No decent parent wants to feel like they’re depriving their child. Why would they? But sometimes, it’s difficult to know the line between discipline and deprivation.

Like in this story, when a mom is at her wit’s end with her daughter’s unhealthy eating patterns. It’s just overeating… it’s binging on things like coffee and baby food.

Let’s see what’s up with this lockdown…

WIBTA if I put a lock on my fridge and freezer at night?

32F. I truly just need some outside perspective here because while on one hand I feel like a giant POS for even considering it, on the other hand I am just entirely fed up and don’t know what else to do.

I want my kids to be able to eat if they are legitimately hungry but that doesn’t appear to be the case here and I guess I just need validation or a swift kick in the bum.

Classic inquiry for the AITA community. Let’s get the details…

Basically, my 13yo daughter has been waiting until after I go to sleep and:

• Drinking ALL my iced coffee and creamer (she asks me every single day if she can have some and I tell her no, so she’s deliberately being sneaky)
• Going through literal bags of freezer pops (and leaves the evidence in her trash can)
• And generally just eating the things that she knows she isn’t supposed to (like the snacks I make for the baby, who is on a specific allergy diet)

OK, so not great. That seems like a health concern, for sure. What else has mom tried to address this?

When I confront her on it, she doubles down and blames my 8yo son who is on doctor prescribed sleeping meds and is out cold at night – to a point of still needing to wear pull-ups because he doesn’t even wake up to pee.

Not to mention my husband has caught her sneaking into the fridge several times.

Alright so she’s been caught cold-handed. Will she cop to it?

For the past 2 weeks, she has been staying awake until 3am-5am binge eating/drinking all this stuff so when he pulls in from work between those hours he has seen it.

But she still denies it.

I have exhausted myself trying to talk to her about it honestly and it’s even more exhausting having her lie to my face.

Yeah, what a tough call. What’s a mom to do?

If she was genuinely hungry that would be one thing but that’s not the case here.

Eating 20+ freezer pops, drinking iced coffee or eating 10+ bite size baby food that I spent hours making – when there is a pantry full of snacks – just screams defiance more than hunger.

Because she’s only touching the stuff I have already told her not to touch.

Seems purposefully defiant, but what’s the underlying issue here?

I talked to my husband about wanting to put a lock on the fridge and freezer at night so she can’t get in there anymore past the time that she is meant to be sleeping.

(Her bedtime is 11 during the summer and she has faked sleep multiple times, just to get up and start moving around not even 20 minutes after I go in to check on her).

He is on the fence about it, just like I am.

Sure, what a difficult position. But what else should she do?

Much like me, he doesn’t want the kids to not be able to access the food if they are legitimately hungry. But as I said, that’s not the case I don’t think.

All the food is left untouched outside of things she knows she isn’t supposed to have.

WIBTA?

This is a tricky situation. What’s best for the daughter’s wellbeing?

Let’s see what the comments think.

This person says, the daughter is being deliberate.

Another person says, change the way you stock the fridge?

Another poster seconds the idea about what to have on hand.

Someone else says lock the fridge but don’t stop there.

This person says the locks are just a temporary solution.

Is locking down the fridge a stone cold move?

Sometimes you have to go to extremes with teenagers.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.