To give my 18 month old Macdonalds?

[Benji4ever]

Twice a month I take my two DS swimming all afternoon. On way home we get a drive through Macdonalds

The 3 year old has a happy meal. The 18 month old has a few of the chips. That's it.

I saw a mum give me one of those looks as I took some chips from the happy meal and gave them to the little one.

Is this awful? Its only twice a month and only a few chips. Also the 18 month old drink diluted squash regularly.

Aibu to think in the grand scheme of things its not that bad?

[EarringsandLipstick]

meat from McDonald's is so incredibly processed and full of salt and other shit,

I'm fairly sure that's not true. In Ireland McD's use Irish beef, and that's all that is in the burgers.

All that being said, I have never brought my small DC to McDonald's, but that's not to say I have some massive objection. I just have a weird thing myself about fast food & takeaways, I don't like either. Now that they are older, they go occasionally with friends.

I wouldn't be keen on taking a 3 yo & 18
mo but like everything, I think it's your choice as a parent & it's all about balance.

[Johnnysgirl]

So long as your kid is being fed what does it matter.
What a very low bar you have. Not that a couple of chips would particularly bother me.
The squash is awful, though. What are you giving very young kids squash instead of milk or water, op?

[EarringsandLipstick]

@Hidingawaytoday

We stopped at a MacDonalds for lunch during a long journey a few weeks ago and I gave a few fries and a chicken nuggets to my then 10 month old. The vast majority of the time she eats food I've made so 🤷‍♀️

For a 10 month old, that's in advisable. The chicken is ok; the covering isn't, due to salt content. It's not about being unhealthy, you're right that a few nuggets are fine - the salt content for such a small baby isn't appropriate though.

[liveforsummer]

Surely they need more than a couple of chips after swimming? There's nothing wrong with the occasional McDonald's. No worse than a ham sandwich for example

[stuntbubbles]

I wouldn’t personally, for either age, but I wouldn’t be in McDonald’s to judge you, unlike the mum giving you looks! If it’s good enough for her, she shouldn’t be judging you.

The squash is bad, though – why not just water?

[toffeechai]

I think that’s too often. And ditch the squash!

[MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler]

I wouldn’t give it to a three year old or an 18 mo. I wouldn’t give them squash either.

[HeartofTeFiti]

My dh got my ds in this habit and it’s unbreakable. It horrifies me as he eats junk far too much. My dh thought it would be “funny” to give dhdiet coke when he was two. Now ds just wants coke. I say no and daddy says yet. And daddy uses it to pacify and spoil my ds and then I get the blame for his bad diet and addiction to junk food by my MIL! I have spoken to dh about it over and over but as soon as my back is turned he does it. So I’m always the bad guy and literally my son prefers his dad because he gets happy meals and toys.

whenever I get the dirty look or comments about junk food from Mil I say quite plainly “I don’t know why you are saying that to me; it’s your son that started feeding him rubbish and taking him to MacDonalds twice a month, not me. I am not the one giving him sweet fiZzy drinks. I unite the contrary I’ve asked your son to stop it NX he refuses. You’re speaking to the wrong parent about the problem and you’d be doing me a favour if you moaned at him instead of me, because he ignores me like he does on everything else.”

[Caspianberg]

I wouldn’t be bothered enough by what your feeding your children. You know it’s not daily

We eat homemade, organic etc 99% of the time. Ds has had Mac Donald’s a few times, he’s 2. Usually at a motorway type one after flights at silly times when it’s just convenient. I ask for unsalted chips, get a fruit purée or milk carton, and he’s happy enough. I saw recently they do fishfingers as kids option which I would probably also get him in future.

[fufflecake]

I'd be more concerned about the squash

[skippy67]

It's absolutely fine. Watch the squash thing though.

[Dajeeling]

They’ve been swimming beforehand and it’s once a month… I’d be interested how many commenting are either child free or have just the one child. Honestly it’s absolutely fine, there are plenty of scumbags around who don’t feed their children at all or very inadequately constantly and certainly don’t take them out swimming etc, save energy and get worked up about those.

[GoldenSpiral]

I wouldn't give McDonald's to either child so often but I wouldn't judge another parent. I wouldn't give squash to an 18 month old either.

[Glittertwins]

Personally I didn't do this at that age. They did have only water and milk for drinking until they were older and I didn't like the amount of salt that McDonald's would put on fries before packing them.

[maddiemookins16mum]

Assuming the wain gets her tea when she gets home, a few fries aren’t going to hurt. I never get the angst on here about chips AND squash. A wee cup of squash now and then really isn’t going to do any long term harm. It’s another world on here where kids only ever drink water.

[Caspianberg]

I have to say, whilst I don’t give Ds any squash and we don’t drink any at home as adults. As children, myself and siblings all grew up on high strength full sugar squash, and ate junk food all day. As adults none of us have teeth issues or weight problems.

So I tend to think as with everything just quantity. Too many calories makes you fat, doesn’t really matter if it’s from healthy food or junk.

[Overthebow]

Occasionally for both dc is fine, but I wouldn’t call every other week occasionally. I wouldn’t give a 3 year old McDonald’s twice every month, and certainly not an 18 month old. Squash at 18 months is bad too, wait until they are a bit older and then only occasionally. Water and milk are fine.

[UndertheCedartree]

Obviously, the person who gave you the look has no idea how often they have it so is being ridiculous.

Personally, I don't think a few fries is a problem as such but a couple of times a month, DC of that age having McDonald's seems a bit much to me. Mine didn't have McDonald's til older but we're vegetarian and they didn't use to have a vegetarian Happy Meal. I agree it is convenient sometimes and my teen probably has far too many McDonald's and fizzy drinks (out with friends as well as with me) so I can't really talk!

[GoldenSpiral]

It isn't just about sugar for me re squash, it's that they are often jam-packed with artificial sweeteners and I just don't want my DC to expect their drinks to taste sweet all the time. It's harder to get a child to drink water if they are used to sweet drinks in general.

[KyaClark]

My MIL put squash in my baby's water cup the other day. He's happy to drink water. He doesn't need squash.

She did this with my eldest, too.

Pisses my right off.

[KyaClark]

My MIL put squash in my baby's water cup the other day. He's happy to drink water. He doesn't need squash.

She did this with my eldest, too.

Pisses my right off.

[allabouttheviews]

Assuming they eat fairly well the rest of the time I don’t think it’s an issue. Agree with others that I would ditch the juice though. There’s just no need.

[Benji4ever]

Ah. I thought the chips were better than nuggets but I'll look it up. It's not their dinner. Its a 4pm treat and I just give DS2 some chips to treat him too. DS1 eats the nuggets in about 15 seconds but hardly has any chips (stolen by his brother). Its about twice a month but we are definitely in a routine where if we go for a swim they expect a McDonalds and 3 year old is excited about getting it. Which isn't great

Squash. I don't know how we ended up doing that. The older one has a couple of v diluted squash a day...one in the morning and one after nursery and little brother always wants the same as the older one. But I'm starting to give it more and more at weekends. It's v diluted but I'm worrying about their teeth. I know the 3 year old will kick off but I've just gotta be stronger about this stuff. Sometimes when they're both screaming about something...its too tempting to say "squash DS1?" And it always stops the meltdown

[UndertheCedartree]

@MolliciousIntent

Tbh I wouldn't be impressed with your 3yr old having a happy meal. Chips I couldn't get worked up about, but meat from McDonald's is so incredibly processed and full of salt and other shit, I absolutely would not give that to a child.

RE the diluted squash, I think that's a bad call for a kid so young - all they need is water and milk - it will just give them a taste for sweet stuff and that will cause lots of problems down the line.

Have you ever tasted breast milk? They get a taste for sweet stuff from newborn!

Not saying I think squash is good for youngsters but it's not their first taste of something sweet.

[GoAround]

I don’t see anything wrong with a happy meal on occasion especially if their every day diet is good and varied. I’d never seek out one but we eat there probably every few months when we happen to stop at a services on a long trip. Bit weird that your 18MO only gets a few chips whilst the 3YO gets a full meal though, aren’t they properly hungry after swimming? My 18MO would be raging if we tried to fob him off with only a few chips! There’s zero need for squash though, especially as it’s a salty meal, I’d only give water.