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

Yes, I would be cross. At that age my DC asked before taking a snack, they didn't just help themselves. At 7yo she should know she isn't allowed to eat them all.

Yes it’s this that i’m not happy with, not really the biscuits itself, although it’s not great

Posters are getting really hung up on the “treat” angle here but the fact they are biscuits isn’t the point at all really is it. I’d be cross if my 6 year old ate all the bananas without asking.

So yes, I’d be very cross.

You would be very very angry. Really? With a 7yo for eating a few biscuits. Wow.
I would absolutely talk to her about not eating them all, and asking if she has wanted more. If they have been put away she shouldn't be hunting for them and she needs to understand that.

She probably came to tell me as she knew she shouldn’t have. I don’t know…is it so strange for a child to want to eat chocolate chip biscuits and to be massively tempted? Probably not

She does sound quite driven by her sweet tooth/stomach op. Children like biscuits, but the habitual hunting and then the entire packet sounds to me as though there may be some background issue. Impossible to guess what from what we know on here.

I probably would try not to be cross but that's not to say I'm certain there is nothing to be concerned about.

We don’t label them treats

But how big was this packet? Was it a few? Or really quite a few ...

Just wait until she puts the packet back empty. That moment of thinking there’s a treat to be had and the disappointment to find the empty packet NOT IN THE BIN.

believe me, not being told is more infuriating

I’ve know a few kids who demolish all the sugar they can get hold of when their parents aren’t watching. It’s usually the ones with the strictest parents who don’t allow it at home!

Is it really that deep 😬 I mean she’s 7 and loves chocolate and sweets. I hate sweets now but remember overdosing on chocolate mice at a party once

The biscuits weren't left out, OP said she hid them away. DD said she looked everywhere until she found them... she knew she wasn't supposed to eat any more.

... very very angry over a few biscuits?!

Bloody hell, what are you going to do when your child actually does something dreadful?

Why was DH not stopping her searching for and eating said biscuits?!?!

This thread made me chuckle - I have a 4 year old who has started just going into the cupboard and helping herself to chocolate, biscuits, sweets etc. so now we hide them too! It's nothing to do with limiting those things making them more desirable , she's just an absolute sweet monster and she'd eat chocolate all day if she could! She recently took a full Lindt chocolate bunny from my bedroom, ate the whole thing and hid the wrapper. I was livid!!

I do like the cereal box hiding place. Good thinking!

I wouldn't be cross she ate them, but I'd be cross she didn't ask first - that is, if usually she knows she should ask?

I would have done that. My mum once bought a box of crisps and I ate them all in a few days. I have eaten whole cakes and a row of Easter eggs in a day. I am unattractively greedy and love food in a weird way. I don’t wish to head to an early grave so I generally eat well but this means I just don’t buy the bad stuff. If I think I have matured and buy some choc and crisps I just eat them straight away. I didn’t grow up around any weird food stuff. I have never been very overweight. My siblings are not the same (and as children saved their sweets!) it’s very uncool but I do think some of us are just greedy food lovers with a lack of self restraint. It doesn’t have to be a complicated thing at all! I wouldn’t punish though I mean it’s not something anyone is sympathetic to but it is clearly harder for some of us to say no!

I come from a family of 6, we were the same as your daughter. If you didn't eat your share straight away, someone else would.

She just sounds like she loves treats and she's 7. Pretty normal? Even sneaking around is kinda normal for some cheeky souls, as long as she grows out of them and sneaking and stealing the treats isn't rewarded I can't see the issue? She will learn.

But I put the rest of them away so we could have another day and not in one go. She’d had loads after dinner already

I really hope me stashing them like this won’t create eating issues, do I just not buy them again. I do feel worried now on the right thing to do 😔 The last thing I want is to create issues around food

If there is food in this house it’s purchased for everyone. Specific items for a specific dish can be irritating but if they don’t know then it’s not their fault.

If your child ignored all made “proper” food in lieu of biscuits - yes be cross and the shouldn’t be an alternative. An active, growing child who has had a full
meal but wants a treat after? And let’s face it there are minimal biscuits in a pack - still not a problem.

an overweight, inactive child who is healthily fed but gorges constantly on sweets/crisps/biscuits with no notion of nutrition - there is an argument to not have temptation in the house for any family members

At least you had normal siblings not the weird I will eat half and put half in a jar type!

I would expect a 7yo to understand that some food was specifically being saved for tomorrow. If I say to my 4yo, we’ll have half today and half tomorrow he would accept that and not go rifling through the cupboard to eat tomorrow’s portion. So the disregard for your decision about when the biscuits are to be eaten is not good.

The second thing is whether this is food specific - is she generally good at following rules but is specifically unable to with food?

Hopefully it’s just that. I just never think to specifically get a dessert for every night, we just have as and when. I feel like she probably has a balance of enough as it is

I wouldn't be cross. I would probably ask her to let me know if she wants more of anything so we can discuss it, and would probably also reflect on whether it's possible her diet is more restricted than it needs to be when it comes to sweet food.

It is if course totally possible that she just fancied those cookies in the moment, or wanted to test a boundary. But I would consider that in a few years she will be able to buy food independently of you, so trying to build a positive relationship with all food, and not just healthy food, is important. It's not an easy thing to achieve, but the fact she came and told you what she did and didn't hide it feels like a really good sign.

Lol, that's true, half in a jar would've been pinched by a sibling..

But, they weren't entirely normal, there'd be a rush to put in a licked finger in the biggest slice of birthday cake for example, so nobody else would want it. Gross now I look back.

No instead ... You buy them rarely and hide remaining ones for some reason, making them more coveted and special to the point that a small child will actively hunt for them if she knows they're around... It doesn't seem quite like right approach...

We have 3 open packs of biscuits at the moment, DD6 occasionally helps herself if she wants one.