Woman blasts 'greedy' stepdaughter, 7, for eating too much fruit

A woman has caused a stir online after she branded her stepdaughter as "greedy," as she believes the youngster is eating too much fruit.

In a post on Mumsnet's "Am I being unreasonable?" forum, where she shared her dilemma concerning the seven-year-old daughter's appetite for fruit.

To begin she detailed the family dynamic as context for the story, as she wrote: "My stepdaughter, seven, moved in with us full-time back in January. Our situation is that I am a higher earner and breadwinner on mat leave with my five-month-old baby."

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"My husband does some part-time work that doesn't bring in much (he runs our family vehicle and contributes towards household costs such as shopping etc)."

She added: "My stepdaughter's mother does not contribute towards her expenses while she is living here (indefinitely for now)."

The woman then got straight to the centre of the quandary.

"At the moment, we are on a tight budget due to my mat[ernity] leave - and one thing driving me crazy is my stepdaughter eating all our fruit.

For a weekly shop, the woman listed what she typically buys for the family: " two bunches of bananas, few punnets of berries, peaches, melon, grapes, tangerines, etc."

The stepmother believes her stepdaughter is eating too much fruit. iStockphoto by Getty Images

But she noted that the problem his that her step-daughter "will eat her way through the lot in two days."

"For example, yesterday she ate a punnet and a half of raspberries, three peaches, four tangerines, some grapes, a slice of melon, and two bananas. This is on a school day (so she eats this at breakfast and in the evening).

"She is then obviously reluctant to finish a proper evening meal or try anything she dislikes. She also has had a couple of accidents with loose stools (in my opinion this is from bingeing on fruit). She takes it from the fridge without asking and leaves nothing for my husband and I."

Even though she brought these concerns to her husband, he didn't think it was a problem.

"I've spoken to my husband about this and he says she is a growing child and at least fruit is good for her - fair enough I buy fruit partly for her to eat, but the amount seems greedy to me, and beyond what is necessary for a healthy child.

"I think reasonable is a small bowl of berries and grapes along with a tangerine and banana after school as a snack and then one piece for dessert. She can also have melon and banana for breakfast along with cereal and yoghurt.

"I want her to learn that food costs money, we don't have a bottomless pit of it and you don't just gorge on whatever you want because you are bored/tired/didn't eat your dinner, you ration portions in a family so everyone gets a fair share, and sometimes eat less tasty things to maintain a healthy diet."

The woman also explained how they "provide substantial breakfast, lunch, and dinner portions, and I try to accommodate her tastes (though she can't just have fish fingers and strawberries as a diet, which would be her preference)."

In conclusion, the woman asked the Mumsnet community for advice: "Want to handle this in a compassionate way, would I be unreasonable to stop buying fruit until my husband agrees to a sensible ration for my stepdaughter?"

Since writing the post, the woman has received a range of different answers,

One person said: "Maybe she’s thirsty or vitamin deficient? Try getting her to increase her water and offer a vitamin- then ration."

"Unpleasant to call a 7 year old eating fruit "greedy," another person wrote: "But it's reasonable to expect her to eat her evening meal before snacking her way through fruit."

Someone else added: "Not unreasonable at all. That's a ridiculous amount of fruit to be eating in one day, and as you say, never mind the cost, she is going to end up making herself ill."

"This makes me feel quite sad. It sounds like she's having some issues, bless her. And it also makes me sad that you resent her for it," a fourth person commented.

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