How long will we 'get away with ' sharing meals with DD when out?

[AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps]

DD is 3y4m and I still share meals when out. So if I order sausage, mash and veg. It's usually 3 sausages, like if mash and veggies.

She'll have ½-1 sausage,and some of the veggies and mash.
Or say, McDonald's, she'll have around 10 of my chips and maybe one chicken select.

What age did you stop sharing?

3 is quite late.

About 18 months.

I did with dd1 until dd2 got vocal enough to want some, so probably about 4.5yo.
Not that dd2 was a big eater but she knew her rights to have her own food and was determined not to miss out. 🤣

I’m hoping ten chips and one chicken select is a snack, and not a whole meal? Thats nowhere near enough food. Our daughter is 18 month, she needs far more than a few little bits off our plate.

About 18months. Maybe my children ate more but couldn’t have got away with it my my kids at age 3, they’d have been ordering off the menu 😁

About 18 months, i'm not sharing that much of my food! My 3year old would have wanted way more than 1 chicken select and 10 chips!

About 18 months. No way would mine have been happy to share my dinner at 3. If they had they would have eaten it all!

About 18 months. I'm staggered your daughter isn't asking for her own meal. My DS is roughly the same age as your daughter and has been able to eat a child's portion of a meal for bloody ages! He's be starving with just a few chips and one chicken nugget

Order the poor thing a child's portion. Out at lunch today saw a 3 year old devour sausage, chips and peas followed by ice cream! She ate it all and told her dad he couldn't share her chips!

Definitely by 18 months if not before
That is a tiny amount of food for a 3 year old .
Does she always eat what you want ? By 3 years both my dd’s had their own tastes and no way would I be ordering sausages for myself when eating out !!

Half a sausage at 3? Both of those examples you gave are what I'd give my one year old. I'd say before 2 we started ordering from the children's menu for DC

I’d say three was quite late too and I tried to stretch that time out a long way so I do understand! I’d say by 18 months-2 years depending on the place and what we were having etc. Now of course I long for the days they would order off the childrens menu as these days we are all on adult portions. Dinner out is 5x adult mains minimum and it’s a lot!

All kids are different, you'll know when it's time.

My eldest daughter is two and a half and eats like a sparrow so will share with me and husband. If its pizza she won't even have a whole slice so no point ordering extra. If there's kiddy options we do order her that instead though but still doesn't eat much so not always worth it.

I’m surprised you’re still able to do this at 3 …! Restaurants round here are quite funny about letting kids share your food like that, which seems daft because if you’re happy to do it who cares! Ds would have definitely wanted his own portion / kids meal by then and now aged nearly 11 he’s been ordering from the adult menu for ages now.

My son has just turned four and we still share sometimes. It depends where we are and what is on the menu. If I have a jacket potato from a cafe or a burger from a van then I will share with him as he won't eat a whole one and it's cheaper but if we go to a pub for lunch or McDonalds or somewhere like that he will have a kids meal. At the fish and chip shop restaurant I ordered an adult fish and chips and we shared it. Occasionally I will order him a side and give him a bit of mine to go with it if there isn't a lot of choice on the kids menu. I think it depends on the child. If they won't eat a meal I wouldn't waste money buying one. Recently with prices going up we have ordered food to share between me, my child and my other half like pizza and sides instead of getting individual meals (pizza hut). I would just do what works for you and if the restaurant is happy go with it.

Do you have a DP? Do they share too or is it just you that only gets to eat 2/3 of their meal each time?

I can't imagine either myself or DD1 wanting to do that! I don't want to order food that she will also eat, and she doesn't want to eat bits of what I've ordered. Gosh DD2 is 10mo and I ordered her a kids meal in a restaurant the other day as I didn't want a child's meal, DD1(4) was having her own kids meal and DD2 is a food fiend and not content with pouches or packets of baby food.

I've never shared with my DS unless it's something like a sharing platter. He's 3.5 and while I don't think he has a very big appetite generally, I'm definitely finding that kids meals are often too small for him especially pizza express/Zizzis

Mine had their own meals from about 15 months , unless it was a pizza place where they would share mine with sides .

Is this one of those weird competitive undereating threads?! My DD is 2.5 and eats more than I do 😂

Buy her a child’s meal, I’d say you’ve been pushing it for years! Children’s meals are usually from ages 2and up.

These threads always have stuff like this. I'm sure there are some kids who can barely manage one chicken nugget but alas that's neither of mine. Would save us a fortune! My 10mo could put away one chicken nugget and some chips if I gave them to her. Beast baby. She isn't even high centile, she just bloody loves food

I still do this with DS 2.5 depending on where we are. The local cafe does a full English which is over 1000 cals so I'm perfectly happy to share!

My kids eat loads, so we’ve had to get them their own meals since they were about 18m/2 I’d say.

Sometimes we’ll kind of share between us if it’s somewhere we’re familiar with and we know the portions are big. So kids meal comes with chips (but is practically an adult portion), and then I’ll just get a sandwich and have half of their chips.

I think age 4. DS didn't like most children's meals so there had to be starters or half portions available of things he would actually eat. He didn't like potato for years so chips were out. He wouldn't eat bland food either.