Adult and child foods? A British thing?

[StandardRussian66]

I got bitched at yet again today by the group I meet with for lunch occasionally.
They find it very strange that my 3 year old eat “adult food”.
I have lived in 4 countries and have only ever come across this in Britain.
It is very strange?
Why would child’s only eat plain food?
My DD had calamari, for reference, incase that is odd. I am part Japanese so she is no stranger to fish.
Aibu to find it equally strange that some toddlers were still being fed mashed food?

It really is

That’s so depressing.

Someone has probably already mentioned it - I've only waded back through 4 pages of people tearing shreds off each other - but isn't the children's food thing a hangover from more refined, stately times, dare I say UPPER CLASS times, when children would eat dippy eggs and toast with nanny in the nursery at 4pm and the grown ups would feast decadently on goose and swan after dark? I don't understand where all the working class trashing talk has come from.

I can't bear judginess. Feed your children what the hell you want and can afford. As long it's a balanced diet and the happy meals are balanced with more nutrionally valuable meals, does it really matter? The main thing for me is that children enjoy their food and give things a go - especially if you're eating out. Eating out is a treat. You should enjoy it. You can always order half of adult portions if the kids menu doesn't appeal to your kids' palates - but lots of kids see going out for chicken nuggets and chips as a treat. Leave them alone.

Here in Portugal restaurants don't really do children's menus. If anything, they'll have half portions and they're mostly for adults who don't want to eat their enormous normal portions. But such large portions also mean that most families tend to order one for two children or to split between an adult and a child. And leftovers can always be taken home.

I find it hilarious that they thought it was odd your child wanted calamari.

I think that's why some people complain that their children will not eat many different foods. Maybe their children would prefer some more unusual foods that they're not offering them.

My DD has always eaten from the adult menu, that said she is not fussy and has an enormous appetite!
She is 15 now and still the same, but is horrified (still) when she goes to friends houses and is offered (in her words) "something orange and breaded".
Flip side, I know a lot of kids do prefer plainer "kid" food, horses for courses.

Oh God. Most of us are going to hell in a handcart but at least some of us can rejoice in our wise food choices.

Tonight we are having thinly-beaten veal escalopes in a tomato sauce flavoured with garlic and oregano accompanied with sauteed potatoes and spinach in butter and nutmeg.

Last night I had a McDonalds quarterpounder with cheese and large fries.

What are you lot having?

limited

We have kfc

DS usually drags me to McDs (recently a more real burger place, thankfully) or to our local sushi place.
Make of that what you want.

He's 13 now, but he has done this since much younger.

Standard I first ate KFC at 22 when I was a barmaid at a doomed pub where the staff outnumbered the customers 2:1. One night the manager said: 'Oh fuck it. Let's have lock in.' The chicken was lovely but I didn't like the chips or coleslaw.

KFC chips are not nice! DD does not eat chips anyway so we have corn

My kids won’t eat KFC at all, in McDonald’s they will only eat filet o fish.

I can remember eating adult food as a child, the only place that served kids food was happy eater. We often ate Chinese and Indian food (my kids won’t touch it).

KFC chips are really dreadful. McDonald’s chips are terrible too if they’re not really hot. And they cool down super quickly so you have to eat them in about a minute or they’re horrible.

We had Nando’s at lunchtime. I gave the kids fried eggs and an onion bagel at tea time but didn’t have anything myself as I’m still full.

So clearly I’m not going to be getting judgemental about what anyone else feeds their kids.

OP I have seen this SO MANY TIMES.

My childminder used to feed her (now extremely overweight) kids absolute shit at 5pm - like bazed beans, canned spaghetti, potato faces, chicken nuggets. Then she would eat later.

Thankfully my parents said no to me eating there and I ate normal adult food with them at about 8. There is definitely this culture of feeding kids shitty oven food separately which I haven't seen anywhere else - I've always eaten at about 7/8 with the rest of the family, after they've come home from work and cooked.

I like Filet o Fish Lovemusic33 but my treat when I've worked late is a quarterpounder with cheese and large fries and a force march home from the station. My best time is 8mins 50 secs and it's still warm

Filet of fish? Yes please!!!

One DD always ate what we were eating, the other was more fussy and didn't like sauces for a while(but did love olives, gherkins and chorizo!!) but now she is 14 and eats most things and has done for a good few years. They both like a bit of junk too but not often.