Kids eat free discrimination

FFS. They're not doing it because they want to give the kid a free meal. They're doing it because they want the adult to pay for a meal. So she should think of it more in terms of, 'if these bloody kids brought an adult apiece, they'd eat for nothing. They're just not trying, are they? Slackers!'

Of course it’s not discrimination. I’ve taken friends kids out to these things before and bought adult meals for the bigger ones and got a couple of free meals for the little ones

No one should be expecting multiple free kids’ meals at restaurants, whether their circumstances changed or not.

Of course it’s not discriminatory. No cafe/restaurant is obliged to offer discounted kids meals; no one is obliged to eat out; “number of children” is not a protected characteristic.

It came up on my suggested threads on the right hand bar of the page. If Mum's Net didn't want people posting on it, then they wouldn't put it as a suggested thread for me to engage in!

Why have you resurrected a thread from February to say this?

You are not being unreasonable.

Restaurants are out to make money, they won't do that giving all of their food away for free of charge.

As long as the terms and conditions are being adhered to, there's no discrimination there.

Parents should ensure they are financially capable of supporting their children.

I know! I thought all of those things when I posted it. When they had that, it caused fussing. I mean, someone complaining because they had to pay 79 cents when their friend only had to pay 72 cents was fun to watch. LOVED going there!

And the MN voices and tsks of disapproval when they read that my 4-year-old ate a whole steak dinner there, with salad, potato and vegetable; giving me ONE bite in all, would be fun to read. He truly hated the children's menu because there was no salad and just "yucky" choices. (And he was a stringbean to boot). That night, I had ordered a spinach salad, figuring I would be eating a third or least a quarter of his meal. It was okay though, I had a PBJ sandwich when we got home. 😆😎😇

Can you imagine the AIBU thread if a restaurant did that nowadays? 😄

Fatshaming allegations, competitive undereating stories with a DC who weighs 10 stone but eats like a fly paying more than a 5 stone DC who eats like a gannet, how to split the bill if two families have DC of differing weights, teeny-tiny adults who weigh less than the average DC arguing they too should pay by weight ...

It would tick so many Mumsnet boxes!

I believe you because I can remember a restaurant that used to have you pay what your child weighed for their meal. Some parents were thrilled and some would get outraged at having to pay $1 for their child's meal. Not sure when they stopped it, but my second born never got that advantage. But then, that child was eating adult meals by three, because they didn't like anything on the kid's menu.

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I would love to say that the greed of some people is shocking. But it isn't.

If you can't afford to pay for your kid's meals, stay the hell home.

Is it advertised as an all-you-can-eat buffet, though?

Is that for guests who pay to stay there and is part of the hotel rate? Often they have a beefeater attached and is charged to the room for any thing extra.

The premier inn all kids eat free all the time. And I have seen grown adults loading their plates and going 2 or 3 times to the buffet that's what it's there for

I thought moaning was one of our 'british values'

People always find something to moan about.

Well now, there's a whole discussion to be had about that and not just in relation to meal deals in restaurants!

Why on earth do so many parents think feeing their children is anyone's responsibility but their own?

My point was that the leaflet I was printing out was being touted as for people who are struggling to feed their children during the holidays. It was being sent round by various organisations, including the local council and various charities not as a "isn't this a nice offer" but as a "for those who can't afford to feed their children during the holidays/struggling with the cost of living".

The thing is, there's varying degrees of struggling to feed your children. And there are varying degrees of 'not able to afford...'

If someone is going stir crazy in the four walls of their house with one child then actually a trip to the park followed by a kids eat free/for £1 might make a difference to them.

Maybe they could stretch to a meal for themselves and a free meal for their child if they were doing something nice and it got them out of the house for a bit. It won't make a difference to those parents who can't afford to leave the house but itight to someone who can afford to do something just not very much

I know that local schools sometimes signpost parents to these things not because they're saying that local.businesses will foot the bill for feeding families in extreme poverty but because they are saying for those of you who are watching the pennies, you might find something here of use or interest to you.

I’d be interested to know exactly what “organisations” (do you mean official council departments?) were advising those who couldn’t afford to feed their children that the way forward was to eat out at restaurants 🤔

All you mentioned in your first post was ‘kids eat free this half term’. Nothing about ‘for those of you struggling’, you’ve just added that now. Have you got a copy of this leaflet that you could post? because I’d love to see how it really comes across.

Massive supermarket chains like Asda will justify £1 children’s meals as a loss leader to increase footfall and therefore sales generally. They will have done their research and know that it makes them more money in the long run. But a restaurant is as unlikely to give away free food as a clothes shop is to give away free clothes.

You sound very naive.

Edit: was supposed to quote @MargaretThursday

You have missed the point spectacularly.

My point was that the leaflet I was printing out was being touted as for people who are struggling to feed their children during the holidays. It was being sent round by various organisations, including the local council and various charities not as a "isn't this a nice offer" but as a "for those who can't afford to feed their children during the holidays/struggling with the cost of living".

The title was not "Special offers for half term", which is what it was but something along the lines of "For those of you struggling at half term" which implied it would be helpful to people who were short of food/money. The council sent it to the local foodbank and suggested they put it in their food parcels (for families) to go out the week before. That's how the leaflet was portrayed.

One of them (Asda if I remember rightly) had a children's hot meal for £1 no strings attached, which probably was worth it for saving money (as long as you didn't have to pay getting there).

I don't blame the companies for the special offers. I do blame whoever put the leaflet together and didn't actually think it through.

Yep! People happy to scream it's 'discrimination' or 'it's not fair' to get what they want ... when they're the ones being ridiculously entitled and unreasonable.

No, it doesn't.

The half term deals are for a parent trying to keep their kids entertained over the half terms. Both parents don't usually take the week off to do so. (If they do, it's likely about taking a holiday, so different scenario entirely.)

So 1 adult gets 1 free kid's meal.

2 adults get 2 free kid's meals

3 adults get 3 free kid's meals.

And so on.

It's not discrimination to say that families with X children only get free meals based on the number of adult meals being purchased at the table. it just isn't. That's the 'deal' on offer.

It’s a business offering. My husband took our two children out without me to pizza express this week. He got one kid free and was quite happy about it. If it was unlimited kids people would take the piss and have one adult with a ton of children. It’s an incentive to try and get people into the branch so adults spend on drinks.