to think McDonald's once per week is ok?

[NeeNawNora]

Two of the dc do an activity which doesn't finish until 6.45 on a school night so we usually have McDonald's. This consists of a chicken nugget happy meal and water and is term-time only, as well as being followed by walking our dogs. They eat very healthily the rest of the time with no chocolate/crisps/sweets and so on unless we go to the cinema, which is rare.

One of the dcs is borderline overweight and frommy previous marriage. ExH has said McDonalds should be banned from dcs diet, yet when he takes her for tea he takes her to an all you can eat Chinese or carvery, lets her eat as much as she likes, drink coke and have a big dessert. Aibu to think that's not a better alternative and that McDonald's once per week is ok?

[SavoyCabbage]

My dc do two activities a week that finish late. On one of the days we have a slow cooker casserole type thing and on the other a slow cooker curry. It's the only way I can manage, especially as dh and I have to eat too.

[Sleepyhoglet]

No

[NeeNawNora]

MrsJoss No, I can't to be honest. A happy meal is actually less calories than a healthier meal she might eat at home. A happy meal has around 500 calories in. Pasta and meatballs with veg blended in and garlic bread, for example, would be more calories than that.

[Lesshastemorespeed]

YANBU

But will this last your kids till bedtime?
Mine are hungry an hour after a happy meal, and would need feeding again.

[bendywillow]

We probably have McDonalds or similar once a week as part of a treat day out, too. During rugby season it's after training on the way home. Out of season, it's usually Sunday lunchtime after he's been at the skate park all morning. I think the key issue for kids is activity - DS (8) is a very, very active boy who is constantly hungry. He is on the go from the time he gets up to the time he's put to bed, exhausted, but having burned off more calories in the day than I probably manage in three.

[Meow75]

What Flyingfig said, including the meals in childhood.

At least 5/7 of my meals as a child were "beige food" from the freezer - crispy pancakes, fish fingers, fish cakes and so on. All with chips fried in the chip pan, with beef dripping. And I'm only 38.

The OP says that her children eat healthily the rest of the week. Her Ex needs to get a grip of himself and start behaving like a parent.

[NeeNawNora]

She's 7. She never asks for more food afterwards.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Yanbu if your dd their diet is otherwise healthy. Dd 7 who hascASD ritually has a MacDonalds every Sat, I home cook everything, she has an otherwise healthy diet.

[WorraLiberty]

Have you posted about this a couple of times before OP?

If her Dad allows her to overeat to the point of having a stomach ache and you don't, how many meals per week does she eat with him?

[Iswallowedawatermelon]

If a dc is already overweight once a week mcds is too much imo.

For normal sized dc it is fine.

Get her weight down and then you can indulge in weekly treats like this. Children who are overweight have terrible future prognosis.

[CoffeeTea103]

This post sounds so familiar.

[NeeNawNora]

Dd is the same bendy, she plays for half hour on the trampoline before school, scoots/bikes/walks 2 miles to school, does a sporting activity four times per week plus the walk home from school and between 1-2.5 hours trampolining every evening - not to mention 4 hours swimming at the weekend and miles of walking our dogs.

She eats healthily but well and often asks for more foodafter a 'healthy' meal but not after mMcDonald's.

[stopgap]

I can't speak about overweight kids, but my almost three-year-old has pizza or calamari and chips every Saturday. The rest of the time he eats an excellent diet, no sweets, fizzy drinks etc. and he's eightieth centile for height and seventy fifth for weight, so proportionate, and he also gets two hours of exercise outside every day. I think a weekly indulgent thing is totally fine, it's how I was brought up, and I've been skinny to slim all my life.

[FlyingFig]

Sorry Minty I was just musing in general, having read a fair few threads recently about food and the whole 'treat' issue. I wasn't implying people on this thread were het up (yet!).

In fact, as I was pouring boiling water over my Weetabix this morning, I thought to myself "Yep, that actually does look like shit in a box"

[Lesshastemorespeed]

1 happy meal a week isn't going to make your dd put on weight if the rest of her diet is healthy and she is active enough.

[NeeNawNora]

ISwallowed she eats healthily the rest of the time and can't possibly exercise any more so 'getting her weight down' is impossible. She's short for her age and the GP said she's fine because she just needs to grow taller.

[WorraLiberty]

That's a lot of exercise for a child who still remains overweight

Have you thought about reducing her portion sizes in general OP?

[Lesshastemorespeed]

4hours swimming?

[Iswallowedawatermelon]

If the gp said she is fine then what is the problem

Don't go labelling your dd overweight if she isn't. That sort of thing will give her a complex over her body image

[NeeNawNora]

Yes, I have done so Worra. She eats far more healthily and gets tons more exercise than her friends but seemsjust prone to be heavier. She is a swimmer/gymnast though and so is muscley.

[CharlesRyder]

When I was a junior international athlete I had McD's once a week under similar circumstances. Friday night practise finished late- mum swung us through the drive-thu on the way home. I was under-weight and a McD a week clearly was not affecting performance.

I watched the USA swim team sit up on the poolside eating McD's ordered in by the coaches between practices at the time when USA were unassailable in swimming.

It's the context isn't it?

[WorraLiberty]

So she's only 'greedy' (your word) when she's with her Dad?

How many meals a week does she eat with him?

[NeeNawNora]

She is overweight Iswallowed. If/when she grows taller, she won't be. For now she is and I don't think allowing her to stuff her face at an all you can eat buffet is helping.

[wiltingfast]

I personally wouldn't do it weekly. It's crap food, why give your child the idea it is a treat. I know it's a nice routine now but neither of them will thank you really in the long run cause it's a bad habit, it's giving them a taste for crap food that they will find hard to break, your dd is already overweight and mcd and the taste for it will not help and your autistic dc will find the habit even harder to shift, plus the potential real health problems that come with weight issues.

Think of something else would be my view.

She's done an activity where she 's been active presumably? And then you go for a walk? If you think about it you could well be sabotaging an opportunity to achieve a healthy weight tbh with the mcd trip. She's 7, she doesn't get to choose how to manage her eating or what habits to nurture.

Sorry, that's all a bit harsh. But you did ask. Hope it helps you clarify your thoughts.

[BadRoly]

I think your McDonald's once a week is probably 'healthier' than our weekly Friday night fish and chips from the chippy