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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

McDonalds and a school trip...

236 replies

azteccamera · 19/06/2014 19:04

Truly wondering about this situation.

Long, hot day. School trip. Reception class so 4 & 5 year olds. Left at 8.30 this morning. Due back at 4pm. Finally arrived back at 6.45pm after the bus broke down on the way home. The school were communicating by text all the way through the afternoon keeping us updated.

We've just picked up the children to be told they have been fed... McDonalds. Personally, I don't mind, better that she is fed, watered and it was next to where they had broken down. Bear in mind they were waiting in a hot bus with no aircon for a replacement coach.

However other parents were shouting at the head teacher,for everyone to hear. Apparently no one ever feeds her children mcdonalds. They've never had it. Thinks it's a disgrace. Some of the dads were also agreeing.

Would you mind? Allergies and food intolerances and preferences accounted for, would you be angry enough to shout at the teachers about it?

OP posts:
RainbowsStars · 20/06/2014 06:14

I would be very happy about it but I wouldn't say anything because it was a difficult situation, they had to deal with a lot of tired and hungry children and do it on a budget, possibly with the teachers paying out their own money.

RainbowsStars · 20/06/2014 06:15

Ugh, wouldn't. Stupid self correct rubbish.

CrohnicallyExhausted · 20/06/2014 06:31

springcleanish if it's like our school, expenses are paid in with your salary. And the cut off for June has passed (payday on 25th). So not only would the teachers have had to pay out of their own pocket at the end of the month when they're likely to be running low, they won't get the money back for over a month. AND I have a cash back credit card so I wouldn't have even been allowed to put it on there (since I would have 'profited' by about 30p from the transaction).

I think if this had happened to me, I would have firstly broken down in tears in front of the parents. And secondly, publicly announced that I wasn't giving up my time, unpaid, to take children on school trips ever again!

MiaowTheCat · 20/06/2014 07:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chocolatemademefat · 20/06/2014 07:41

oh my! a McDonalds meal - surely that's child abuse? Hope they were all put into isolation and vaccinated immediately.

And I expect after bawling at the head teacher who was doing the best she could those same twats went home and congratulated themselves over a glass of wine.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when their kids get older and stuff their faces with all sorts of additive ridden foods.

HappyAgainOneDay · 20/06/2014 07:45

Did McDonald's donate the meals and drinks because of the difficulty being experienced by the staff? Or did they have to pay for them?

firstchoice · 20/06/2014 07:48

For those who were 'outraged'

my school recently included McDonalds as part of a school 'treat day'.

The food was collected from the café - 9m away - driven back - another 9m so a total of 18m.

The food was then served to the children
(stone cold - not allowed to reheat for 'hygiene reasons' )

IN THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I declined to take part in this and sent my kids with a packed lunch the school were Hmm and kids were bullied due to it.

I think a hot snack/meal from McDonalds due to a trip overrunning by some hours is acceptable - it is poor nutrition but a better alternative than to very hungry children.

HercShipwright · 20/06/2014 08:43

I wouldn't shout but I would be ABSOLUTELY furious. What happened to the vegetarian kids. Were they expected to starve?

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/06/2014 08:54

Er vege burger!!!
Chips
Milkshake
Ice cream
Fruit bags
Juice

Sure something can be botched together for a vege!

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/06/2014 08:54

Oh and of course you are perfectly capable of topping up at home surely? If she just had chips and ice cream?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 20/06/2014 08:57

What happened to the vegetarian kids. Were they expected to starve?

MacDonalds, unlike KFC, always has a veggie option (not Inc chips)

HercShipwright · 20/06/2014 08:58

giles they refuse to guarantee no cross contamination. So none of their food is suitable for veggies or vegans. Apart from the sugary drinks I suppose. Veggies and vegans also typically don't like going in to mcdonalds because the places REEK.

psychicpaper · 20/06/2014 08:58

umm, when I went on my Y2 trip the bus broke down.

We sat inside the pub for an hour with a lemonade Grin

HercShipwright · 20/06/2014 08:59

Itsallgoing - their chips are certified veggie (no longer cooked in beef fat) BUT since they refuse to guarantee no cross contamination, none of it is safe.

Stinkle · 20/06/2014 09:01

Well, my vegetarian DD has a veggie burger when we go in there.

I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest. In fact I'd be very grateful that my child wasn't sitting tired and starving for hours on a broken down coach

The school did the best they could in a nightmare situation.

I don't think I'd ever give up my time and make an effort like that again if I was that head, unbelievable behaviour from supposed 'adults'

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/06/2014 09:03

I don't like the place either, although I absolutely wouldn't have a problem with what happened.

And teachers wouldn't have gone against a veggi restriction, and so what, they may not know as much as you do about cross contamination but can't you see that leaving a child hungry and tired is not the better option here?

Surely most people can see that

The teachers didn't break the bus. They didn't provide the part that broke either, they did the best they could with what they had and the kids returned fed watered and not in urine soaked clothes.

Even I'd have said fuck it to cross contamination to a non allergic child in those circumstances.

Floggingmolly · 20/06/2014 09:04

Really, Herc? You'd be ABSOLUTELY furious at your veggie child being given chips, not because they're not vegetarian but because there's a vanishingly minute chance of cross contamination??????
Put your child in a hermetically sealed bubble in that case, contamination From meat products must be in the very air we breathe...

RocknRollNerd · 20/06/2014 09:05

Wow - extreme twattishness by the parents. I've done a school trip where the coach broke down (older kids age 11/12) on the outbound leg of the trip and it was hideous, I can't imagine how stressful it would be with tired, hungry 5 year olds - of course McDonald's was a reasonable thing to do - they all got fed/watered, to use the toilets and I bet it cheered up the overtired and grumpy kids no end as well.

To set it in context - by my calculations a 5 year old (weaned at 6 months and eating 3 meals a day will have eaten a total of 4.53653 meals in their lifetime. That comes to about 4,900 meals. This one McDonalds therefore represents approximately 0.02% of their total lifetime nutritional intake...really not enough to justify being a cockwomble to exhausted teachers who did the best in very trying circumstances.

TwinkleTwinkleStarlight · 20/06/2014 09:06

Love to know what the shouty parents would have done if they were in that situation. Maybe get them to look after that number of children in that situation and see what they would do? Bet they would have done the same.

Some people would pick a fight with their own shadow.

ikeaismylocal · 20/06/2014 09:06

I guess vegetarians who will not eat food because cross contamination could possibly have happened couldn't ever eat at friends houses or go to parties incase the same knife used to cut the ham sandwiches had also been used to cut the cheese sandwiches or the spatula used on the meet was accidentally used on the vegie burgers. If children are missing out on those opportunities I think a missed mcdonalds meal is the least of their worries.

UsedtobeFeckless · 20/06/2014 09:06

Even if you're not a fan ... Any port in a storm! I'd be delighted they were fed! The whingers are a bunch of half-wits - would they prefer their kids to be left hungry?

TwinkleTwinkleStarlight · 20/06/2014 09:09

Herc There are fruit bags etc that the veggie child could have had etc. Or would you rather that they stayed hungry and dehydrated?

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/06/2014 09:10

I bet herc is one of the shouty parents.

The word you are looking is "thank you"!!!

Stinkle · 20/06/2014 09:12

And did any of these shouty idiots offer to help and assist in any way? Drive to meet the coach and collect their children themselves? Or did they just leave the teachers to deal with a nightmare situation in best way they could

My DD's coach broke down on the way home from her year 6 residential. It was awful. Those of us who could drove over to meet the coach and ferried all the kids back to school.

I wouldn't be shouting, I'd be bloody grateful that I didn't have to worry about feeding a knackered 4/5 year old at 7pm and could just give her some toast and send her to bed

Andrewofgg · 20/06/2014 09:17

HercShipwright Are you familiar with the notion of Not perfect but good enough?

The children needed food, liquid, and the loo. McD was the only place to go. If someone's little veggie darling ingested a minute quantity of matter derived from flesh it is Just Too Bad and any veggie parent who made an issue of it is even more of a twat than the ones who complained because it was McD.