids have never needed to get to the biscuits so much they have scoffed the lot. It’s almost like a fear she will never get them again so eating them as quickly as possible.

A 7 year old should know eating the whole oack of biscuits is selfish and greedy

She didn't eat the whole pack, she ate the remains of the pack. And she confessed at bedtime.

I think it depends a lot on what's normal in your household. Does she have free rein to help herself to a snack when she's hungry unless she's been told it's off limits (meant for a special occasion, etc.), or is she limited to certain types of snacks, supposed to ask, etc? You say in a follow-up that she knew they were put away for tomorrow/another day and for other people to have. If you're sure she understood that, then her behaviour was perhaps understandable but still wrong. Only you can really know if she needs reprimanded or just reminded about sharing, etc.

Honestly, though - whether or not I'd ever show it to a 7yo - anyone in the household habitually going and searching for things they know have been put away for another day and then eating the lot would irritate the hell out of me. I would have to figure out a way to calmly explain that it's selfish and unfair to others (especially if there are other children in the house) and makes more work for you if something you were counting on is suddenly all gone.

Just do we are clear, are you saying that a therapist would say that eating disorders are caused by:

• Not having unlimited quantities of UPF snacks in the house at all times?
• Not permitting your 7 yo child to eat whole packets of food in one go?
• A combination of the above?

She told youI which is good, it's normal for people to like snacks, especially children. I would try not to be strict with treats or food or make a thing of it. In future, maybe put half the packet on a small plate to make them look more and hide the packet well Don't make a thing of it because it could trigger an issue with food etc. As long as her diet is healthy a few treats won't do any harm.