How much of these things do you consider a treat?

[LajesticVantrashell]

Person A has done/given/bought her DC the following this weekend. Person B thinks this is excessive and that they're all treats which should be given rarely and sporadically.

1. McDonald's
2. Soft play
3. Swimming
4. A new book
5. A small bag of jelly sweets
6. A magazine

This is in between an afternoon in the park, a walk up a hill and some down time playing at home.

How often do your DCs do/have the above?

1. McDonald's
2. Soft play
3. Swimming
4. A new book
5. A small bag of jelly sweets
6. A magazine

I Don’t think any of the above is really a treat. It’s all pretty cheap to do and things I do / buy regularly.

1. McDonald's
2. Soft play
3. Swimming
4. A new book
5. A small bag of jelly sweets
6. A magazine

For a child?

1 - not a treat nor somewhere we went/go regularly. Normally only go if we are travelling on a Friday evening to the airport hotel or to visit friends for the weekend, at a motorway services. Very rarely at other times.

2 - before school age, fairly regularly as used to meet a friend or two there for a coffee and a catch up whilst the little ones played; once at school - less regularly but for the same reason but in the holidays. Rarely at a weekend.

3 - weekly swimming lesson when young, including a baby and parent class and then into group and individual lessons. Socially less often as I'm not keen on going swimming but somewhere we might have gone in the holidays with friends.

1. Not seen as a treat. Just as and when when dd was smaller. Teen Dd and me have kindles and we both just buy a new book ( or sometimes rent via kindle unlimited) when we finish a book, usually at least once a fortnight.

1. Some sweets occasionally, maybe once or twice a week but more regularly in holidays if I remember rightly.

1. Used to get a magazine subscription so fortnightly think it was. I think PILs got one as part of her present once. Otherwise occasionally - maybe in the holidays esp if it was wet and horrid, and for going on a place or train journey.

I would class a treat as something that was more of a whole day out. Theme park, trip to the zoo etc

1 McDonald’s is disgusting and unhealthy. Not a treat but an introduction to unhealthy lifestyle habits.
2 The soft play and swimming is staying active and healthy - not a treat but a requirement to do things like this often (or a bike ride, a long walk in the park, music/art/sport class).
3 Jelly sweets are a treat - once a week.
5 A book - every couple of weeks at most -especially if they’re really into a series, but reading encouraged by using school library and public library instead
6 A magazine - most on the shelves at the grocery stores are junk full of adverts for tv shows and plastic crap from China so those never. Our kids get a zoo magazine about 6 times a year as a benefit of membership and a monthly advert and tv character-free kids magazine from America that feels like a real treat.

Id say swimming and comic/mag not a treat, the rest are.

1. McDonald's - I go once a week with one of my children, other commitments dictate this the easiest option. We don't see it as a treat, it's just food to us.
2. Soft play - my DC don't like it (thankfully), would be a punishment.
3. Swimming - not a treat, a good activity for DC to be involved in.
4. A new book - not a treat, if my DC see a book they would like to read/be read to I will buy it. You can never have too many.
5. A small bag of jelly sweets - these are in our cupboard everyday, if the DC want them they can. They know fruit is healthier and often choose that over sweets.
6. A magazine - would depend on the type, educational vs one with toys etc in.

We eat out multiple times a week and buy things for no other reason than we like it and want it. As pp said life is for living. We are perfectly healthy etc.

All of those a treat in my book. Although I grew up in a large family with not much money spare so anything outside 3 square meals a day, 2 half coated digestives and a library book was a treat!

It's obvious you are parent A, because of the extra information at the end about it being inbetween a walk and a park visit. I say we could easily do all those things on a weekend and have done, especially if there are parties involved. But then we might only do free outdoor things for weeks. I don't really keep track. Personally I think your list is far preferable to staying at home and 'pottering' all weekend which a lot of people apparently do according to MN posts.

All normal weekend activities in our household. For us a treat would be going to the zoo, the cinema, the theatre or a theme park. I know we are fortunate to be able to afford those other things regularly though.

I'm with person A but replace mcdonalds and jelly with ice cream. We're veggie so don't eat that stuff anyway.

DH and I work so we try to make the most of the weekends.

We don't see swimming and books as treats and DD loves going to the library. Library is usually followed by a trip to the ice cream shop but not always. Soft play only happens if it works into our schedule.

1,2,5 and 6!
Magazines and sweets are rarities as is mc Donald's.
If mine do have magazines it's for birthday or summer holidays. Soft play they are a bit old for now, but we would go during some holidays.

Swimming is at least once a week, books are rugularly brought, usually they have 5/6 for birthdays and Christmas and extras when I find them.
Educational books are brought as and when needed or ad I see them.

I consider all of them a treat tbh

I'm a working class sole parent. I couldn't justify the cost of buying McDonalds more than very rarely when my child was younger. It's boring food that I could get cheaper from the supermarket if I wanted. I'd just pick up a a bag of nuggets and a tin of beans instead if I wanted an easy night. I can cut up my own apples too.

None of these by themselves would be a treat to me, though combined over one weekend it kind of verges on a ‘treat weekend’ iyswim.

I can’t help but laugh at the various posters falling over themselves to proclaim the loudest just how awful McDonald’s is. If it’s not the kind of food you like fair enough but the ‘it’s so unhealthy I only go once a decade’ posts just seem unnecessary. Plus I’d put money on some of these ‘McDonald’s is so awful’ posters quite happily buying their kids chicken goujons, handcut chips, artisanal ice cream or similar at an independent cafe or farm shop. Because that’s a nice middle class day out, whereas nuggets, chip and a McFlurry are a bit, you know...working class.

McDonald’s, Soft play and jelly sweets are treats all the rest are fairly standard

Surely the 'treat' is about the child choosing? We go to McD's very rarely (motorway services if we get stuck in a queue) but when grandparents offered to take them out for lunch that's what they chose - they could have gone somewhere more expensive but they wanted McD's drive-through.
Soft play only if it is a birthday party, but that's because I hate it!
Swimming - is a 'treat' because it is DD's choice of activity when there is one adult free to take her - she has a weekly lesson and so social swimming only costs us the price of one adult, and in itself it's a healthy activity, the treat is being able to choose what to do and having undivided attention.
Sweets - regular (weekly) treat.
Books/magazines - we buy lots of books, agree with previous posts about expensive small child magazines with plastic crap, but have a subscription to The Week Junior which all three kids read bits of. I'd see buying a book they wanted as a regular (monthly?) treat.
So all of those things in one weekend seems quite a lot but I would do them all at different times. Is that every weekend or was it a special thing? We try to have a weekend for each child once a year where they really get to call the shots and choose what they want to do e.g. Go to London on a train to see dinosaurs, and making those days happen has been really good y special for them. As we have three children there has to be a lot of compromising most of the time.

Maccies is food. Treaty, but still food.

Soft play and swimming are both treats, not normal to do both in.one day,aybe over a weekend, I'd they've been particularly good in the week.

A book, treatish. Unless an educational book.

A magazine, is definitely a treat. They're nearly as expensive as a book, if not more so.

A 35p bag of sweets, if they've been good while out, could have the treat at home after tea (before if a couple hours until tea)

Now depending on how Mrs n mr talked about things before going out (I'm guessing for the day) then if agreed to do all things in one day,

However, I get mum.n dad, did not talk before hand. Dad being dad went overboard, it's what dad's do.

First, it's absolutely nobody else's business how often a person takes their child swimming or buys them a magazine.
Second, being very restrictive over food and labelling it "disgustingly unhealthy" etc has been proven to actually increase the likelihood of developing disordered eating as the child grows up.

Gmom that's the kind of MN response we've all been looking for.

1. McDonald's - kids never had this
2. Soft play - not a treat - son does this weekly
3. Swimming - not a treat as they both do this weekly
4. A new book - Not a treat
5. A small bag of jelly sweets - they don’t really eat much sweets - friends parties sometimes so they don’t ask for it normally
6. A magazine - whenever they (older child who can read) wants

I would rather say McDonald's? as part of a Soft Play treat than endure eating their overpriced food in a sticky cafe. We tend to have weekends with lots of treats and others with nothing so that sounds quite reasonable unless you do it every week. McDonald's and swimming every week just sounds like a routine (again not having to eat the cafe food would win out). I've also never refused to buy a book, although charity shops are vastly cheaper than a bookshop!

For our family, this would be a very full weekend. Usually, we would not do all this in one weekend. Not due to 'treat' element but just - too much!

1. Eating out - TREAT
2. Soft play - for under 5s, this used to be a treat for ME (I could read a book whilst they played safely and happily). Older - TREAT
3. swimming - not a treat. weekly activity. A waterpark type place would be a treat a
4. A new book - not a treat
5. A small bag of jelly sweets - TREAT
6. A magazine - not a treat (unless you're buying one every day) as any reading etc is good for key skills

An afternoon in the park - not a treat
a walk up a hill - depends where. Random hill just a walk - not a treat. Day out which inkxides the walk = treat

Apart from magazines that’s pretty much every weekend for us. We also regularly go to the zoo/aquarium and mine get sweets/cookies everyday. Mine also get toys or something small most weekends.

I wouldn’t consider any of them treats really, just weekend activities.

Maybe a generational thing and I grew up poor in the 1960s,
but all would have been occasional treats for me - if they had existed at all then (McD's didn't !)

1. Eating out 1 x per year
2. No paid play anywhere
3. Swimming happened at school
4. Books from library except at birthday or Christmas
5. Sweets about 4 x per year
6. Magazine - never