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?

These replies are hilarious. How we all didn't keel over and die from heart attacks at 8 years old in the 80s/90s is beyond me🤣

I’d say it’s much more important what they have day to day at home than what they have once or twice a month. Same for adults.

The quality of McDonalds food has improved a notch I think since the 80s/90s. Of course it’s still a fairly poor meal, but I doubt nutritionally that much worse than 1000s of the frozen processed stuff and ready meals you’ll find in Tesco and elsewhere.

Some people will scorn a couple of McDonalds a month while giving Frosties or Coco Pops for breakfast every day followed by some processed crap in the evening.

Chip shop chips for toddlers? No. But a holiday maybe once or twice a year is different to every other week.

Hilarious? I can't imagine everyone spent the 80's eating pure shit? Maybe you did, but it's a bit of a stretch to think it was a universal experience.

Every few months- yes. Every two weeks is a little too frequent for me. And I love a MaccyD's and am a fairly relaxed baby-led weaning parent.

I agree with you about some of the replies @Sunnyqueen

However, growing up in 80s & 90s myself we almost never had fast food (McD's hadn't come to Ireland then either!). Like everything there was good & bad. Our food was pretty limited - we didn't have pasta till I was in my teens, bread was always white, always meat at every meal; but there was no snacking, much less sugary stuff, and food was generally, food without all the trans-fats, excessive processing of today.

I think it's the same today - there's good & bad. There's much better awareness of nutrition & different options around food; there's also way too much hysteria at times; but also there's an excessive snacking culture & an obesity epidemic that's not properly challenged.

How is someone giving you the dirty looks about this when you’re going through the drive thru? I’d be more worried about your 18mo choking on the backseat tbh.

Exactly! Well put.

My DD was an incredibly picky eater at around 2 and only ate a very limited variety od food. I took her to a dietician and she said OK for her to try anything and she specifically said "even chips"
DD is now 16 and would eat chips every day given half the chance but we only have occassionally.

My parents were shit, but actually meals were healthy. Potatoes and vegetables at almost every dinner. Very little processed food. I didn’t know any children that had sugary snacks every day or fizzy pop often. Takeaways/junk food were so rare, we almost never had it.

I find the comments "it's up to you" "you do you" etc odd??

Of course its up to me. But I'm asking opinions because I want to know what others think.

Isn't that the purpose of AIBU? Of course everyone can make their own decisions without asking anyone else but then MN literally wouldn't exist.

Meh, my 3rd child is made of hula hoops and happy meals. Don’t worry about the odd happy meal.

Once in a while is absolutely fine IMO.

Not sure you're in a position to advise, really 🤣

None of this would bother me. The maccys, the squash or the woman stalking me with her eyes.

The judgy lady was presumably also in McDonald's though so can't really take that line. One of the drive through servers the other week gave me some free nuggets for ddog after she saw her sitting looking cute on the seat. I can confirm ddog was delighted!

When you compare McDonald’s to processed food/ready meals, there’s probably not much difference. But kids shouldn’t be fed that stuff either really. It’s sad that so many kids diets are so bad, but it will only get worse with cost of living increases.

What people mean is: ' yes, I might have a view on this that's different to yours, but it's your decision'. They are still giving you their opinion (you've got lots here!) without being judgy

It's a bit odd you've picked up on the few replies saying this, when you have lots of posts offering you their opinions!

What’s so wrong about the odd happy meal as a treat? You can even have carrot sticks if you’re worried about chips!

Lots of very perfect parents on this thread then that have never given their kids any sort of junk? I cook mostly from scratch for my twins now, but I totally understand the convenience/treat factor. It’s not like OP gives them MCDs every day is it?

Then honestly, I think it’s shit. Shit food, shot parenting. You did ask.

Lots of very perfect parents on this thread then that have never given their kids any sort of junk?

Have you read the thread?

Most people haven't said this at all. They've said that they do give fast food or whatever but maybe more rarely.

Every fortnight is too much for such small kids.

Personally, I don't like fast food and fast food restaurants. I've never really brought my DC. However, I like sweet things, so I bake, buy chocolate & the kids often have treats in that way. Someone else would be totally opposed to that

What's non-negotiable in my house is lots of activity - my kids play a lot of sport, and I exercise a lot.

Yes it is - you just need to ask for no-salt fries and they'll make you some fresh.

To be honest I would have probably given you a judgy look when I had my first child. I then had 3 and the youngest definitely had a happy meal before 2. People are really snobby about McDonald, but actually it’s not that bad (in terms of fast food option). The restaurants are always clean in my experience.

I wouldn't give either the mcdonalds fries at that age and they wouldn't be drinking juice.

Our DS first had mcdonalds recently hes 5, he does like the milkshake, but he doesn't have the fries he has the melon bags instead. But he will only go 3 times a year maybe so its not a big deal.

Who said anything about just eating pure shit? Typical mumsnetter jumping the gun to suit their narrative 🤣🤣
For clarity we had macdonalds every Friday as a treat after school. The rest was mix of healthy salads in the summer, pastas, casseroles, roasts, stews and then turkey dinosaurs, pizza etc on other nights. Definitely never drank just water always squash or juice and people still constantly ask if I've had work done on my teeth or have had them whitened - I haven't.