2 year old eats all her advent chocolate, teach her a lesson or not?

[snoopy5386]

My two daughters, ages 6 and 2, have chocolate advent calendars, the kind where you open a door each night and eat one piece of chocolate. We had been leaving them on the kitchen table and my 2 year old has been great about not touching them until this morning when she ate 10 chocolates in 10 minutes. So here is the dilemma, do I teach her a lesson and let her watch her sister eat a chocolate every night while she has none? Or do I replace her calendar and let her continue her advent fun and chalk this up to a parental oops for leaving the chocolate in her reach?

I'm really on the fence about this one, if she were 3 or older I would have no problem teaching her a lesson, but she is just 2 and she really doesn't seem to get it. She knows she has done something wrong and that she wasn't supposed to eat the chocolate, but she doesn't seem to get that she doesn't have an advent calendar now.

WWYD?

 

[DisneyLvr55]

Its your fault for leaving it within her reach. Shes a baby for goodness sakes.

 

[Allison]

Don't use an advent calendar to teach a lesson to a 2 year old.

 

[lan3]

I would buy her a new one and keep it out of her reach. I think two year olds are too young to be expected to leave chocolate alone and eat one per day. My 5 year old ate an extra day this year. I would not punish her by making her see her sibling eat chocolate. She is too young for that.

 

[angelmom27]

I would just say parental oops for leaving it down and replace the chocolate. Of course now I think mommy will put it up where they can't reach it again just in case. Lol. I would be on the fence too cause I would want to teach her a lesson but knowing my 23 month old she wouldn't understand and it would just cause a meltdown and drive mommy insane. Although you could kind of teach her a lesson. Don't put the chocolate in the calender. Then when she opens her you can remind her why but tell her if she would like a piece of chocolate you have one here for her. That way she gets what she did and knows that when we take the chocolate out its not there anymore.

 

[scottish mum]

I think at 2 she is too young to understand fully so i would buy her a new one and keep it out of reach of her.

If she were older then yes I would teach her a lesson but she is still just a babe

 

[Eliza32]

I don't think two years old is too young to learn about consequences. I like the idea of the PP to have her open the calendar each day and find no chocolate, but give her something by hand - maybe ask her each day why there is nothing there to reiterate the message. Once she has caught up, no problem!!!

 

[FigmentFinder]

My DD is almost 2. I wouldn't blame her for eating something that was in her reach. She wouldn't get the concept yet of one per day for Advent.

Unless you want to deal with meltdowns for the next 2 weeks, I would buy a new advent calendar.

 

[snoopy5386]

OP here, my gut (and my husband) say to replace it, but a couple of friends I talked to said not to, made me feel like a bad mom for thinking about replacing it. Hence the question here. She'll be getting a new one this afternoon.

 

[disney is my life]

In my family my mom usually buys 2 advent calenders in late November. My 6 year old sister usually eats most of it before advent even starts. A couple days after advent start grocery stores will have them 50% off and my mom usually buys 4 more. We bought them yeasterday on sale for $0.44 . I would just say buy them both a new one because if you only buy the younger one a new one then the older one will wonder why her sister got a whole new one because she didn't follow the rules. I would also put them out of reach this time

 

[snoopy5386]

In my family my mom usually buys 2 advent calenders in late November. My 6 year old sister usually eats most of it before advent even starts. A couple days after advent start grocery stores will have them 50% off and my mom usually buys 4 more. We bought them yeasterday on sale for $0.44 . I would just say buy them both a new one because if you only buy the younger one a new one then the older one will wonder why her sister got a whole new one because she didn't follow the rules. I would also put them out of reach this time

She won't be getting a whole new one, DH and I will take care of eating the first 10 days worth of chocolate

And they are on top of the fridge now

 

[dmdelight]

glad it' s all resolved now.

when my ds was younger, he was over at a friend's,and his mom had left several bars of chocolate on the bench.
too much temptation for the 2 little boys- and they were all devoured- their answer was, well it was there!!

 

[Missy13d69]

OP here, my gut (and my husband) say to replace it, but a couple of friends I talked to said not to, made me feel like a bad mom for thinking about replacing it. Hence the question here. She'll be getting a new one this afternoon.

I have a feeling that your friends would replace it if they were in the position. A two year old is not going to learn anything from the experience if you try to "teach a lesson" she's just going to be sad that she didn't get any candy every day. The lesson that needed to be learned, was learned. You learned not to leave chocolate down around a 2 year old! LOL. Don't feel bad though. I learned the same thing this morning. I left my Merci on the night stand last night and my 2 and 3 year olds found it this morning. Now I'm down 4 pieces. It really sucks to watch kids gobble fine chocolate like it's Hershey's, not savoring it at all...

 

[mm1971]

That's why we got lego calendars, they don't taste very good.

For a two year old, I would just explain the situation and maybe give her some other treat on the days the chocolate has been eaten already. Maybe a different type of treat or a couple crackers or something. I would not replace the chocolates as those were eaten and I think she can understand it, but not necessary understand the "fairness" of not getting something. Just a thought. My overall feeling is that it is the Christmas season. What would Santa do? He would find a way to make DD learn about advent without punishing her for her misstep.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

She won't be getting a whole new one, DH and I will take care of eating the first 10 days worth of chocolate

And they are on top of the fridge now

I would do the same thing with my two year old. He's too young to get the concept of "only open one a day!", and he wouldn't understand the punishment for a crime that happened days earlier. It would be a big melt down every day for the next 10 days, and he wouldn't even understand the lesson he was supposed to learn.

Enjoy your chocolate, and Merry Christmas!

 

[NotUrsula]

Let her have her 10 chocolate quota, but give your older one some kind of extra treat as well; she may feel that baby or not, it's unfair that her younger sister is getting to get extra treats after misbehaving. (The treat doesn't have to be food; you could take her on a special outing.)

As for overdoing candy, unfortunately 10 small pieces isn't really enough to learn that lesson: but trust me, half a basket of Easter chocolate is. DD did that when she was 3, and she will never do it again. She got seriously sick to her stomach from eating too many sweets too fast.

 

[Elleshoodat]

My two daughters, ages 6 and 2, have chocolate advent calendars, the kind where you open a door each night and eat one piece of chocolate. We had been leaving them on the kitchen table and my 2 year old has been great about not touching them until this morning when she ate 10 chocolates in 10 minutes. So here is the dilemma, do I teach her a lesson and let her watch her sister eat a chocolate every night while she has none? Or do I replace her calendar and let her continue her advent fun and chalk this up to a parental oops for leaving the chocolate in her reach?

I'm really on the fence about this one, if she were 3 or older I would have no problem teaching her a lesson, but she is just 2 and she really doesn't seem to get it. She knows she has done something wrong and that she wasn't supposed to eat the chocolate, but she doesn't seem to get that she doesn't have an advent calendar now.

WWYD?

I agree with it being a "parental oops;" I don't feel comfortable withholding from our 2-year-old DS to teach him a lesson.

We only have DS (no older sibling), so we keep his Advent calendar out of his reach. He is funny with his chocolates, though -- he gets all excited about it, unwraps it and then leaves it around the house for us to find. Sigh.

 

[Schmeck]

When exactly do you all expect a child to learn consequences? Does it magically just appear with your kids? Both of my daughters knew about consequences by the age of two. Mommy says no, and you do it anyways, consequences.

 

[DisneyLvr55]

When exactly do you all expect a child to learn consequences? Does it magically just appear with your kids? Both of my daughters knew about consequences by the age of two. Mommy says no, and you do it anyways, consequences.

I don't believe in hand holding to much - I think kids should learn consequences. However, the kid is just 2. Do you really think that, for 10 days in a row, her standing there, watching her big sister get a piece of chocolate, while she gets nothing, is going to do anything but make her think Mommys is mean? After the first day or two, the kid isn't even going to remember WHY Mommy is doing this. A little older, then yes, I would with hold some of the chocolates, but still, I wouldn't do it for the 10 days.
IMO this is a parenting mistake, not the childs.

I didn't punish my dog when she ate the chocolates off the kitchen table - And she was 11 years old at the time!


I have children too, two daughters. The dog example is the only one I could think of because I guess I learned my lesson with her!

 

[Marionnette]

I don't think two years old is too young to learn about consequences. I like the idea of the PP to have her open the calendar each day and find no chocolate, but give her something by hand - maybe ask her each day why there is nothing there to reiterate the message. Once she has caught up, no problem!!!

IMO, two is not too young to learn about consequences. But considering that Christmas is still two weeks away, that is an awfully long time to expect a 2 yo to handle the consequences of a misdeed. At her age, discipline has to be quick and meaningful. I would never expect a child that young to comprehend why she is being punished today for something she did last week.