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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Oh No!! DS has rumbled our secret goodie stash!!

43 replies

RGPargy · 09/06/2007 06:50

Dont know if i'm being unreasonable or not, but my DP and I started to keep a little secret stash of goodies in one of the kitchen cupboards that DS never bothered to look in. It's just for things like crisps and biscuits which my DS would other devour, locus stylee.

So this morning I'm up really early (ggrr) and decide to make a cup of tea a have a couple of biscuits, only to discover that - HORROR OF HORRORS - the biscuit stash has seriously gone down since last night and it DEFFO wasn't me or my DP!!

I do feel a bit guilty about having to hide stuff like this, but he is very much the munch monster when it comes to anything nice, including bread, milk, sugar (OMG, i cant believe how much he goes through), squash and cereal. He has 3 sugars in his tea and has his squash really REALLY strong, which hacks me off coz he uses so much of it!!

I know he's got to eat too and is entitled to treats now and then, like us, but am i being a git for hiding stuff from him?

OP posts:
Tortington · 09/06/2007 06:51

yes you are rather.

goodies for all or not at all i say.

belgo · 09/06/2007 06:51

I think you need to find another hiding place and quick!

MaryBS · 09/06/2007 06:53

Actually, no I don't think you're being unreasonable. In my (limited) experience teenagers have a habit of eating everything in sight and then leaving none for anyone else. Its not as if you're denying him goodies completely

I think you're just have to find somewhere else to hide them!

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 07:24

Yes, MaryBS, that's the thing. If i were to just leave them out for everyone, my DP and I wouldn't get a look in. Quite often this is the case for alot of things.

I'm getting a bit fed up with having to hide stuff from him tho, including my showergel and our change jar coz he steals from that too.

It just p*sses me off!

OP posts:
Nbg · 09/06/2007 07:28

So I'm daft to say that he's too old for the stuff to be hidden in a high cupboard?

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 07:30

If i want it to be eaten in a day or two at the most, then no, he's not too old. But sometimes it's nice to have the goodies for longer than a day and actually get to having them myself!

OP posts:
Nbg · 09/06/2007 07:32

hide them in your knicker draw

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 07:33

lol @ Nbg. Wouldn't surprise me if that isn't sacred either!!

OP posts:
Nbg · 09/06/2007 07:34

if there hidden under lacy thongs and an ann summers catalogue, that should scare him off

maveta · 09/06/2007 07:36

Well why hide them, buy a storage box with a big lock and openly tell him it´s for you and dp and why. he already knows you have a (not so) secret stash so be honest about it..?

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 07:40

That's an idea, Maveta.

OP posts:
Nbg · 09/06/2007 07:40

good idea maveta.

That way if he wants something, he's going to have to ask you.

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 09:41

Do you know what, i dont feel guilty at all now. I've just discovered that an unopened pack of gingernuts has been devoured, to leave 4 stale ones at the end of the packet. GGGRRRR!!!!!!!!

I'm just not gonna bother buying them anymore. Sod it.

OP posts:
MaryBS · 09/06/2007 09:46

How did he devour them without opening the packet?

Seriously though, I like the idea of a locked box... unless he finds the key!

hana · 09/06/2007 09:47

but maybe he's just hungry?
I find this bit strange

Nbg · 09/06/2007 09:49

I dont find it strange.
My teenage nephew can easily sit and much his way through a full pack of biscuits, even after a big meal.

Carmenere · 09/06/2007 09:50

Not being bloody unreasonable at all. BUT you do need to teach him not to be greedy and to consider others.
Go ballistic at him for eating the gingernuts. How dare he? Treats are for everyone not just for him to hoover up, if he is hungry make sure you have tons of bread and peanut butter/jam or whatever he eats.
This really hacks me off in my house too tbh. I buy a pack of biscuits and within hours they vanish because dss is greedy. I actually buy flavours I know he doesn't like so that he won't eat them.

That said I think that it is our responsibility to teach teenagers to think about others so instead of working around this problem you should face it and continually chide him until he gets the message.

popsycal · 09/06/2007 09:50

Me too, hana. If I don't want the boys to eat something, I don't buy them.

Can you talk to him and explain that the food is for everyone to share and talk about manners etc, rather than hiding stuff?

I would be annoyed if I found DH had a stash of chocolate somewhere that he was deliberately hiding and would feel obliged to have some. And I am a grown adult, apparently

hana · 09/06/2007 09:54

yeah, I don't have teenagers yet
but if they are hungry, that has to be addressed - I'd say don't buy them and get in some alternatives instead

but don't they have to eat if they are hungry?

PotatoOfDoom · 09/06/2007 09:59

Teenagers are dustbins. They will eat and eat til anything resembling nice food is gone, leaving only the crappest of the crap left.

Carmenere · 09/06/2007 10:04

Well until you have lived with a teenage boy you will have no idea about their capacity for eating. My dss will eat a HUGE piled up plate of carb rich food and then 20 minutes later eat two pieces of bread with peanut butter. A whole pack of biscuits can dissappear in seconds. There is no shortage of food here, there is always plenty for him to eat. It is pure selfish greed that makes him finish all the croissants that we were going to have for breakfast or eat in one go the whole sixpack of crisps I got to last the week. I buy these foods for him too, I just get pissed off when he eats them all in one go

Riss70 · 09/06/2007 10:04

DO NOT hide them to your knicker draw - I tried that one and DS found more than he bargined for and then a couple of weeks later stole the batteries for his remote!!!!!!!!!!!

Original poster
RGPargy · 09/06/2007 10:17

LOL @ Riss!!!!

It's not him being hungry. I always make sure there's plenty of bread, jam and sketti type stuffs for him to eat if he's hungry before i get home from work and cook tea. It is sheer greed and i'm glad i'm not the only one who knows this about teenage boys!!!

He's also a milk magnet. There is now no milk left for anyone because the milk we bought on Thursday night has strangely evaporated. I've had two cups of tea out of it.

OP posts:
3littlefrogs · 09/06/2007 10:20

We are at the stage of 2 dinners , 2 hours apart for the boys. Large plate of pasta at about 5pm when they come in from school/college, then large plate of family dinner at about 7pm. Then further "snack" at about 9pm. Ds2 recently ate all the ingredients for family dinner before I got home from work. I sent him down to the local shop to replace everything. Teenage boys are just constantly ravenous. And I do hide some things - otherwise we would never have any treats - they would just eat everything.

popsycal · 09/06/2007 10:23

mybe i ghave all this to come in ten years....