To get an 8.5 yr old a happy meal?

[QuickSloeGo]

Obviously irrelevant if you don’t eat McDonald’s...

Twice recently I’ve had friends kids out and about and for ease I’ve resorted to McDonald’s. Not the days main meal.

I still buy my 8 yr old a happy meal, even I rarely buy an adult full meal unless I’m starving or I’ve eaten little else. For lunch I’ll happily get a wrap.

Both times his friends have been incredulous at the happy meal, I’ve bought them full meals and their parents have confirmed they always have a full meal. One laughed and said she lets him make it large.

I will always follow rules for other people’s kids, but am I out of step with 8 yr old boy portions? It seems plenty to me for lunch. He doesn’t complain, his 6 yr old sister doesn’t finish them. They are slim but a healthy slim and full of energy. I’m a very normal about 22ish bmi so mid range healthy and I don’t diet.

My 8 year old had cheese burger happy meal tonight after swimming, my 7 year old had a chicken nugget happy meal. The 7 year old didn't finish his, the 7 year old was a for A box of 20 nuggets instead of ice cream. He ate 14 of those. There's nothing on him, still fits in age 4/5 clothes albeit them being far to short.

@QuickSloeGo (sorry, I've realised I've referred to you as 'QuickSloeGin' all the way through the thread)..

My Mum's bread dumplings (more like 'boulders') that go with her Hungarian Goulasch. She's a meat and carb junkie in equal measure. She brought back (by car) over 100kg of meat the last time she went. This is mostly pre-cooked meats that you just heat up, frankfurters and the like. I had to buy another freezer to help her store it. She's going again in a few months... yikes!

My son's best friend always asks to order from adult menu when we visit mcds or pizza hut
Surely you should say ' which happy meal do you want?' or ' right lads, your choice is........this meal or this one ( what ever the child's meal is)
Your the adult or now that you know what he is like don't go there.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe gin is appropriate

www.claudiascookbook.com/2014/11/25/ukrainian-beef-filled-pyrizhky/ these may go down well!

I’d never tried processed meat really before I went to Austria. No bacon etc, and not much meat. Just chicken or pork really, normally in small amounts. A bit of polish sausage, but not often and it’s lighter. Can you imagine what my gut was like after the first month in Austria!!?

DS usually had chicken snack wrap, sometimes in a meal, or a chicken mayo burger off the saver menu. He thought a Happy Meal was babyish once he was about 4 and wasn't interested in the toys. Now at 12 he will have a snack wrap meal or a full size wrap on its own, he can't manage fries as well.

My 9.5 year old has a happy meal and so do I now they do a veggie one and I'm 51' Quite enough junk food for one meal thanks!

I’m always surprised at how controlling some people are with food.

For me eating out is a nice treat and to be be enjoyed whether it’s mcds, tgi fridays or beefeater (seeing a theme here in my house ??)

And so whatever you fancy eating is what you can have ! (well to be fair it is typically some form of burger and chips for the kids) and if they want pudding and milkshakes they can have it - what’s the point of eating out if it isn’t enjoyable?

All the adults who get Happy Meals - what do you do with the plastic crap?

What do I do with the plastic crap? I usually offer it to a small child at a nearby table.

There are ADULTS who order Happy Meals because they want a smaller portion. As long as your son is getting enough to eat (as evidenced by his not being hungry) I don't see a problem with it.

They don't do it anymore, but when I worked at Burger King years ago they had Kids' Meals and Big Kids' Meals. The Big Kids' meals had a small drink instead of a kids' drink and a choice of double hamburger or cheeseburger and 6 chicken tenders, as opposed to a single hamburger or cheeseburger or 4 chicken tenders that were the options for the regular kids' meal.

My 9yo DS has a happy meal, he’s started getting the 6 nuggets one instead of 3 but sometimes he doesn’t finish them all.

DD 12 isn’t a real fan and just gets a large fries.

Mumshappy
Do you realise my comment wasn’t to the op? It was to a poster, who has a 10 yo. Obviously fine to give a happy meal to an 8 yo ffs.

I won't buy it anymore as trying to cut down on plastic waste and DD just throws the toy away after a few uses.

She now has chicken nuggets and a drink (not bothered about fries).

Seems that most u10''s are happy with the Happy Meal. I wonder whether the boys that asked for adult meals had older brothers and sisters and had moved on a bit faster due to that. For me this would have been a big extra cost.....about £3 extra per child suddenly added to the cost you had budgeted for. I rarely buy DD (13) a standard adult meal for this reason, she started wanting more than a Happy Meal (and rejecting the plastic) at about 11. Now she has a double cheese burger and medium fries from the individual menu. Very occasionally a quarterpounder meal if eating in, but I would generally have the drink from it as a coffee just to sit with as I don't eat anything there. Recently have had some of the big Mac and fries £1.99 vouchers from filling in the survey and she asks for it plain without the gherkins and sauce. Good as no automatic drink option and we always have water in the car for afterwards. I would have let these boys reject the Happy Meal option but choose from the individual menu. Double cheese burger, standard fries and small diet drink would be under £4 compared to around £6 for the adult meal deals and less temptation to binge on a gallon of chocolate milkshake just because it's included.

My 8yr old has a Happy Meal and so do I! She never finishes it though, so I would get the "healthy" one (no chips, but veg and a milk) and we share the chips.

My son is 4 in a few weeks & can already finish a nugget happy meal I was just joking with his dad about if they can add a toy to an adult meal!

All kids have different appetites. And no my son is not eating McDonald's regularly nor is he overweight! Nor would eating 1 meal ever make someone fat, some people in here have a really unhealthy relationship with fast food.

All the adults who get Happy Meals - what do you do with the plastic crap?
Give it to the nearest child; they are usually delighted!

Depends on the child's appetite. I do think if you're treating a friend's child then you shouldn't insist on a happy meal/ vice versa- the child should be able to choose. I remember being on adult meals at 8 but my appetite was huge as I did lots of sports/ athletics most days of the week.

You don’t have to keep the toy from the happy meal you can give it back unopened.

My 8 and 10 year olds still have happy meals however when we bring their friends, they do request a normal meal which I get them. It does always surprise me if I am honest but only because I know my lot wouldn't finish it and that is what I am used to. One 10 yr old friend requests a large meal and an extra side too - his appetite is huge. Mine have always had small appetites, unlike me - I could probably eat two big meals if I let myself haha!

My teen gets a normal sized meal, I think she stopped happy meals at around 12 or 13.

We rarely go to McDonalds, but my 8 year old DD has recently started complaining that Happy Meals didn't fill her up. Last time we went, she had 6 nuggets, small chips & a water and she was fine. I don't see an issue with it, it's probably less than they'd serve up at a pub lunch!

Dc are 8 & 9 and have been having adult meals for a while. Happy meals are just not enough to fill them up. They are both healthy, slim and active and mcd’s is a once in a blue moon treat so I’m happy for them to eat what they want (usually a medium Big Mac or Chicken Big Mac meal)

DS 7 may be sugar intolerant, bread's on the banned list. We usually go to McDonald's for breakfast once every school holiday, he always has a bacon roll meal. Would bacon, a hash brown and water be enough of a breakfast?

@Crunchymum if you're still around, are you are aware that it's cheaper to buy one box of 20 nuggets than even 2 boxes of 6?

Bizarre pricing where 6 is something like £2.59, 9 for £3.29 or 20 for £4.29, so if you're buying more than 6 nuggets, you might as well get 20.

I do get an occasional happy meal - an adult meal really is too much for me unless I'm starving, and a small one is just right. I give the toys to my nephews.

If we get McDonald’s it’s usually our main meal of the day.. Ds2 has been on the adult meals since about 8 or 9 (I do think being a younger sibling is part of it, he wants the same choices as his db). I’m 36 and I still usually get a happy meal!! He started ordering off the adult menu in most places at that age too. It’s a pain in that it’s more expensive, but the choices on the kids menus are just never as good (and he does like a wide range of stuff rather than just nuggets etc, so it seems only fair).