McDonald’s isn’t a ‘treat’

[Busybeebeebee]

I’ll try and keep this simples.

Both my sons go to their dad alternate weekends Friday 4pm- Sunday 3pm.
On a Friday when he picks them up, they go to McDonald’s for tea.
Saturday they tend to go somewhere like Brewers Fayre which although is marginally better still processed chicken crap with fries and a token corn on the cob.
Sunday it’s back to McDonald’s for lunch.

He genuinely sees no issue with this.

AIBU?

YABU - yes, all kids like McDonald’s and twice in a weekend is fine.

YANBU - cooking something decent for growing kids twice a fortnight isn’t difficult!

Don’t get me wrong, in an emergency I would stop and grab them something in McDonald’s but I can’t get my head around it being something to get excited about. 4 shitty nuggets, tiny portion of fries and a milkshake. They don’t even like the toys.

I hold my hands up, I’m not a food nazi or anything like that, I just genuinely am astounded.

Yanbu, that's a disgusting amount of junk food every other week. I don't actually believe the posters who are so sanguine about it.

I get the impression that ex husband and his wife eat out most days. Again not massively good quality places. They had their engagement at a well known American fast food place. I’ll probably be outed for this now .

@IWorkAtTheCheescakeFactory no haven’t posted about this before, however I suspect that there are probably many ‘part time parents’ (I feel bad using that description but I don’t know how else to word it) who do the same as my ex, just maybe not as frequently.

YANBU he's a lazy fucker, he's also being a Disney dad!

I wouldn't be keen on them having 2 McDonald's in one weekend. However you can't really police his parenting meal choices on his weekend. If you have a reasonable working relationship with him you could suggest healthier eating out alternatives to him. Eg. I don't think 2 Macdonald's at the weekend is good for the kids. Could you swop one for a Toby's. That is just as quick but will hopefully get some vegetables into them. Mind if you do think this is a good idea I would suggest it for the Friday night or the Saturday. We took the family for one last Sunday and it had to be booked and was madly busy. If he goes when it's like that he might only go once

Perhaps suggest pizza? Least has some nutritious value

YANBU but unless you want to have an argument which may upset the children ,you may have to "suck it up" as they say! I think in the long run although far from ideal ,not much you can do really .They are getting fed and the Brewers Fayre menu is fairly plain ,just chicken /chips and so on.Incredible that he was complaining about lack of protein when you were together though!

I just re-read your opening post and see that your boys go to dad's on alternate weekends, not every. Therefore I wouldn't worry about it too much but advise them to choose something decent from the menu. I just looked at McD's and fancy Jamaican chicken; they also do fish and you can buy a bag of fruit, apple and grape I think. I'm feeling hungry now!

Was it McDonald's were they had their engagement then? Maybe, they just really like Mcnuggets 😁

My dd won't eat McDonalds and says it tastes "yucky" 🙂. I'm ridiculously proud of this 😂

is this what passes as a 'treat' now ??

Lazy parenting.
He should be cooking- teaching his sons how to cook and setting an example,
McDonalds is crap.
We as a family use it, because it convenient, we are pushed for time.

@Bluerussian I'm going tonight for the Jamaican burger. I have it on good authority from Ds it's lovely and spicy! Clearly its a treat for me as I feel quite excited about it 😳

A ‘treat’ when they are at home would be pizza express and that’s probably about once a month at most because again most of that is dough, cheese and pudding.

Maybe I’m just harsh but when I make their pizzas at I insist on adding sweet corn, onions. peppers and tomatoes.

Anyway I don’t wanna make this into me being ‘holier than thou’ because I’m far from it but I just got a bit of the rage when he announced they were off to McD again.

I did ask him not to give them a mcD lunch on Sunday as they’ve asked me to make roasts on a Sunday when they get home now (youngest has suddenly decided gravy and roast potatoes is the best).

My son has a dad like that. Fortunately he's reduced contact to such an extent he only gives him two meals a fortnight now and one of those is breakfast that ds often skips because he's too busy playing on his Xbox 🙄

My kids have this exact arrangement, but I've brought them up veggie so they get the alternative "cheese bites" or whatever it is. I've never (and will probably never) take them to Macdonalds in almost 9 years as a mum and am strict with fruit, veg and sweets, so I just think it's not going to kill them, they're fit and healthy (we do miles and miles of walking) and they definitely see it as a treat.

I enjoyed the occasional MacDs as a kid and it was a treat to me. It didn't damage me. Went Veggie at 18 and haven't been inside one since (30 now).

Certainly lazy and rubbish food, but he gets to choose what they eat when they're with him, so there's not much point getting worked up about it really. You wouldn't want him policing your food choices when they're with you.

Whether your DC see it as a treat or not depends on them. Mine aren't keen and would hate to have to go there that often - maybe talk to your DC about some healthier choices at McDs?

yanbu
once in a while, ok.
but 2-3 times. a. week.

lazy bastard.

YANBU

I don't think it's necessarily the question whether it's a treat or not or it's too often.

It just seems that their dad seems like he can't be arsed to make them a decent dinner/lunch

Friday nights every other week? Sure.

But that sounds excessive. How hard is to make some pasta & veg? Lazy git.

I think it's really disrespectful and says to me he doesn't give a shit about them . It's so unbelievably selfish and lazy It's making me quite angry on your behalf.

Yanbu. But omg I would love for this to be the problem I had with my children's 'father '.

Oh just read they don't do the cheese bites anymore so my kids get the "Three lightly-breaded fingers of tender filleted Hoki."

Sounds a lot better than the dripping with grease double big mac whopper thing I used to get as a kid

The other week mine had McDs on Friday after school then again Saturday for lunch after we'd had a Wetherspoons breakfast! Personally I can't stand it. But it's one of the only things they all eat.

If yours aren't fussy and this is purely laziness I may think about saying something like only doing McD's once a weekend and maybe somewhere more nutritious another time under the guise of 'variety'.

I can see why he’s your ex.