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?

Don't listed to all these! I often (not always) share with DD who is nearly 7!

We aren't big eaters, and food is always left over if we get a meal each

You can get away with it as long as it’s sufficient food for you all? It’s none of the restaurants business. Or bulk out with a side or two.

No point getting her a meal because you think you ought to. The kids menu are usually all rubbish anyway, much better to share proper food

Eggs...Chicken... Nuts...cheese... Olives...carrots... Plain yoghurt... Milk... Peas ..
Oats... Cucumber...tomatoes ... Yep, all sugar and carbs and what a fucking awful diet she has

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

She isn't living on monster munch, haribo and fruit shoots 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Honestly OP, I wouldn’t bother posting more on the thread. In my experience, posting a food diary on MN gives way to a number of insane posts picking apart every little aspect of someone’s diet when, in reality, it is absolutely fine and appropriate. You will now see an onslaught of unwanted advice on the nutritious content/number and volume of snacks/portion sizes/amount of carbs, protein and fat etc.

I have a child who ate very little at 3, what you describe is not too different to the volume they ate. They were particularly bad when eating out so we didn’t go often but the few times we did, we rarely used the children’s meals as they would have little more than a bite or 2. They were also healthy height and weight plus blood results normal (had to be tested for an entirely different reason)

That child is a healthy 6 year old with an entirely normal appetite which still fluctuates (like many adults). Sometimes they will eat huge portions and others, not so much at all. They are healthy and I trust they know when they’re full. When we eat out, we all look at menu together and then order according to what people are likely to eat. We have no shame in sharing dishes which I think is ridiculous. As a pp mentioned, there are many cultures where dishes are shared between individuals and we love this cuisines. I have absolutely no intention to order extra and then waste food

I'm finding it hilarious that her sample day is "based on sugary carbs" when I suggested she might have 3-4 strawberries or one custard cream around eggs, nuts, veggies, chicken etc

And to suggest that somehow a snack of olives/carrots/cheese is somehow less nutritious than the exact same food 3 hrs later

Erm what sugary carbs? I literally couldn't see any in the OP's food diary post.

Unless maybe the savoury flapjack but I was assuming that was.. savoury so didn't have sugar.

The protein/carbs/fruit/veg balance looks perfect to me, just less food in total than most 3 year olds

OP what your 3 year old eats sounds a similar amount to what mine would have eaten at that age and it sounds like a healthy diet to me.

My now 10yo would not eat the amount of food another poster said her 3yo would eat. They’re all different!

Our son has always loved his food and took to proper meals from 6 months and could happily polish a kids meal in a restaurant off before 9 months. Refused the kids menu when he turned 6 as he wanted to choose from more adventurous menus and bigger portions. There is no way at even a year we could have shared our food with him as otherwise we wouldn’t have eaten. When he just turned a year old we went out for my birthday and he ate his full kids meal and pretty all the meat of my meal too. He eats us out of house and home and we still struggle to keep any weight on him.

To be fair @AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps you said she eats what she needs, is a healthy weight and height and is happy. Ignore anyone here still judging what you feed her.

I shared a meal with my 14 yo the other day - neither of us was that hungry but the other two people we were with were. We ordered 3 meals for 4 people and an extra plate.... don't worry.

I often share dessert with my DH. I sometimes have a starter instead of a main.

It's a restaurant - you pay for food. Sometimes people will order a 3 course meal per person, sometime just a main, sometimes they share it's nothing to do with age.....

This is like the mumsnet chicken 😂

I wish i had the link to that post! Never seen it

Not read the full thread but most of the OP's posts.

Not what you asked at all, but my daughter ate like a sparrow too I had read that if you cut an allergen out then they'll start to eat other stuff. Dairy seemed the obvious one but it also felt like harder work than I could be bothered with at that point. Until her baby brother became intolerant and we both had to cut it out (me cos BF) and suddenly I was hardly giving her any dairy either. Now she eats so much more and is growing before my eyes! She's always been tiny, 9th percentile at best. I haven't weighed her but she feels so much more solid. Maybe something to consider!

This is like the mumsnet chicken
😂

It's Mumsnet competitive undereating all over again.

Somewhere between 1 and 2. DS always ate loads and now at 10 usually orders off the adult menu. DD ate like a sparrow but was also very fussy and wouldn't eat most adult meals, plus wanted her own like DS since she was big enough to tell me.

DD1 probably shared with us until she was around 2, at which point DD2 was weaning so they always shared a meal between them. Now they're 6 and 4 we definitely can't get away with that and they need their own meal.

DD1 always ate like a little bird until the last year or so, probably around the time she started school. Suddenly her appetite has kicked in and she's eating lots more than she ever used to so I'd say that you just know when they need more. They'll tell you if they're still hungry!

Till about 3 or 4 years old. We would sometimes order an extra side order to bulk the meal out, but we didn't start buying a child's meal at that age.

My nearly 2 year old grandson could definitely eat 2 sausages and veg - and I would be hungry if I had to share 3 sausages and veg. So I would say it's not a case of age necessarily - it's all about appetite.

Having said that.... My 7 year old step granddaughter chooses a child's meal of 3 fish fingers, chips and peas when we take the family out, and usually eats about 1 fish finger, 4 chips and no peas. It infuriates me! There is a smaller portion she could have but her father always orders the larger child's portion (which we pay for). She is very spoilt though so I suspect she may have been snacking before lunch/will snack when she gets home.....

I've actually never done this. I've ordered them their own since probably about a year. Before that I would have brought baby food or snacks. If there's no suitable kids meal then you can often order a starter or a couple of sides that work for them.

You'll all be pleased to know that DD has found her appetite and has recently had an adults jacket potato meal with beans, cheese and salad, she ate the lot.

I think the restaurant cares as you are using up space. Pizza Hut was snarky with me. I took four children in for lunch a kids salad/pizza/ icecream/ drink deal and ordered a coffee for myself. The waitress said if I had their food she’d have to charge for an extra adult portion. I laughed, she didn’t.

I was a bit unimpressed so didn’t tip.

I never did that, mine always had his own plate of food, sometmes a child's portion, from about one year old. I cannot imagine a three year old being satisfied by eating bits from mum's plate.

It's important to get children used to eating out from an early age so they are comfortable doing it as they grow older. Far easier nowadays are there are so many cheapish cafes and restaurants that are child-friendly. I never ate out with my parents as a child, except when away on holiday and neither did my husband who had quite a phobia about restaurant eating as a young adult. I'm glad to say he got over it.