Grandma's idea of healthy is bad
Our family moved closer to my husband's side of the family very recently and for the most part it's been great. I always knew my MIL's idea of healthy food wasn't great, but at the very most my two and one year old would have a snack when we were over there, and I was always there to approve and deny what they asked for. Lately she's been offering to help with the kids more and watch them while I do errands or just for fun. Today she watched them while my husband and I went to go get our taxes done, and she was unloading groceries when we get there. Boxes of popsicles, soda, cool whip, party food, juice with added sugar and dyes. My two year old son is getting excited about the popsicles, and my MIL tells me how much she loves popsicles for kids because it's a fun way to get hydrated, and cool whip is a fun healthy treat, and immediately asks if they want some of the juice. They haven't even had supper yet at this point and of course they didn't eat anything good for supper because they were too excited for all the treats she's promised them and I'm trying to intervene before we leave, like "hey let's get you some water or milk" or "you need to eat a good supper before you have popsicles, and you can only have one" which is causing a tantrum from my two year old. She's otherwise great with watching the kids. She has plenty of age appropriate toys, she's respectful when I tell her which shows the kids can and can't watch, she has them play outside and has them clean up their messes and is very calm with them, but the food thing drives me crazy. She has two younger sons only a little older than my kids, and she'll let them eat cool whip and soda for supper every night if they want to, so she thinks that's ok for my kids too. My husband and I have tried talking to her about it, but she comes from a long line of "diet means it's healthy" type people. Would it be mean to pack lunches/suppers for them when they go over? What am I supposed to do when I tell her to give them healthy food and she interprets that as popsicles and juice "because it's fruit!"? I don't mind "spoiling" from grandparents but this is crossing a hard line.