To be annoyed at the exclusion of single parents

[Peachyfizz]

There was a bit up roar about the brewers fayre not including single mums in their Sunday mother's day deal.

Just seen a local place of ours saying mums go free with another full paying person. My parents are away and obviously friends are with their families. So just me and DS this mothering Sunday. So I have to pay full price as I normally would. Just feel sad that us single mums are made to feel excluded! It would be nice to have a treat! AIBU?

Not at all. This kind of thing is unfortunately rife. Gingerbread are campaigning on it currently- check it out on facebook

It’s not just single parents who lose out - it’s anyone single.

Look at the amount of 2-4-1 deals everywhere. I know it’s a business decision, but it’s still irritating.

And widows.
Yanbu.

It's essentially a two for one deal. Do you go into tesco and demand one of every BOGOF deal for nothing?

The offer is effectively one free meal with a full paying adult. Which is a perfectly acceptable offer. They are just using mother's day for marketing. It would be unreasonable to expect them to offer someone a free meal without another full paying adult.

And holidays... I've just paid for a holiday costing £1000s for DD and I - for another adult it would have been £50 more and a free child place grrrr

It would be fairer though to at least sometimes have a 50% off deal rather than things always being 2-4-1 / BOGOF.

They are a company, they can't give away a free adults meal with a paid for child's meal.

They haven't specified it has to be a family just another full paying adult. Is your child of an age where they will eat and adults meal? Maybe get around it that way.

But how is it unfair to those parents who want to go out with their kids and have no other partner to go with? It's exclusion no matter how it's looked at. It's making us single parents/widows feel excluded. If it weren't a problem then why are gingerbread campaigning?

I think for mothers / fathers day it should be free with an adult meal or 50% with a kids Neal

How old is DS? Buy him an adults meal?

I don't think they are trying to exclude single mothers but trying to cover the cost of the free meal with another adult meal being paid at full price.

Could you ask if they'll honour the deal if your DS orders off the main menu instead of the childrens?

smiling yes 50% off would be alot better!
So why is it some families can benefit from a deal but the not norm family e.g. 1 parent can't.
No as i said parents on holiday. Friends spending mother's day with their mums

You’re not going excluded though. You can go to the pub for a meal with your child.
People without kids are not excluded from places where kids eat free, they just don’t get the free kids meal.
There are gazillions of offers for loads of things and we can’t all fit the bill for all of them.

It isn't excluding anyone. You can still go for a meal you'll just have to pay the normal price.

How about you go out with another single mum and kid? Or a friend then split bill. ETC. ETC. It;s a BOGOF deal innit, you can hardly expect them to give you a free meal...

Btw this local place im talking of isn't a meal. It's a massive play park/area/adventure place. So no I couldn't ask for him to be an adult

Wagamuma in Wandsworth were lovely a couple of years back. Free pudding for all mums. Made to feel very special.
Single parents are also excluded from free child places on holidays.

If Gingerbread are campaigning about this single issue then they need to have another think - penalising other families isn't going to help any.
What about the fact that it costs me and DP twice as much to go than one person usually? Should I be complaining about that??

They could offer a free dessert for all mothers
Or a free glass of wine for example.
That includes everyone.

Unless I'm mistaken, they don't require you to go with your DC's father or your partner. Any adult relative/friend will suffice. It's a 2 for 1 deal, that's it.

And I'm not in the trade, but I would imagine the reason it's 2 for 1, and not just 50% off, is that they might hope to make money back from drink sales. One person eating with their children is unlikely to drink, whereas if a couple are there, one of them (hopefully mum) will get to enjoy a few drinks, and so there's more margin to be made off that table.

You can't seriously expect a business to give away free meals for no gain?
As others have said, they are saying 'this Sunday we're doing a 2-4-1 deal on adult meals'.
Good suggestion of buying your ds an adult meal, or, do what we do - ignore the marketing and go on another altogether less crowded, much nicer day when the deals and offers are generally cheaper prices anyway.

And the idea that Gingerbread complaining about it is any sort of proof there's an issue is just an appeal to authority fallacy.

Possibly it's aimed at adults taking their mothers out for lunch, folks. If your child is too young to take you out for lunch, perhaps they could do something nice for you that is age appropriate, and you can look for another bogof that works for you. There's a lot of expectation around Mothers Day isn't there.

As I have said it's not a meal but entry into an adventure play park!!
Yes free desert or drink is including more people.
Also as I have said no it's just me and DS. Parents are away and friends with their mothers! So no one else to come along. As I can imagine alot of other single parents also have no one else to go with otherwise there would have been no uproar.