To be perplexed at why people feel the need to be ashamed of giving their DC fast food?

[speedymama]

This morning, I was in the children's section of the library with my DTS and there was a woman who was with her son who was between 3 and 4yo. She spoke with a very posh accent which I overheard as she and her DS were deciding which books to borrow. After choosing the books, as they were going to the counter,her DS said on top of his voice

"Are we going to McDonald's now?"

She bent down quickly, said "Hush, we don't say that in public", looked around furtively and then scurried to the counter with a rather crimson face.

I just thought that it was really sad that she would feel ashamed of something as trivial as that. So what if she takes her DS to McD? She was very slim and her DS had rosy skin so on the outside, they looked healthy.

My attitude is that as long as you eat healthily most of the time, the occasional fast food is no big deal. My parents use to treat us to fish and chips about once a month and we are all healthy! I admit that I don't buy the DTS McD (I don't personally like it) but we occasionally have KFC or fish & chips.

Is this an indictment of the over-judgment of parents in our society? I wonder how many people who knock fast food drink copious amounts of wine which contains nothing but empty calories?

[chocolatedot]

In a nutritional sense, there is little difference between a Pret Tuna Mayo Baguette and a Big Mac. Both have similar levels of protein, the Pret sandwich has more fat (due to the mayo) and both are white bread. 'Freshness' is largely irrelevant as neither relies on fruit or vegetables for its nutritional content.

I don't really see the relevance of 'supersize me'. If you ate such a restricted diet of pretty much anything in the quantities he did for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month, you'd feel horrendous.

Nobody would every recommend a McD as anything other than an occassional meal but it's certanly no worse nturitionally than most Indian etc takeaways.

[Tomliboos]

I guess the Mum was embarrassed in case the people who overheard thought she went there all the time. That is embarrassing because a diet of McDonalds is not a nutritious diet to feed a child, just an easy meal to get the child to eat.

It's maybe based on how judgemental she thought the people around her were. How quick to assume they were.

We go to a McDonalds/Burger King when we are travelling on the motorway. It is cheaper and cleaner and faster than the other service station options. My 19 month old will have her own food that I've packed but also some tastes of our 'junk food'. When she's a little older I'll let her have a meal there, especially if there's peer pressure with her friends but it will be infrequently.

Nutrition is something I try really hard at with her and I want her to develop on a diet of healthy foods and grow healthily. Nothing to do with size, just her health and wellbeing.

I'd have no qualms if she shouted 'Let's go to McDonalds' when we were out. As it is she shouts 'Cream!' (meaning ice-cream or Mini-Milk) whenever she's at the beach and more often than not, we buy her one.

[TranquilaManana]

well i dont give a stuff about calories, but id be surprised if there really was 'not much in it nutritionally' between a maccas and something made of fresh ingredients.

i dont have a class prejudice aginst it. ive eaten tons of the stuff. ive got a 'ive seen the bloody movie and now could never think of it again' prejudice. based on the info conveyed therein. does informed decision count as prejudice?

course, having typed that, it occurs to me you might not mean me. doh.

agree tyhat the food in soft play places, well, many of them, is yukkity yuk. and mcd's is possibly nutritionally superior, and no doubt tastes better.

[chocolatedot]

This middle class prejudice about Mcdonalds is pathetic. I know people who boast that they would NEVER let their kids eat a McD and yet host birthday parties at children's soft play areas where the food is grotesque and undoubtedly inferior in quality to McD. There's more calories in a tuna and mayo baguette from Pret a Manger than a Big Mac and not much in it nutritionally either.

I shop local and preferably organic and cook everything from scratch. If we're travelling though or on our way back from a long outing we'll stop there. They now do grilled chicken and salad on a wholegrain bun - what's wrong with that?

[TranquilaManana]

dp takes dss when im not with them. and he gets him fruitshoots too.
i scowl disaprovingly of course.

[TranquilaManana]

i dont take mine to mcd's or other fastfood places so far. since watching supersize me, i havnt been able to think of it without picturing organ failure and braincell walls hardening and stuff.
no doubt it will go the way of all my 'standards' (ie down the pan) at some point not too far away tho. ho hum.

[motherinferior]

I can imagine feeling that shame, you know. You never know where a MNer might be lurking.

I once felt so guiltridden I started a thread on here admitting that my children ate crisps.

[TheOldestCat]

Incidentally, when I worked at MaccyDs, there were three groups you weren't allowed to upsell to (ie do you want a LARGE meal?) - "kids, old people and foreigners".

Agree with sophable though - it's the kids they target with the toys etc.

[Heathcliffscathy]

mcdonalds was the biggest treat in my family. we went once every few weeks and it was whoooooa.....and then dayvilles (predecessor of baskin robbins) where we gaped at the 21 flavours.

ds had his first mcdonalds yesterday. the reason i hate macdonalds so much is nothing to do with the food, it is the way they target target target and market market market to kids. he hadn't had a mcd's before yesterday, but he'd had teenage mutant injure (as he says) turtle figures....they'd got him even without him going in....

having said all that, i tasted a chicken nugget.....god it is utter utter crap isn't it? totally reconstituted yuck.

[Lorayn]

we just had a BBQ, with big thick greasy burgers, and chicken wings, and potatoes covered in butter, and the kids have had tow ice lollies today and a can of pepsi max each, but rest assured, tomorrow they will have their regular cereal breakfast, sandwiches and fruit for lunch and probably chicken,rice and a salad for tea, EVERYTHING is fine in moderation.

[thirtysomething]

IME those parents who go round being all holier-than-thou and say repeatedly that they never judge anyone, are the most hypocritical, judgemental ones. I bet your McDonalds lady in library is one of those. Now i'm being judgemental!

[Sheherazadethegoat]

i never go to macdonalds or any fast food joint and i am now judging you ALL!

[bookwormtailmum]

I'm not fond of taking my dd to McD's after the last time when I ordered her chicken nuggets and she wound up with a cheeseburger plus we were one tea short from what I'd asked for (my mum and dsis were with us as well). I don't have a problem with our eaing habits being discussed in public though. It's not as though we go there everyday it's about once a month, usually on the way back from a day out.

[TheOldestCat]

I won't be taking my DD to McDonald's, but only because I worked there years ago and the smell takes me back to awful, awful days of greasy toil.

Mind you, it was much nicer than my previous job in the Wimpy bar. And at least I didn't have to dress up as ronald McD - hated having to don the Mr Wimpy suit for kids' birthday parties. The little bleeders used to kick me! Probably high on Mr Wimpy's special sauce (mixed up tomato ketchup and mayonnaise, donchaknow).

[CharleeWeasley]

My DS get's a 'Donals' as he calls it after a long stay in hospital as a treat and he is quite happy to tell his Dr's and his dietician that he is going!

But im ok on this one as it is esential for him to have a hig fat diet so i don't feel to bad!

[welliemum]

MInd you, the opposite approach (very common on MN) of shouting to the rooftops, "I take my kids to McD's SO SHOOT ME" makes me a bit as well.

[welliemum]

That level of hypocrisy must be exhausting- being constantly in fear of being "found out". I couldn't be doing with that myself.

Either do McD's or don't (I don't) but why on earth should anyone care what strangers think?

[FillydoraTonks]

pmsl at "hush"

Come on now. No one says "hush"

problem with md imo is not so much that the food is bad for you-and lets face it, it pretty much universally IS, there is NO need for mds to exist for kids to have a balanced diet...

no its that it tastes vile. Absolutely rank. Why on earth set it up as a treat?

[Leati]

speedymama,

My kids eat pretty healthy to be honest. They are not over weight at all. Me on the other hand, I could afford to lose a few. Funny, because I am a vegetarian and never eat McDonalds .

[speedymama]

Leati, eating McD once a week will not make anyone obese if they eat a healthy, balanced diet most of time and exercise. I think McD do a chicken burger which probably has less calories than a mayonnaise drenched deli sandwich that you can buy in upmarket cafes

Most obese people are that way because they eat too much fat laden food (not just McD), probably drink too much wine/beer/non-diet fizzy drinks which contain lots of sugar and therefore supplies empty calories plus they don't move around much.

[Leati]

I buy my kids McDonalds about once a week!!! They love it and it is a good treat for good behavior.

However, I also just read that 75% of kids are expected to be obese in the US. So maybe once a week is to often.

[speedymama]

Er Franny, she did say it. Why on earth would I make that up?.

A few months ago I witness an obnoxious father who screamed at his daughter who looked about 6 "hurry up you stupid F*g bitch. I suppose that is embroidered too.

[lailasmum]

Its quite hard getting fast food round here other than fish and chips which I am rather partial to. I live in a town where the mcdonalds closed down due to lack of custom so fast food is a once in a while thing for us on the motorway mostly. I don't think anyone who actually thinks about what they feed their kids enough to feel guilty about the odd mcdonalds really needs to feel like that. Its the people who think its normal to only feed their kids junk and do it without a second thought that should gain a bit of guilt.

[LadyVictoriaOfCake]

trbh, once i na while for most foods is ok. i am not ashamed of the kids eating a macdonalds, as i have stated on herte before it is one of the few places that you can easily get an allergy list, and also a place i know my friends ds who has autism will also eat with us.

i do have a thing for the sweet chilli chicken deli sandwich as well

[lailasmum]

spose it depends upon the food whether its super greasy or not. But even then once in a while i'm sure its not that bad