Why are Kid's Menu's in restaurants always the same?

[stef1301]

Hello mums, I am on a mission!! I've started a petition to get restaurants & cafes to have healthier options available on kids menu's. Kids menus haven't changed since I was a child, a good 20 years ago. I think they need to put a little more effort into creating healthy balanced meals, even if it's secretly blitzing veggies into a pasta sauce. I spent many months breastfeeding and BLW, trying to give Fred the best possible start and then get offered chicken nuggets, chips and beans in restaurants. Am I the only one who gets annoyed by this?

www.change.org/p/restaurants-nutritional-meal-choices-for-children-in-restaurants-and-cafes?recruiter=931359741&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=share_petition

that's BLW for you - makes an ass out of everyone!

I used to share my meal(so a few years of nothing spices),get her a starter or soup.In good restaurants I ask if they do small starter sized portions of the main meals a more so than you would think.

One kid eats anything and now at 9 orders off adult menu (bugger that adds £££S to eating out. Other child will only eat food that's breadcrumbed and 2 types of veg. They can pick what they like. If I'm paying ££££s I'd prefer if they actually are it.

If you don't like the choices in pub type places take them to international food type places as they generally don't serve nuggets.

Most adults eat a variety of foods. So don't worry!

I'll eat most things but used to be one of those kids who'd vomit at the thought of some foods. I'm really adventurous now.

Kids are allowed preferences just like adults.

And dismissing children with SN as not who you were talking about when you said "kids" is really shitty. Are adults with disabilities not what you mean when you say "people"?

Yeah some kids menus are awful. I would rather restaurants did smaller portions of some items off the main menu. DD loves sausages but I wish they would serve better quality ones. We have found pizza/pasta type places good over the years. I think out of the chains Wagamamas is good-there are a variety of options and include veggies in each meal. Leon too.

Oh do behave @YouCanCallMeJodieWho there nothing aggressive about tagging you. You were the only person to ask me a specific question, albeit maybe rhetorical- I wasn't sure if you were serious but wanted to be sure you saw my answer.
The amount of ppl who have quoted my post in bold, I haven't got defensive about it so I don't understand why you have.

And I also don't understand why my opinion is not as valid and anyone else's here, it's been called bullshit, utter rubbish, etc. but it's my opinion... clearly there's no scientific basis for it but I own it and I think on a forum such as this I'm entitled to hold it.

And I also don't understand why my opinion is not as valid and anyone else's here

Opinions aren't equivalent, some are bullshit.

Thunder tbf tagging is seen as being quite aggressive on MN, just bold someone's name if you want to address them directly.

Is it? I tag people to respond directly to a comment so they get notified that I’ve replied to them. Had no idea it was aggressive

I didn't know there was a difference? I just thought to make it bold you had to tag it.
Every days a school day hey

I worked in a pub that had no separate menu for children but some of the main meals were available in half sizes for children or anyone who wanted a smaller portion.

It worked fairly well in that the owners achieved their aim of discouraging families with young children coming in

Our patter when asked for a child menu was 'We believe that children should have proper meals in smaller portions'

unless you switch it off you end up with a shit ton of emails telling you that you've been tagged.

put asterisks before and after the name of the person you're addressing, so asteriskThunderasterisk gives me Thunder.

YANBU they are full of shit!! I just get them to order a main between them. Then again my kids are strange and prefer things like sushi, duck with noodles and prawn linguini! Honestly sometimes I wish they liked chips and nuggets from restaurants!! Although they do like a cheese pizza and McDonald’s 😂

For the rest who have non SEN children who are fussy I stand by my opinion - it invariably stems from parents who are also not very food adventurous or habitual cooks who don't experiment with their kids foods while they are young. There are so many amazing tastes, smells and textures out there that just aren't explored with children.

This is such a simplistic view. As the parent of a deaf child surely you must come up against lazy stereotypes that frustrate you?

I don’t mind in places where the adult meals are similar eg burgers, pizza, etc but it really really annoys me in nice places that have lovely curries, or couscous etc for the adults meals and then nuggets for the kids.

There are a number of scientific studies that show that food fussiness is a genetic trait.
There's also a similar amount of studies about tastebuds differences and numbers in children.

This topic comes up every so often. If you've just got the one child I'd be careful what you go round spouting coz if you get a 2nd they're just as likely to be the child who doesn't eat or sleep (yeah I'm eating humble pie there!)

Eating out is expensive and most people want something that won't cost loads and won't be wasted. Kids like nuggets. Ok some don't but they are the minority. I'm prepared to bet that's a fact.

but do your children mind? And why can't you just order a curry for your DC anyway?

I think you just need to vary the places you visit because we manage to get a variety either from places that do smaller portions of adult menu or have something a bit different.
The only thing we do find is everywhere tends to do ice cream for the kids dessert even if they have a good main menu and DS1 doesn't eat it so often goes without, but that's not the end of the world and he's pretty great about it.

I realise this is a controversial view but I truly believe that there aren't fussy kids..... just parents who can't be arsed to experiment or who perhaps aren't particularly adventurous eaters themselves and therefore pass that on to their kids. In essence it's learned behaviour, and if you miss the opportunity while they are still young - sadly they are likely to grow up to be fussy adults. Those people will always want the beige kids menu as it replicates home and they know they will have a stress free meal out.

Absolute bollocks. DH and I eat EVERYTHING. I worked with kids for almost 20 years and brought up many babies through to aged 7-8 and most had fantastic, varied diets.

DS was brought up eating everything. We cook completely from scratch. He'd eat the most unusual foods. Then he hit 3 and for the last two years will only eat a very limited selection of beige foods.

We try every single day to reintroduce new foods. He's not having it.

Bunch of shite people spout on here honestly.

I think a few of you are missing the point, it's not about how fussy your child is, if your child is or isn't on the spectrum, if you eat out loads or once in a blue moon, you eat healthy or not. I am NOT judging you as a parent, if you wanna give 'em nuggets, give 'em nuggets. I simply want more nutritional options on the children's menu.

Nutrition is extremely important and also very overlooked, the UK is ever growning in size, with a record number of 10-11years old classed as severely obese. Not just obese. Severely obese. 12.8% of reception children are overweight. We need to stop burrying our head in the sand and start teaching children about nutrition, why we eat, what's good for us, what a balanced meal looks like. And I am telling you now chicken nuggets, chips and beans is NOT a balanced meal. And neither is the 'healthy' pasta and sauce.

I ordered Fred the 'healthy' option pasta in tomato sauce from a small business just yesterday, it came with a side of smiley faces, a drink of juice and a lolly!! I declined everything other than the pasta - if he was older he would've wanted it all because it was offered to him and we love a bargain the more we get for our money the better. But it should be the more nutrients we get for our money the better!! Fred didn't even eat it, i think he's already a food snob.

I just want to see MORE fruit and MORE vegetables, healthier meal options available in restaurants and cafe, I mean even McDonald's do fruit and carrot sticks.

The mention of 'Fred' is giving me the giggles. I know it's a common name for babies these days but i'm picturing an old lad in a flat cap, whippet by his side, being fed by the OP.

When we go out for a meal, it's a treat. We eat healthily at home. DS isn't fussy but he's 5 years old, of course he likes chicken nuggets. I'm not going to order a healthy option at a restaurant so I wouldn't force DS to either. Nothing wrong with a crap meal every now and again as a one off.

you have still not answered my question - how often do you eat out? Because I don't get that the nutritional value of these meals matters much unless you are eating out damn near every day.

Given the advice is to balance out diets over a week not a day, and most families aren’t going to be eating out more often than once a week, I don’t think we need to worry too much about the nutritional content.

When your picking your meal to you make sure it is a “healthy” option all the time?

Should have got Fred the nuggets. If you only eat out periodically one portion of chicken nuggets with not a fat Fred make.

Where do you and Fred dine where there's no fruit, no salad, no jacket potato etc available?