To take DD 5 to McDonald's every other weekend?

She'd think I was a terrible mum. Mine have macdonalds once a week...this week they've had two.

have fun, eat the chips, make the memories

Not a reflection on the OP, a general observation, this comment sums up a lot of the replies and attitudes on this thread and is one of the many factors explaining why many children today are overweight.

You asked.

She’s learning that unhealthy junk food is a reward and something to relish, at age 5. She’s developing a taste for fatty salty sugary processed food. Associating it with good times.

I like McDonald’s chips myself and could happily eat them several times a week instead of the 2-3 occasions per year I allow myself. One has to make these things the exception, not the rule.

Honestly, it's chips and an ice cream, it is by far not a big deal. Just take her and enjoy it

But no one has said it’s worse than crack, that was hyperbole added in, alongside the lentils and kale hilarity, to deliberately exaggerate to insult the dissenting voices.
I didn’t call the op a bad parent, and have missed it if someone else did.
the second part of your post is your opinion which is entirely valid as your own opinion. Equally valid is all the peoples opinion who do think it creates a junk habit. People are allowed different opinions to you.

I SO wish the 'gluten free' thing was true. Unlike vegetarianism, it definitely isn't a life style choice. For coeliacs it usually means months or years of nasty gastric symptoms (one of my brothers was hospitalised before being diagnosed as he was so ill). It means a blood test now, followed by an Endoscopy and the only treatment is a totally gluten free diet for life. Accidentally being given full of gluten bread in Sweden put me in bed for days. It really is that bad.

🙄

You can be a brilliant parent and still go to McDonald’s every couple of weeks.

This
when you have teens you realise stuff like this is a complete non-issue

Yeah, chips and ice cream twice a month is tantamount to child neglect 🙄

For me this is such a non issue, my kids are now nearly 14&18yrs old. The odd mcdonalds when they were smaller and I was too tired to cook filled a gap and made everyone happy.
There are bigger parenting challenges to worry about than small things like the odd visit to mcdonalds.

So firstly, of course they should respond but they don’t need to be rude and call her parenting into question. The fact she is asking means she isn’t a bad parent. The fact that she takes her to McDonald’s twice a month also doesn’t make her a bad parent.

secondly, those that do seem to think it’s as bad as crack, creating a bad relationship with food or causing problems for the future probably do need to have a word with themselves. It simply isn’t and you won’t find a reputable nutritionist that says it. You will find people who don’t have the full knowledge set commenting on it as if they do and creating problems that aren’t there. It’s those people who will have kids with eating disorders or rebelling at the first chance.

Fwiw I'm not into organic food. But you don't really think the same meal "icecream and chips" would be the same in an organic Cafe or homemade vs. McD's??! As I said earlier food isn't created equal, @CrownCoatsarticulated this far better than me, you won't be able to find half of those ingredients because they are probably only found in a lab. No one ever said it was an issue as an occasional thing, but that it wasn't ideal to do regularly 😒

Lol.
My kids grew up on maccas.
Youngest has the full deal at least once a week.
I think you'll be fine!

The ops question was ‘do you think it’s ok to take a 5 yr old to mcds every fortnight?’

that is an invitation to answer the question with a yes or a no.

anyone who has answered no and given a reason, or not, has been jumped on and insulted.

should they just have not responded?

Agree.

Dozens of visits per year to McDonald’s isn’t great parenting.

you can’t see the wood for the trees. The insult is to those who sit on their high horse and insult those that do give a fortnightly McDonald’s. Not to those that simply don’t and let others be. If you act like a high and mighty twit, don’t be shocked when you’re called a high and mighty twit.

Oh no, that is dissapointing.

The equivalent in an organic cafe probably won’t be UPF.

I work in a maccies and one family come in 3 times a day/7days a week (or twice a day in school times)

Mum can't be arsed to cook,so it's all they eat,with maybe a bag of sweets in their hands while they eat their nuggets

The fries have their own vat-we do cook veg dippers in them (fish,cheese bites and pies have their own vat)

Twice a month is nothing-its just potatoes and oil (with a bit of salt)

But it's only reinforcing the "brain leap" if mum is telling her that the food is the treat rather than the trip with her mum.

And maybe the fries or flurry are are treat for her? Most of my favourite meals are full of veg and good protein and healthy. I think of those as a treat and I consider a whippy from the ice cream van a treat. And a decent steak is a treat and I enjoy a spa day so that's a treat.

If you enjoy it, it's a treat.

Rather than guessing, having been proven wildly inaccurate on your previous assumption, why don’t you actually find out? There is 1.5g of fat in a medium portion of McDonald’s fries. That’s approximately 0.28 teaspoons - just over quarter of a teaspoon. So nowhere near 2 tablespoons. It took longer to type this post than find that out.

The last wimpy I went to was nothing like when I was a child.

Depends what she eats the rest of the month
if it’s home cooked food and no crisps and biscuits and sweets then it’s fine
if she has beige freezer food and no veg most of the time it’s way less good

What Is with people on here it's a treat it's not crack or something 😆