I gave a toddler a donut and it ruined the next 3 days

"I figured that there was a very weak chance he'd rat me out to my sugar-wary sister, and more importantly, I'd be a total hero in his eyes. How wrong was I."

It's an unspoken rule of life that when a new child comes into the family, said child is treated like a king or queen, no matter what the parents say.

Sure, this may cause some tensions between generations, but I always asserted it was my primary right as an aunt to do this, when our family welcomed the first grandchild/nephew.

With this disrespectful attitude, it should come as no surprise that I received much backlash on one especially rebellious decision I made about the adorable creature who made me an aunt; yet I nevertheless felt that the consequences of the choice were not as dire as my sister made them to be.

Until I had my own child, that is.

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So much sugar, so little time. Source: iStock

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"Who was I to trample his dream?"

One afternoon, when I had my delicious three-year-old nephew all to myself after collecting him from daycare, I took him to the local bakery for a treat.

I was thinking something like a smiley-face biscuit, but this kid was instantly drawn to a mini chocolate donut glistening in the fluorescent light.

Who was I to trample his dreams? 

I quickly figured that there was a very weak chance he'd rat me out to my sugar-wary sister (again, note, I had not had a child of my own at this time), and more importantly, I'd be a total hero in his eyes.

And so, the doughnut was bought and scoffed in 60 seconds.

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"I was betrayed"

Of course, I had yet to learn of the bond between mother and child, where the child delights in being allowed to do something forbidden when they're on another person's watch.

And so, they squeal.

I was betrayed, dobbed on, whatever you call it, by that adorable three-year-old, the second my sister came home from work.

"Mummy, I hate a chockly donut," he announced gleefully.

Despite the cute stuff up in his reporting, he had snitched, and I knew exactly what the consequences would be. I was rendered paralysed by shock and my sister's death stare, so I wasn't able to defend myself or quickly attempt a lie... or even casually say, "Yeah, I hate a choc donut too, mate."

It would have been alright if that was the end of it, but the worst, and least expected, was yet to come.

"The last three days were your fault"

I got the f**k out of there as soon as possible... and it was 72 hours before I finally heard from my sister.

"We haven't had sleep for three days and it's all your fault," she began when I answered her call.

"He didn't eat dinner that night because of the donut. He was HIGH AS A KITE all evening. Then we woke up three times overnight because he was hungry. Then he vomited. Then he slept all day because he was exhausted. Then he wouldn't sleep that night.

"And that repeated for another two days and IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT."

In my defence, I just thought a 'little treat' wouldn't harm my nephew. Little did I know that there would be half a week of consequences.

And so I thought my sister was being a tad dramatic.

Then, I had my own child, and I learnt a significant rule of parenting: NEVER MESS WITH ANOTHER PARENT'S ROUTINE BECAUSE SLEEP FOR EVERYONE IS EVERYTHING.

And you'll be held responsible for the fallout for years to come.

So, a doughnut is MUCH more powerful than it seems to appear. 

Learn from the error of my ways, my friends.

This article was originally published in April 2023 and was updated in January 2024. 

Originally published as I gave a toddler a donut and it ruined the next 3 days