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?

Is DD very small for their age? I'm surprised places are still allowing it at 3. If they are then that's there look out carry on

This has reminded me of our honeymoon in Italy. I love food and we’d booked some amazing restaurants so I wanted to enjoy it all. But on about day two I remember saying to DH that four courses every night was just not doable and how was everyone else managing to eat so much, and no I was not giving up the pasta course! Anyway on closer observation we realised that all the other couples were ordering four courses but sharing them all, which was just such a fantastic idea, and what we did for the rest of the holiday.

My 3 year old still shares meals with us.
My others stopped around 18 months.

But she definitely doesn't have the same want for food as the others.

She leaves 90% off what we give her from our plates.

It's pointless buying a meal for her that she wouldn't really touch.

Example. I had sausage, mash and peas, dad had lasagna, salad, garlic bread and onion rings.

She had a bit of each from our plates. She had her slice of garlic bread and peas. She left everything else.

Another time we purchased her sausage, chips and peas. She ate the peas but left everything else. Though she did have enough space for her ice cream.

She does have some additional needs though so is still very much exploring foods.

10 pages of people doing so right now

That's a tiny amount of food for the child.

Mine both stopped by 18m. Well other than our recent trip to florida when the portions were so huge we ordered and shared

Rest assured we can easily afford it, but if we aren't hungry enough we don't order food and waste it. Some places have enormous plates that are much too big, and some dishes lend themselves to sharing. Think nachos, pizza, platter of mixed stuff like skewers / bread / pickles, etc. Loads of cultures share food by design; Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Italian...... Etc etc etc. I've shared food with work colleagues, friends, family etc too, few of whom have financial problems abd none of whom appear to have your embarrassment. I suspect it's more likely people with plenty of money who wouldn't even think to be embarrassed about just ordering what they want. Sharing food is perfectly normal, it's over-ordering or over-eating to prove to strangers that you can afford a meal that seems weird to me.

It’s not remotely normal to go into a restaurant and share one main between you. Daddy warbucks 😂

I mean at the restaurants. Never even had a raised eyebrow.

Well, we went to Nandos today and in the back of all your shocked responses, I bought her a meal.
She chose chicken, rice and broccoli....
She ate 2 bites of chicken, 1 bit if broccoli and a spoon of rice...🤷‍♀️. Really not worth the £6. God I even have some of the drink left...
She could have definitely had some of mine and I would have managed just fine.. so she'll be having some tomorrow for dinner and I'll eat the rest I guess as part of my lunch.

So, nah, we'll be sharing for a while yet.

You're claiming you'venever even heard of sharing a pizza? Nor sharing Asian food with one rice and meat plus a starter for lunch? Nor serving out from a few tapas dishes? Where do you eat?

So she will eat it tomorrow and it won't actually be wasted and she actually got to choose what she wanted to eat and how much she wanted to eat. Sounds like a great step in the right direction, what a pity you don't see the value in treating her as a 3 year old and letting her make choices and be part of the eating out experience.

I don't get how 1 child's meal from Nando's can feed 3 meals. They're tiny!

What do you want me to do... Strap her down and force her to eat more?

Another classic case of
OP asked question
OP gets answer to question
OP doesn't like answer so continues doing her own thing anyway
Why bother asking.....

She almost always chooses what she wants to eat within reason. So like for breakfast she'll have a choice between porridge or eggs or whatever. And she always chooses how much she eats, she'll eat about 4 spoons of porridge. So I cook about 30g for her. And if she's for any reason still hungry she is allowed more food.... Shocking I know. We don't live on watered down gruel....

She isn't starving.... She doesn't go hungry !! don't worry!

I took her out and let her choose. She ate exactly how much I thought she would. People were making out that I'm starving her, or she'd "eat more if she had the chance". She didn't.... She isn't going hungry.

Anyway I will be letting her order if it's the type of food we can take home so she can have the rest another time

Letting her order and bringing home is a great compromise, it may take her some time to vary her behaviours.

OP, one of mine appeared to live off fresh air and the odd grape until she about 7. She would have a starter as a main, OR share my main coirse, OR have a side order when we ate out. Nobody ever minded.
Shes nt, energetic, perfectly healthy.

I once caught my 2 yr old with a plate full of sausages at a buffet in a family members house one Christmas. I said it was too many, but everyone said leave him be, it is a one off etc. He ate 15 cocktail sausages, 3 pringles and half a grape for his dinner 🙈

This is how I see it. It is not fair to the restaurant.

Am surprised to hear so many toddlers polishing off kids meals - they’re usually designed to be eaten by children up to about the age of 12, most of them are enormous! My 6&4 year old (4 year old is a giant 99th percentile girl) can never finish them.

OP I do it the other way round - allow my kids to choose their own meals and order less myself & polish off their leftovers. I hate food waste.

and am laughing at posters primly shaming adults for sharing a main. It’s a perfectly normal thing to do, especially in restaurants where the food is rich. Restaurants make all their margin on booze anyway so order a nice bottle of wine and then just order what you want to eat and relax.

Where I live in Aus food wastage is frowned on and if you don’t finish a meal you will be offered a doggy bag. DD (20) and I will often share a meal if we are not that hungry and don’t want leftovers. We are not going to share a main at a fancy restaurant, but might decide we will have a few smaller things between us, especially if there is a dessert we have our eye on. It doesn’t work with my other kids because they have bigger appetites. I used to too but find I eat less as I get older.

Restaurants make all their margin on booze anyway so order a nice bottle of wine and then just order what you want to eat and relax.

This. I wonder how many posters who think it’s not fair on the restaurant make sure to always order a bottle of wine with their meal, even if they’re not going to drink it.

I don't think places like Nando's and McDonald's make their margins on booze!

Yet apparently they care if people share a portion of chips, and staff might pop by your table raising eyebrows. 😂