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?

I hadn't read any other replies before I posted but I can see I'm along the lines of most others!

So are you A or B op?

1. McDonald's- treat, but not because it's good, but because it's terrible and shouldn't be eaten often.
2. Soft play- hmmm yes and no.
3. Swimming- no, swimming is great, although a treat in the way it's fun and really healthy, I just portray it as a regular activity. Then again it's really cheap here! If it was more of a water park type swimming session then a treat.
4. A new book- no, although tend to choose one from the charity shops most of the time, and get a new one if it's one they're really love.
5. A small bag of jelly sweets- no, although wouldn't want them to have them all the time.
6. A magazine- yes, because usually it's read once, the free toy lost and seems wasteful, so this is a fairly rare treat.

I would only class the magazine as a treat. My children ask for them but 99/100 I say no as they rip the tat off the front and then really look at the actual magazine.

All normal weekend activities here. We don't do McDonalds often and class that as a treat as I dont like DS to eat it much.

We do soft play and swimming weekly. Both good exercise as far as I'm concerned and I probably buy too many books but I love reading to DS and he loves looking through them. He's a bit young for magazines, but would be happy to buy them for him when older.

Sweets are rationed for health reasons so he can easily go weeks without them.

I think Person A has given their DC a lovely weekend (apart from the McDonalds - could have given that a miss) and Person B is being a bit of a killjoy.

Sounds fine, mine would probably have either soft play or swimming in one weekend unless it was swimming lessons. Books are great and encourage reading, Sweets are once a week on a friday, magazine and MacDonalds maybe once a month.
Sounds like a great weekend for the kids and theres nothing really extravagant on the list. I wouldn't worry what others say.

McDonald’s- they do not particularly like it so not a treat more emergency food when we are in something like a train station with few options!

Soft play- too old now but at the time, cheap one at the end of our road (£3 entry) standard rainy day trip expensive ones further afield were a treat

Swimming - not a treat at all they have membership as part of swimming lessons so going more often costs nothing, we go at least once a week

New book - treat unless it’s the free one with the world book day token!

Sweets - not a big treat but not totally regular

Magazine - I actually introduced pocket money specifically to deal with magazine nagging which drive me mad😂! So they have to pay out of their own money if they want it it would be a big treat for new to buy (but to be fair have pretty much grown out of that stage).

I don’t think the whole list is amazingly extravagant but more than mine would get in an average weekend. I would probably just have added swimming and sweets on the way home to the park activity and then called the weekend done!

All excessive.
They cost a fortune ...MacDonalds, swimming and soft play £4 up each plus the expense of shacks/ drinks travel. Book £5 and sweets just more sugar. No idea about magazines but that’s a couple of quid.

We just did walks, picnics, parks at weekends. Everything else was a treat.

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

1. McDonald's - My kids have never had this. I would never consider fast food a treat.
2. Soft play - a treat
3. Swimming - essential life skill.
4. A new book - to be encouraged. Not a treat.
5. A small bag of jelly sweets - a small treat. Nothing special.
6. A magazine - definitely a treat.

Sounds pretty normal to me apart from McDonald’s and sweets which I try to ration.

Swimming, books and even soft play (as much as I hate it) are all great for kids. Magazines are good for getting them to read.

As long as they can afford it I don’t see any issue?

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

Normal childhood activities.

McDonald's is a treat for us because it's unhealthy, not because of cost. DS has sweets every Friday after school. None of the others are treats imo, we do them regularly.

@crustycrab find it hard to believe you can’t think of any health reasons associated with McDonald’s so not sure why you’re asking. Not against it - think it’s a fun part of child life but personally as a treat e.g after cinema trip in school hols or on a weekend road trip after a long day. I remember being excited to go as a kid but only cause it was a treat and not a weekly meal replacement.

Personally would never give it to kids every weekend.

1. McDonald's - very rare
2. Soft play - treat
3. Swimming - my kids go every week exercise and to Learn
4. A new book - quite often
5. A small bag of jelly sweets - weekend treat
6. A magazine - never

Sounds like a fairly normal, nice weekend to me so I'm with person A. Hope they all had a lovely time!

All normal I would have thought, except maybe McDonalds in the interests of health.

If my friends told me they had done all these things at the weekend I would not judge them or think anything negative about it.

They are all normal weekend things to do. My ds would not want to do them all in one weekend because he likes alot of down time at weekends.

Swimming is what we do several times a week so it's not a treat.
Treats are things like the cinema and out for a meal which happens maybe 2-3 times a year.

Soft play, swimming and a new book are all lovely and if I had the money my DC would have these weekly! The rest are treats. McDonalds is a treat only given following an activity like a fun run, park run and the like.

It sounds expensive for one weekend, but not ott for a one off. I couldnt afford to spend that every week.
Having said that we have an annual passes for a
local zoo park and a soft play so can go to these as often as we like without thinking about cost.
Most of our books are from charity shops....

All of them are treats in our house as they are outside the norm

I live in the west. Flushing toilets, free thinking, being gay and democracy can be considered “extravagant” in some countries!
Must suck to be so small minded that you think there is only one ‘correct’ way.

My kids go to swimming lessons, hour of soft play & McDonalds every Tuesday.

My youngest picks a magazine most weeks instead of pocket money.

Don’t buy jelly sweets but we do have a snack drawer with mini party rings, mini cookies etc they dip into most days.

We tend to use the library but I will buy book
Box sets every so often.

I'm confused why people think a new book is not a treat but a new magazine is? Is it because magazines don't last as long?