To take DD 5 to McDonald's every other weekend?

[quincyquince]

She's gluten free, so has a portion of small chips and either a small mcflurry or orange juice or sauce with the chips.

We go after swimming.

This is ok, right? My friend thinks it's awful that she goes twice a month. But it's not like she's having the processed bread and cheese and stuff all the time?

**TheHerboriste · Today 08:30

Agree.

Dozens of visits per year to McDonald’s isn’t great parenting.**

Just one example where someone (you) has said she's not a good parent.

This is what it is for me.

I really do believe “treating” your kids to ultra processed, unethical crap is misguided though.

We have to actually realise what we’re doing as adults to break this cycle.

At 5 years old, kids only know what we show them / feed them. Don’t start making associations with mc d’s as rewards or treats. If anything call it what it is - convinient for you as a parent. Most 5 year olds would prefer a magazine or a
trip to the park.

Not in any way shape or form
Some people just have a stick up their ass about food

This week we have had pizza from dominos, hungry jacks, kfc and kebabs - been busy, not in mood to cook, ZERO f*cks given

Same here, I grew up on homemade good quality food, hardly anything processed, no junk apart from crisps once a year on my birthday.
As soon as had freedom to buy my own food I went crazy buying loads of crisps, sweets etc and it has set me up for years of yo-yo dieting.

My children grew up with generally healthy food but also a decent amount of crisps, chocolate and takeaways and now as adults have a lot more balanced approach to eating.

OK. I mean Wikipedia and Google are available. But if you insist…

Coeliac Disease… Auto-immune Disease. NHS very serious about it - as if you don’t stick to a gluten free diet you get a really horrible and difficult to treat bowel cancer.

I had complete villous atrophy, severe malnutrition, 19 mouth ulcers that wouldn’t heal and ulcers all throughout my digestive system. If I eat gluten i can barely wake up for three days. It destroys me.

It’s not anaphylactic. It won’t kill me quickly. It will kill me slowly.

I'm not ashamed. Every other meal they have is relatively healthy. I'm a mum of four balancing home education, a million clubs and running my own business. Sometimes grabbing a (I would say cheap, but as three of them are older, it's more expensive than the fabulous days when a happy meal satisfied them) quick meal that they'll all enjoy and fills them while we are dashing from football training, dance, cadets, parents being of the kids in school takes a bit of stress off my plate.

My 5 year old is currently eating a homemade carrot and spinach muffin and had porridge with blended fruit and avocado for breakfast. Last night she had a chicken nuggets happy meal with chocolate milkshake. Tonight they'll have homemade lentil shepherd's pie wirh sweet potato mash (and probably chocolate brownies that my husband made at work with ice cream for pudding). The night before they had curry - cooked from scratch.

It's called balance.

They're healthy, fit kids - the reason they've had two McDonald's this week is ironically because of dashing between sports clubs. I don't for one moment doubt rhat my young teenagers occasionally buy junk food when they're out with their friends, but that's fine because I know that about 80% of their diet is home cooked, mostly unprocessed food with a fuck tonne of vegetables.

So no, I'm not proud, but I'll never be bloody ashamed. I'd be ashamed if I was someone who judged others though.

I never get why people are so unsure of their choices and decisions that they take on board the berating and judgment of 'friends' and need validation from a bunch of complete strangers to re-assure them that what they are doing is ok.

If you are happy with how you are raising (and feeding) your daughter then that's just fine, have more confidence in yourself!

Wow.

Absolutely this.

my dc introduction was at a motorway services , we were all hungry, around 5yo (there isn’t one in the town I live in)

got them both happy meals saying something like ‘this food is super quick, let’s try it’

eat.

‘do you like it?’

dd1 ‘no. I like the toy though.’

dd2. ‘I don’t like the burger. I like the chips and toy though.’

next ten years - treats were toys

now, both teenagers making their own choices, neither will choose mcds at the services, they choose the M&S to go stuff. I choose mcds!

Reading comprehension is your friend.

I said “not great.” Meaning, sub-optimal. Possibly mediocre.

Those words are not equivalent to “bad.”

Perhaps spend more time with a dictionary than trying to “gotcha!” on mumsnet.

I don’t feel “restricted all the time” because I’m not making a weekly trip for greasy fast food.

This sounds a great healthy approach and will instil normal healthy attitudes to food imo.

Or, maybe you could spend more time practicing being kind rather than a judgemental arse because someone has a different idea to you on something like food.

Agree. I’m doing mine now so that they are ready for snacking all weekend. I’m just scrolling to find something to cry about so that I can use fresh tears

Thankyou. Don't get me wrong if I offered them a bowl of fruit or a bar of chocolate they're going to go for the chocolate, but the vast majority of people would.

I go for an 80/20 approach. If 80% of their diet is generally 'good', then I don't mind a bit of crap, as long as they're getting plenty of exercise and fresh air.

Some people have a blind spot when it comes to food quality - They'll tell you McDonalds is toxic sludge but will feed their kids literally anything if it's sold in Waitrose, and contains oats, or has a posh-girl name on the box.
Better to look at the ingredients list and take a view once you're armed with some actual facts. I don't think there's much wrong with a McDonalds from time to time. Most children are bright enough to understand that some things are ok to have occasionally but not every day.

When someone invites judgment by posting “AIBU to…” in a forum frequented by 1000s, they are inviting judgment. It’s disingenuous to become indignant at receiving a variety of honest feedback.

Also, who appointed you the comments police?

What i mean by that is if i have a craving for say kfc or maccas, i will just get it
I wont say no ive already had it X amount of times this week/month/year and choose something else
For me not doing that would feel restrictive.
I have to feel like what im eating or my appetite is non existent

"I don't like the idea of McDonald's so frequently" is very different to "this makes your parenting choices not great".

OP asked whether people thought McDonald's every couple of weeks was ok. Not for judgement on her parenting.

Who made you the parenting police?

Since 5-year-olds don’t typically source their own food, what they consume is a direct result of the quality of parenting they receive.

I should have thought that was obvious to anyone, and pertinent to the OP’s query.

It’s not to be proud of or horrified by. It simply is. @EmmaEmEmzwill not die, suffer or otherwise be affected by it. She will probably just be much happier and less uptight than some of the posters here. Myself included. Btw… I’ve had 3 but has been a particularly busy “grab it and go” kind of week. I’ve also been to the gym 5 times, eaten well for the other meals and walked approx 18k steps per day.

Or maybe you just like to feel like a superior parent because you choose to feed your child differently.

I wouldn't have thought this was obvious. Food choices are about more than parenting quality. Time, money and other commitments play a role too.

There will always be a huge spectrum when it comes to parenting. Unless people are actively seeking to harm their child, is there a need to judge? Just parent your kids how you want. The question wasnt 'am i terrible parent', it was is it ok to take DD to mcdonalds every other weekend'

It also means that if the food a child receives is a direct result of the quality of parenting, all those people who lost jobs or are on low incomes are therefore deemed terrible parents because they are feeding their kids what they can afford.

I was looking at our food costs the other week and noticed that a box of six apples cost twice as much as a kilo and a half of frozen chips. If you have a tenner to spend on food for your kid, are you spending a quarter of it on not even one apple a day, or on two bags of something hot and filling that will last the week?

Don’t forget folks that on average the child will eat far less “junk” as most of it contains gluten. No slice of cake at school when it’s someone’s birthday. No food at parties or soft play. No Greggs in town. No Burger King or KFC. No donuts or waffles at the fair or seaside. Lots of crisps and chocolate bars are a no go as is most beige freezer food. There are far worse things than a GF child having a few chips twice a month.