Is it stealing behaviour?

Personally I think this is normal cheeky child behaviour. 😂 I always used to scoff on the crisps, then my mum would try and hide them because I always ate too many, and I would always search for them lol.

Firstly, stay calm. Finding treats under the bed or in the couch might upset you, but don't let it show. The last thing you want is for your child to associate food and eating with feelings of shame. This is important because research has found that body shame and shame around eating are closely tied to eating disorders. Instead, let your child know what you've found, that you don't want them to feel like they have to sneak food or eat in secrecy, and that you want to talk about it. Then, give your child a chance to speak honestly (without judgment or interruptions) about why they did it.

Some kids start sneaking food because they feel like they aren't getting what they want. Take the power away from snack foods and sweets by incorporating them into regular meals and snacks.

Some parents limit sweets or snack food in an effort to feed their kids the healthiest diet possible. But those good intentions can backfire if your child feels they aren't allowed to have what they want. In some research, children who were restricted from eating certain foods wanted them even more—and ate more of them when given the chance.

Ask yourself the following questions:
* Do you prohibit your child from eating specific foods?
* Do you strictly monitor portions of certain foods?
* Do you label some foods as "bad" or "unhealthy"?

If so, your child may be caught between wanting to please you and wanting to eat those forbidden foods

I did that as a kid. My mom would always eat way more snacks and treats than she would let us have and I was always hungry and being told I had to wait til dinner. My solution as a kid was to sneak into the pantry and raid her chocolates. Maybe keep food you don't want her to eat out of the house and make sure there is plenty of acceptable snacks she is allowed to have. Kids get hungry a lot and often.

My mom would buy sweets but give us some per week and we needed to managed how many we ate, so we made it last. I was also taught to ask for permission before eating something at someone’s else house. When I had sweet cravings I would substitute them with fruits, my mom always had fresh fruit for us because she knew we liked sweet things. Once we found her stash and we took some candy without permission and she punished us and we never did it again. On the other hand my cousin who is younger ( 1 year ) was not taught that and she eventually started stealing things from me (we lived in the same apartment building) like my candies, pencils, clothes, money, etc. Eventually my parents didn’t allowed her in our house anymore and I think she still does steal things (I’m not close to her anymore)

Do you have a history of disordered eating? Or is there a particular reason you’ve been so restrictive with food in your household? Once food becomes “forbidden” or becomes thought of as bad or good that can cause lots of disordered thoughts even in young children. Food is food. Yes, of course some foods are healthier than others. You can teach sometimes vs anytime foods, and that the foods we eat anytime have more vitamins and nutrients than the foods we only eat sometimes. But making things off limits could unfortunately have the opposite effect than you’re trying to create. Making sure our kids have healthy relationships with food is HARD, and I don’t mean it to sound like you don’t have good intentions or anything like that.

From personal experience, the restrictiveness actually led me to end up overeating and buying all these snacks when I got to a school age when I could buy it myself and actually led me to end up being very over weight.
My son eats healthy most of the time so I’m happy to give him some treats because he knows when to stop and limit himself and actually doesn’t over indulge, he absolutely loves chocolate so I buy dark chocolate and he actually eats it makes me feel better cause its much better than regular chocolate.
My sister on the other hand was quite similar to you and limited all snacks, and I have also seem with her the backfire of this, they seem to go crazy and overindulge when they do see it and now they are getting older so can get a hold of these stuff without her.
I would say just try find a balance, offer her lots of fruit and veg through out the day, maybe even making some homemade snacks using healthy ingredients

You've restricted get from having something or told her she can only have as much of it as you say so. You've have literally made all the things you don't want her to have far more exciting by doing so and now she probably wants it more. You've basically made to forbidden fruit. She's a child who probably doesn't yet even understand the concept of stealing and certainly won't understand the consequences. But she knows her mother and knows you won't let her have it so she's trying to hide it from you. I'd be less concerned about the food and more concerned that at 10 years she feels she can't be honest with you. That's sad

Much like these ladies have said, it sounds like she's starting to hide the food she wants because she's not allowed to have them. I did this too as a child and have had issues with self control around them for decades because of it. Not having them in the house is probably the best bet but it's so hard. Good luck mama!

I think all those years of restriction lead to her doing this. Plus also just being a growing kid. All food is ok in moderation. If you buy only healthy options then you can let her eat anything she wants when ever she wants.

You've created an environment where things like crisps are forbidden foods, which would make them want it even more, if you let them have them say once a week or something like that then they are less likely to feel the urge to eat in secret if the opportunity arises

There’s a lot more details into this !
I don’t eat crisps myself so I don’t buy them myself
Whenever she asked me to have crisps I bought them for her (e.g when she go to holiday clubs…etc )
She eats healthy diet … she likes fruits and veggies …
So I don’t understand why she did that especially with crisps cos although I don’t like them and don’t buy them I don’t say no when she asked for
I was allowed to have different kind of foods when I was a kid and was restricted on unhealthy (street snacks which may cause illnesses) yh I did buy them v odd times without telling my mum but never took them from my anyone without permission!!! I never actually took anything from anyone without permission!!
So it’s shocking me ….
I have been a lot relaxed with her about food that last 2 years or so but I just don’t buy sugary stuff as much and whenever I notice she took any I never say anything even though I don’t like the idea of snacking all day or not asking me for permission

The issue is here is that I told her this is not our home or our stuff and she still took them …..
Yh back in the days she treated grandparents house as hers but now it’s different cos it’s my sister now living there and I did explain this to her
Again when I was a kid I never treated anyone’s house as mine including my grandparents house !