Au pair eating all the treats...same old, same old

[katieks]

Hi, know this has been posted about before but remind me what is the best way to deal with this?

Am sick and tired of au pair eating only the 'nice' food in house (crisps, chocolates, biscuits, ready meals) when the rest of us only eat these things as treats and then when we want to eat a treat - oh look, all gone, wonder who finished that (again)?!

Either buy more; or assign a kitchen cupboard for your au-pair and put her share of the weekly treats in there.

Goes with the territory. Our old nanny was always on a diet so would refuse to eat anything sensible and then crash and burn and eat all the biscuits. She had a particular penchant for the naice biscuits bought to eat when we had guests.

If you are not prepared to have the conversation that is basically don't be a greedy so and so, then keep a secret stash behind the couscous.

I grew up in a huge family. There was never anything nice left just plain digestives . We had single children to stay over the years on language exchanges etc and they always helped themselves whenever they wanted as they were used to anything in the cupboard being "theirs".

Either way it is irritating to go to the cupboard when you fancy something nice and find that someone has walloped through the lot.

We eventually got around it by saying - this is the shelf for the really good stuff that we keep for guests and special occasions. This is the everyday treat stuff for the whole family. You are welcome to help yourself to this but please bear in mind that this is the weeks supply for everyone.

And lots of people eat crap when they are lonely, tired or a bit down. It might be worth thinking about that if her bin is full of sweet wrappers.

Have some distinctive stickers...buy yourself a few specific treats and put a sticker on them, tell her she is not to eat anything with a sticker on!
I do this with my teenagers who consume EVERYTHING in sight!