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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask my childminder not to take my children to MacDonalds

134 replies

parakeet · 16/02/2012 20:38

They are 4 and 8, and have not yet enjoyed the delights of the golden arches. My reasons are mainly to do with the poor quality and unhealthiness of the food there (salt, fat). I know the occasional visit won't do any harm but I don't want them to get a taste for it, and perhaps pester me for return visits, and it will be hard for me to explain why not. I don't judge those who do go there, I'm just explaining my reasoning for context.

So, my child told me the childminder had said she was planning a trip. Would it be unreasonable of me to say I'd rather this didn't happen?

By the way, I've decided that if my children get taken there by their friends' parents as part of a day out, then fine. I just think if I'm actually paying for their care, I should be able to express some preferences over what happens.

OP posts:
LadyBeagleEyes · 16/02/2012 21:30

YANBU.
Tell her to take them to KFC, it's far better (though the chips aren't as good).

SparkySparrow · 16/02/2012 21:32

Oooo yes LadyBeagleEyes !!
KFC chicken with maccy d's chips, perfect bloody meal! Grin

Grin
EDRefugee · 16/02/2012 21:33

Why is shite food from McD's considered a treat?? Especially as yours don't know it and may well not like it.

Going out and getting an ice cream is a treat. Going to a good local chippie and getting a big old bag of lovely, fresh, salty chips (hungry, I am) is a treat.

YANBU. As you're paying for their care, you are well within your rights to suggest an alternative outing, as you have a problem with McD's. And they don't have to go get cauliflower at the greengrocer's! They can go to a cafe and get a big fat hot chocolate. I bet you wouldn't mind.

breatheslowly · 16/02/2012 21:33

I don't think McD's has a place in childcare. And that is from someone who would happily feed her DD the occassional happy meal.

bbcessex · 16/02/2012 21:33

I don't mind the occasional bit of junk myself, but i think it sounds like a bit of a rubbish excuse for a 'trip'.

Is it in conjunction with something else? Ie "off to the Farm and then McDonalds"?

If not, i think you're quite right to ask CM to re plan if you want. She might say no, but you can ask.

I do love a quarter pounder w cheese as a hangover cure tho GrinGrinGrin

bookmark · 16/02/2012 21:34

i like macdonalds :)

storminabuttercup · 16/02/2012 21:34

I wouldn't mind if it was a one off!

GingerWrath · 16/02/2012 21:34

Seriously, for once in a while is it that bad? No steath boast but my DD has a very healthy diet with the odd occasional sweet/crisps.

I fail to see how the odd occaisional pure beef patty (protein), with cheese (calcium), with ketchup, pickles and onion (lycopenes and very loosely veg), with a pudding of fruit salad and an orange juice, maybe once a month, can do her permanent damage! Or am I dillusional?

EDRefugee · 16/02/2012 21:36

Dammit I really have made myself hungry now. Off to chippie..

hocuspontas · 16/02/2012 21:37

Yes, KFC chips are shite. My own perfect combo would be KFC chicken with BK chips. (And Pizza Hut cheesy garlic bread on the side)

cutegorilla · 16/02/2012 21:38

Have you actually looked at the nutritional information for McDonalds food?

If your children have happy meals and choose chicken nuggets they will have 13% of their fat for the day and 8% of their salt. If they also choose fries they will have a further 16% fat and 8% salt. Totalling 29% of the days fat and 16% of the days salt. Assuming that the other meals in the day are lower in fat and salt that really does not seem like that big a deal to me.

If that worries you still then ask that they select carrot sticks instead of fries. No fat and 2% of days salt.

Really, truly you are getting your knickers in a knot about nothing.

Also I'm sure how it works with a CM. They are the provider of a service, not your employee so while it may make good business sense for them to listen to your opinion I don't suppose they are under any obligation to follow it.

I think YABU because I can't see that this is so much different to a trip with friends that you say would be ok.

Nutritional info here www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/meal_builder.html

SparkySparrow · 16/02/2012 21:39

hocus I love a bit of cheesy garlic bread! [hungry]

My willpower is taking a battering, stupid diet!!!

cutegorilla · 16/02/2012 21:40

Oh and they can have Tropicana orange juice as a drink with a happy meal too.

aldiwhore · 16/02/2012 21:41

I wouldn't be happy if the school took the children to McD's... that kind of treat is up to the parent to allow or not.

A CM who does take their charges to McD's ocassionally isn't necessarily a bad one, but I just don't see the need.

I am a SAHM so don't have these conundrums to face, I get to decide whether my kids have a McD's and on what day and if I'm in the mood for a Big Tasty so I don't think I'd like it if I did have a CM was planning a trip to McD's unless it was part of a much more exciting/interesting day and there was some reason she/he couldn't put together a packed lunch/picnic.

aldiwhore · 16/02/2012 21:43

Oh and apple and orange juice? What's the point in McD's then? You could save a bucket by just going to Asda for some healthy snacks.

Chicken nuggets are not the healthy option, they are the piss flap and eyelid onion flavouring option.

Whyriskit · 16/02/2012 21:48

DS1 had his first McDonalds when he was 3. He got the grapes!
His (now ex) childminder took him to "Donalds" and I would never have known except he forgot his happy meal toy when we left her house and made me go back for it. I was mightily pissed off that I was not asked if going to McDonalds was ok with me.
I'm quite partial to it myself, but I don't take DCs there as DS2 has a heart condition and it's not exactly heart healthy food.

hocuspontas · 16/02/2012 21:49

aldi - stop tormenting me! I so want some McD chicken nuggets now!

cutegorilla · 16/02/2012 21:49

I don't think anyone is going to claim it's health food but it's not as bad as some people seem to think.

Goldenbear · 16/02/2012 21:55

OP, what is it about this one off visit your worried about? I really don't get it if you already give them chips from a chip shop? Are you worried that they're going to get a taste for it and become fat because if so what are you going to do when their eating habits are not entirely in your control?

You dob't suggest you're worried about their ethics so what is the issue?

cricketballs · 16/02/2012 23:31

I can't remember reading that they were going every day, all day....ffs a one off treat for a meal that contains less crap then your average meal (check the information). God help you when your dc find curry houses/kebab shops on their way home from student nights!

Personally though i much prefer BK;s burgers but McD chips are by far the best...their sausage and egg McMuffin at breakfast are to die for Grin

JustRedbin · 16/02/2012 23:35

You could give up your work and look after your children yourself.

ChocolateIsAFoodGroup · 16/02/2012 23:51

Actually, it's not just the food, though, is it?

For me, it's the factory farming more than the food, the very low pay for their employees (don't know if the top staff have bonuses though.... 'nother thread....), the destruction of the landscape to accommodate said factory farms (Orange County outside LA was so-named because they grew, um, oranges; smells of nothing but shite now), the ruination of locally-owned businesses, the standardization of food globally to the detriment of local cuisine and tastes.... oh, I could go on.

Never, never, never been there since I read Fast Food Nation 9 years ago.

As boring and lentil-weavery as the above makes me sound.... we do actually take the kids to In-And-Out burger (extensively reviewed in that book as being the only fast-food restaurant in the US with a different ethos, culture, etc... also by bizarre twist of fate my DH did a time-and-motion observation of people working there and said it really was brilliant for the employees).

I agree that kids should participate in the wider culture. I also think as parents we have a responsibility to end global-wide practices that are a proven detriment to our culture, viz. factory farming.

OK, end of rant... Grin

aldiwhore · 16/02/2012 23:54

Chocolateisafoodgroup I defend anyone's right to boycott it for any reason at all, and I don't think it should be a treat of choice for a CM.

I do think everything else is semantics. I though I agree with you on many levels, there's just something about a McFatTwat that I like ocassionally.

ColdGlassofWine · 16/02/2012 23:55

Crikey - relax. In the grand scheme of things your kids will have have a super time and are not being poisoned !!!! My dc's are both teens who are slender, healthy and extremely sporty. They have grown up with an extremely healthy balanced diet but love to get their chops around an occasional Big Mac - and so what. Haven't you ever got back from work late , completely knackered and reached to the back of the freezer only to find some old oven chips and freezer burnt fish fingers .... I know I have !

EightiesChick · 17/02/2012 00:06

I agree there are worse things in the world but, as others have said, I don't see why the CM is building this up as a 'trip' and don't think it's necessary.