I let my kids gorge themselves on Easter chocolate - don't judge me (2025)

It’s Sundaymorning and my two children, Ella, 12, and Leo, 8, are up at the crack of dawn

To them, Easter morning is basically Christmas Day in disguise.

Same chaotic energy. Same wild-eyed excitement. The only real difference? Instead of a pile of presents under a spruce tree, the house looks like the Easter Bunny has exploded.

There’s colourful foil coveredchocolateeggshidden in plant pots, the fruit bowl, and even in their shoes.Andbefore I have even clapped eyes on the kettle, they are on the hunt.

Excited screams of ‘I’ve found another one!’ echo around the living room and kitchen and, before I’ve even managed the first sip of my brew, those shiny wrappersareall over the floor and the kids’ facesaresmeared with chocolate. And you know what? I let it happen.

No rationing, no hiding their loot in a cupboard marked ‘Mummy’s emergency stash’ and no lectures on moderation. I just let them go for it.

And no, I don’t think that makes me a bad parent.

Letting your kids eat all their Easter chocolate in one gomightsit just above feeding them Wotsits for breakfast and just below letting them watch YouTube unsupervised on the parenting scale of shame, but I genuinely don’t care.

This isn’t a new fandangoed way of doing Easter for us. In fact,we’ve been doing this for yearsbecause wewant to teach the kids how to eat intuitively – that food isn’t ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it is just food, not the enemy.

I want them to grow up remembering the treatsrather thanstrict rulesand give them the knowledge and understandingthat one day of eating chocolate won’t undo their balanced lifestyle.

Plus, by doing this, there are no Easter eggs still lurking in the back of a cupboard at Christmasso it’s a win-win all around.

I also want them to remember thejoy and the freedom to just be kidsthat comes as part of this holiday.Nothing says Easter joy quite like your child ‘head down and in’ their bucket and coming across a slug attached to the wrapper of an egg hidden in the garden – no he didn’t eat that one!

But just becauseour house always looks like the Easter Bunny has tripped over their feet mid-delivery and set off a chocolate bombat this time of year,it doesn’t mean we aren’tcareful.

There is no obscenity when it comes to chocolate quantities in our house – have you seen the price of eggs? –just enough to make it fun.

Of course,that doesn’t stopthe ‘sugar police’ (aka, other parents) from looking horrified when Itellthem what Easter looks like for us.

Many of them becomeconcerned about my kids becoming hyper,to which I just laugh.

Like most kids, mineareusuallyfull of excited energy before they even start pumping sugar into their veins,soit’s a given that, once they have free reign over chocolate, they’regoing togo fromzero torunning in circles, giggling uncontrollably and speaking like they are a voice note that has been sped upfive times.

But surely that’s part of the joy of the season? Just let the kids have their fun.

I also like to think that because Ilet them choose how much of their Easter stash they want to eat –instead of tryingto micromanage sugar, snacks and treats, like they are dangerous substances (asso many parentsdo) –I take away the fear andbeliefthat having chocolate is some forbidden item that must be consumed secretly or with guilt.

And you know what?Because of that,after the initial excitement wears off, they usually don’t want to eat it allanyway.

They stop when they feel they have had enough (and no, that isn’t when they have made themselves sick) and they also want to make it last, because they know when it is gone, there will be no more.

Bygiving them the freedom to enjoy chocolate, or any food for that matter, and teaching them to listen to their bodies, means there are no power struggles and it teaches them more about balance than me helicoptering over them.

I get itthatwe all want our kids to be healthy – we’ve all read the reports on how these foods will damage our children,whichmakes us fearful –butone gloriously messy, sugar-filled day won’t mean their world is ending, nor that their teeth will have fallen out by Easter Monday.

There will come a day where the Easter Bunny is no longer, that the egg hunts will be distant memories, and the kids will be hiding eggs for their own children.

So,for now,I intend to fully embrace the chaos and keep saying yes to chocolate for breakfast at Easter and yes to letting the kids be kids, one chocolate handprint on the wall at a time.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk.

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