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

'one portion of chicken nuggets with not a fat Fred make.'

Oh Fred.

The nutritional value of EVERY meal is important. That's why we are in an obesity epidemic, because people do not understand how important it is.

And Fred and I eat out once or twice a week, opting for small local businesses rather than big chains, usually for lunch. We go hiking a lot, and have a snack if we haven't had time to make a packed lunch. It is convenient for us to lunch out sometimes, but my point is because it's convenient it doesn't have to be unhealthy.

Nope what is important is teaching a child about moderation, obsessing over every mouthful of food is setting a child up for a life time of food issues.

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

You're wrong. If you'd said "Many kids are only fussy because their parents are unadventurous with food", then you'd probably be quite right. But saying there's no such thing as fussy kids is patently nonsense, as various people on this thread have shown.

Dh and I are good and pretty adventurous cooks. Dc turned fussy around 3 or 4 years old, having previously eaten all kinds of stuff and, as much as possible, they ate what we ate.

Mine aren't at the extreme end of fussy, and tend to be picky about textures more than flavours. But they'd still have turned their noses up at the majority of things on an adult restaurant menu. That's no excuse for restaurants to put nothing but beige crap on their children's menus though.

once or twice a week is quite a lot, but even so that is only 2 meals out of 21. You are seriously claiming that if those 2 meals are unhealthy the healthiness of the other 19 is negated?
And also that you can choose to buy Fred what the hell you like from a menu? Or just not go out to eat at all?

nutrition is important

Sure it is. Let's get better nutrition in school meals which account for about 1/3 of their weekly meals. And in hospitals (3 weeks of soup and cheese sarnies). You want a mission? Then work to change those. When I start to get excited about places which provide occasional meals for some kids then I'd know I'm lucky to have so little to worry about.

One kid eats anything and now at 9 orders off adult menu (bugger that adds £££S to eating out.

Yeah, we have one of those. And the steak must be fillet like mummy's 💰💰💰💰

Fred needs a balanced diet not to see BAD foods and GOOD foods. At some point he'll have access to food you can't control and he'll want all the BAD foods.

I'd have thought smaller businesses would be happy to do a smaller portion of say your Quinoa Salad, perhaps its how you ask

I've really upset you somehow haven't I Thunderpunt? I'm not alone in thinking you are talking damaging inaccurate tosh.

"Every days a school day hey". If you are open minded enough to learn from your mistakes then I know you are open minded enough to challenge your own preconceived ideas.

It's tough having children with invisible disabilities as I'm sure you know. People judge you every day for the smallest thing. My child with the most intense food issues wasn't diagnosed until he was 11. Apparently I'm quite lucky he got that diagnosis so soon. Every time he went to friends for tea I had to apologise in advance about what he would/not eat. When you hear back on the grapevine that 'he's a fussy little sod' because some twatty parent has decided that 'children should what's put in front of them' it's really unpleasant. Until he was 11 I had no answer to this because up until then he was one of your fussy (and I paraphrase you) 'badly brought up' types.

Sure, some people don't give a fig about a healthy balanced diet for their children. Sure, some people are arseholes in restaurants. Some people are just generally arseholes. Worse still some people eat all the post dinner mint chocolates which should probably be a crime ...

I'd also like to see pubs/restaurants serve more vegetables with their main courses (and by that I don't mean a garnish of limp bagged salad.)Vegetables are often an extra side dish unless you are having a roast dinner.
A nutritionally balanced meal will have a portion of protein the size of your hand, a similar size portion of carbs and a portion of vegetables almost double that size. I can't remember the last time I saw that on a plate in any restaurant.

I also despair at childrens menus when they don't have anything more imaginative on them than nuggets, pizza or sausage. I still judge the standard of an eatery by it's childrens menu offering and my youngest is now 22! I'm not saying they should be removed completely but there should be other more interesting and healthier options available as well.

I'd like more variety and offering of smaller portions of adult meals but I guess it's not cost effective for the restaurant. Or at least not as cost effective as frozen kids' food.
I don't have an objection to the odd fish finger. Sometimes I fancy one myself. But I want a treat when I go out for dinner. Doesn't seem fair they don't get that. And I don't really want them aspiring to nuggets as a treat either!
Some places are getting better. Less an out the nutrition for me. You can do that at home. I don't eat out to be nourished! More about the lovely experience.
We find sharing plates are good. We all eat the same and they try if we are trying!

The I mean even McDonald's do fruit and carrot sticks

Erm... eat there then? If the small independent businesses are letting you down so badly foisting their lollies on Fred?

It’s to cater for fussy kids. Mine rarely eat off the kids menu - they’d share with me when they were younger and will eat off the adults menu now they’re older. You don’t need fancier kids meals - they can share or most places will do you a child’s portion of something on the main menu.
If they don’t offer the beige stuff they will lose the custom of families with fussy kids.

To be honest I've been really impressed with the healthy offerings in most places we go to. Everywhere's not the same.

I love this menu!

I agree to an extent. I don't mind typically, mine eat a varied diet so occasional junk is fine. But if I'm away or at a hotel etc o really hate it as it's chips and nuggets or pizza offered everyday . One of mine doesn't eat chips. None of them are massive fans of processed food so after a day or two we struggle. Occasionally I have no issue though but hotels really need to buck up!

I actually support your cause but find it irrelevant that you breastfed and did BLW with Fred (unless you wanted to be patronising?)

Anyone think Fred is going to be living on kebabs and Maccy D's when he toddles off to a very prestigious university?

Teach moderation. Everything else is moot.

And the more people turn into nutrition Joans of Arc, the less effect it has.
Balanced not joyless.

I agree, I'd just have liked half size versions of what was on the adult menu (where possible). When DS was aged 3 to 10 he wanted his own meal but the adult serving was too much.

I always offered my children the cheap children's menu and they always turned down because they wanted something nice like we were having.

wooly and did restaurants seriously not allow them to? I'm not sure where you all live that restaurants don't just give you an extra plate or half an adults portion if you ask!

Nutrition is important for every meal
No it isn't. 80/20 is a god balance. Lucky you if you've never been in the "shit, what's for dinner, freezer dive" situation. Do you work full time and have to juggle priorities?

That's why we are in an obesity epidemic

No it isn't. We have an obesity epidemic because or a whole load of societal issues, not because occasionally kids eat nuggets.

because people do not understand how important it is.

I think you'll find "people" do. DD eats nuggets occasionally, she's not obese. And not even because she is really active as her disability prevents that. She's on the 25th centile for weight.

I wish more restaurants had vegetables

They do. Every single one I've been at serve meals with veg. I know this because I swap it out for salad. Their veg is mass cooked and has zero nutrition in it.

@CrispbuttyNo1

I stayed at the chain that had those on the room service menu. It was fab!

In an Italian they will. But they aren't going to halve some main meals. They prob won't be able to sell the other half. Chains can be managed quite tightly on stock control. And you'd expect to pay half too

I wish they all did, but they don't. I've asked. Chain and independent. Depends on the meal.

Fred didn't even eat it, i think he's already a food snob.

Jesus wept....this has made my week.