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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To refuse to give DD's friend another choice

113 replies

Sparkler · 03/08/2009 12:41

I'm looking after a friend's children today. I've just made them some lunch, sandwiches etc, and offered them the choice of which crisps they wanted. Two minutes later one of friend's dds (who is almost 10) tells me that she doesn't like her crisps as they were too salty for her and could she swap them. I told her that she did have a choice which ones she wanted and that because she had opened them she should eat them up (nasty witch Sparkler alert lmao)
Next thing she comes into the kitchen and tells me that she had put them out on the bird table and could she have another packet.
AIBU for telling her that she couldn't have any more and that she'd had her choice and she shouldn't have wasted them like that?
Oh dear - I'm so glad I don't have four girls of my own

OP posts:
LadyGlencoraPalliser · 03/08/2009 12:44

YANBU, and anyway surely crisps aren't very good for birds - all that salt?

HappyMummyOfOne · 03/08/2009 12:45

I'd have swapped them once for another flavour if she had tried them and they were too salty - she may not have known how salty they were before actually trying them.

At least the fed the birds rather than the bin Do birds eat crisps?

Original poster
Sparkler · 03/08/2009 12:46

I hate to see food waste, especially this week as it's pay day Friday and we are living off what is already in the cupboards so not much to spare. LOL never though about the health of the birds - birds round here will eat anything going!!!

OP posts:
bigchris · 03/08/2009 12:47

aw i'd have givenher another packet
she is a guest even if she is an annoying one

hambler · 03/08/2009 12:47

yanbu

MamaLazarou · 03/08/2009 12:48

YANBU - spoiled brat. Take the crisps off the bird table!!

ZacharyQuack · 03/08/2009 12:48

I would have given her another pack and eaten the first pack myself mmmmmmmm chippies

Original poster
Sparkler · 03/08/2009 12:50

LOL - such mixed reactions

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 03/08/2009 12:52

You shouldn't feed salty food to birds - I didn't realise that till recently DH told me not to put out bacon rinds.

I don't think I'd have let the child have another choice if she'd decided she just didn't like the flavour, but as salt really isn't good for people either, and some crisps are agressively salty, I think I would have read the label and then let her choose again but only from anything which was significantly lower sodium (if you had any such).

pania · 03/08/2009 12:53

Maybe they actually were too salty though. I had a packet like that once.

GoldenSnitch · 03/08/2009 12:54

I would have said give her another packet right up until she put them on the birdtable after you'd told her she should eat them.

She's obviously done that so you couldn't insist she eats them which makes her a bit kineiving and not deserving of another pack IMO

hippipotamiHasLost54lbs · 03/08/2009 12:56

I would have given her another packet - she was actually making a healthy choice by not eating a packet that are too salty.

And the birdtable thing - maybe that is what they do at home?

HuwEdwards · 03/08/2009 12:56

salty? Surely that's what crisps are, a 'salty snack'.

Sit her down and give her a crash course on snacks and their relative categories.

hippipotamiHasLost54lbs · 03/08/2009 12:58

Ah but some brands are saltier than others, in fact I find some unbearably salty.

MrsBadger · 03/08/2009 13:06

yanbu for not giving her another packet
sanbu for not wanting them though
she will not die from crisp deficiency

fwiw we have 'special crisps' for dd ie salt & shake with the blue packet removed and now finds normal ones too salty. Maybe her parents practice a similar dodge?

MissSunny · 03/08/2009 13:06

Message withdrawn

oldraver · 03/08/2009 13:07

I might of originally given her another pack but going behing your back and disposing of them and trying to force you to give her some more is bratty and she's playing you

Tell her you dont have enough to last the week

fishie · 03/08/2009 13:09

i think we need to know more about the crisps. what flavours were on offer? brand?

what sort of birds?

terramum · 03/08/2009 13:11

I'd have offered another packet & re-sealed the opened one with one of these:

www.lakeland.co.uk/klippits/F/keyword/clipit/product/2893

No wasted food and everyone is happy!

thedolly · 03/08/2009 13:13

The mistake you made was offering a choice in the first place.

crokky · 03/08/2009 13:37

Was going to say the same as terramum. The resealed crisps would be absolutely fine to eat at another time. No food wasted and no money wasted.

Even if you think the child is a brat (which I don't know, mine aren't that old yet), I don't think you taking a stand against her on a one off occasion is going to change anything.

nappyaddict · 03/08/2009 13:40

I would have given another packet. Perhaps she'd never had those type of crisps before so didn't realise she wouldn't like the flavour she chose. And I would never insist a child ate food they didn't like. How would you like to be forced to eat something you didn't like?

Oliveoil · 03/08/2009 13:45

you are analysing crisps????

just fold over the packet she didn't want and put it in the cupboard and get another flavour out

no biggy

I do alternative meals though for my guests if they are fussy (we are talking 5/6/7 yrs) no point them getting stressed over bolog if they will eat a cheese sandwich imo

carocaro · 03/08/2009 13:52

No not at all!

After many play dates over the years, my friends children get what they are given, unless they have a specific allergy or soemthing.

One boy said his pizza was not crispy enough in the middle and refused to eat it!

crokky · 03/08/2009 13:57

PMSL at the pizza not being crispy enough!!

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