‘Granny’s fed her biscuits from 10 months!’

Laura Adams, 33, is a sales executive who lives in Orpington, Kent, with her husband and their daughter, Eadie, two. Her mother is Sue Williams, 57, who works for a motor company, is single and also lives in Orpington.

Laura says: Mum’s nonchalent approach to eadie’s food has caused tension over the past two years. i thought she’d support my desire to raise her on a healthy, balanced diet with occasional treats. But almost from the moment i weaned her, Mum has been spoiling eadie with naughty treats, giving her biscuits from the age of 10 months. Now, when eadie sets eyes on Granny, she makes a beeline for her handbag, knowing she’ll find something sweet inside.

when Mum has her to stay, i’ll pack a tub of pasta and vegetables for eadie’s tea and give strict instructions that she must only drink water, no juice, and that there are to be no sweets before bedtime. But within hours there’ll be a text from Mum with pictures of eadie merrily drinking juice and eating jelly babies, or devouring pizza and crisps. it’s very frustrating, but when i confront her she just shrugs and says, ‘that’s what grannies are for!’

of course, when i try to give eadie fruit, she says, ‘No! Biscuit!’ it’s ironic because when my brother and i were kids, Mum insisted that we ate every morsel on our plates before being allowed a pudding and we certainly weren’t given treats before going off to bed.

But i must admit, my grandparents would spoil us rotten when we went to stay, giving us chocolate and horlicks at bedtime, and we would always wake to find sweeties at the bottom of our beds. i can’t deny i love those memories of my grandparents. Maybe that is what grannies are for!

‘Within hours there’ll be a text from Mum with pictures of Eadie eating jelly babies’