I know I shouldn't be ungrateful...

CleoKitty

A friend of the family offered to have my MIL and my kids come over today so that they could decorate cookies with her children and her grandchildren. I dropped them off around 11:30 this morning and picked them up again at 5:30.

The kids had a blast but when I got there they were really starting to get cranky. Got them into the car and they both absolutely broke down.  My MIL started getting really snappy too. They were all complaining of being starved.

Turns out they hadn't been given anything to eat all day except for some of the cookies they decorated. I'm grateful that this person thought of my family and invited them over, but at the same time for crying out loud- why invite someone over for the ENTIRE day and not feed them- especially when you're talking about two very young children and a diabetic half-senile elderly woman?! 

MIL's behavior is suggesting low blood-sugar and the kids were hysterical that they were going to be sick, that their stomachs hurt, etc. Ended up being a going-to-the-drive-thru kind of night for us all. My two year old, who normally eats like a bird, ate two entire Arby's roast beef sandwiches in under five minutes. Poor girl was about to start digesting her own stomach!

RoRed5

Wow, cookie decorating fail.  That would really upset me.  I don't know if I'd bring it up, but I'd surely never let my kids and MIL spend the day there again!

Zenya

woah that is completely weird.

does this person have kids? an eating disorder?

JOEBunny

I would just send stuff if I ever did that again.  I would not send my kids on something like that for 6 hours.  It would be too much for them.  My kids are picky and get special stuff to make sure the get what they need, so I have to do that most of the time anyway. 

CleoKitty

Zenya:

does this person have kids? an eating disorder?

Adult children. Lots of grandkids who were also there. I think they were all just so focused on making cookies that no one thought of any additional food...? I was told that my dd ate an entire bowl of icing though...that would explain the I'm-gonna-puke-if-I-don't-eat-right-now feeling when we picked her up. 

Anyhow, next time I know to slip a couple yogurts or a sunbutter sandwich into their backpack for times like these just in case. 

A total sidenote, but this person and her husband are both smokers. Although neither of them smoked around the kids today their house still had a strong odor and the kids came home stinking.  Their clothes, their backpack, their coats, hats, etc are all going to need to be washed.

But, FWIW, this person had sweet intentions. She knows that my kids don't have involved grandparents and invited them over for time with her family. And, she invited just them over so that dh and I could have some time to ourselves.  Dh and I used the time to get some work done at home that would've taken three times as long if the kids had been here.

lsufan

That was really sweet of her to invite them over.  Maybe she thought they had eaten lunch already?  Oh well, lesson learned.  Pack a lunch next time.  

Zenya

totally weird and ew about the smoke!

michaeltrish

Sorry, but I would be pissed.  Seriously pissed.

**sunny**

if they are older and smokers, I guess I can see how they weren't hungry themselves. my grandparents typically don't each much and my grandmother who smokes eats very, very little.

of course, it was lacking in common sense for them not to consider the fact that their guests might be starving, especially when the one kid ate a bowl of icing. 

nice of them to try to help and yeah, next time you'll know to take food for the kids if someone offers to watch them for a long time. just one of those things you don't always think of until after the fact.

ew about the smoke smell. I generally try to avoid those situations, but we only see my grandmother once a year and we have to fly to visit the family, so I suck it up and visit her house but try to let DD play outside on her lawn most of the time to minimize the exposure. she doesn't smoke while DD is there, but the tar is coated on the walls practically since grandmother has been in that house so long. 

AggieCouple

I'd be a little annoyed, too.  But I guess, I might have broached the topic when I dropped them off.  Before I had kids, I had no idea they snacked at all, much less so much.  And not having had young kids for a while, I can see why they may have not thought about it.  When I leave my kids with my older nieces or my brother who doesn't have kids, I give very explicit instructions.