Huge respect OP. You've come under a barrage of fury and you're sticking to your guns to deliver your point. Love that.
Is a weekly McDonald's neglect? no it isn't.
But do I agree with everything else around the point you're making? Yep I do and it's horribly uncomfortable - because it doesn't have to be Macdonalds - it can be anything fast food ultra-processed related. Have I had to reflect recently on what I feed my child? Yep. Is holding the mirror up to yourself fun, (particularly when the person in the mirror has a BMI over 30)? Nope. Is making changes difficult? Yep.
Ultra-processed foods are becoming now what smoking was. A huge cultural shift is slowly taking place and along that journey comes first the outrage, where people are being forced to reflect on choices they've made and their way of life. They will push back and argue till the cows come home on their right to make those choices. This is what happens when a way of life we enjoy comes under threat.
How many people here defending the weekly big mac would defend parents smoking inside around small children? Not many. But go back to the 1980 - 1990s and parents would have been reacting in much the same way they are here - outrage - I work hard, I've been ill, smoking is my one last pleasure, it calms me down which helps me be a better parent, both my parents smoked and it never did me any harm, you're a horrible judgmental person, you're haughty etc etc. Rinse. Repeat. Ultra-processed food.
Are people who do the weekly Friday fast food blow out putting their kids behind those parents that don't in terms of health? - yeah they are.
It's not neglect, it's not even close to neglect, but it is a detrimental outcome for yourself and for your children. Burying your head in the sand will only keep it at bay for so long - just like with smoking. It's coming for us. We are no longer going to be able to hide behind the 'everything in moderation' lie we've been sold. This food is just bad on every level that no amount of moderation can undo - in the same way there is no 'smoking in moderation'.
Equally, let's be really clear - people who are indulging their kids with a weekly fast food burger are not giving them organic carrot sticks and home-made lentil soup the rest of the time. Call a spade a fucking spade. If you're alright with the macdonalds then you're alright with the microwave meals, the fish fingers, the frozen pizza's, the fake pasta sauces, the bread that has more chemicals in it then actual ingredients etc etc. You're entire diet is predominantly Ultra-processed with a nod to some cucumber sticks and a couple of pieces of broccoli that make you feel like you're exempt from the conversation and can talk about 'in moderation'. All the while type 2 diabetes continues to sky rocket.
The stark realisation that we can no longer hide from, is that we're poisoning our children with shit food and lining the food companies pockets with profits from our child's future health related misery because we couldn't be arsed to cook or we've failed to realise that cooking isn't putting something pre-packaged in an oven.
Time to wake up. When you do - you can't go back to being blissfully unaware. You can't go back to whacking those two slices of Hovis 50/50 bread in the toaster like you're meeting your child's fibre needs when you realise you're actually lining their guts with ingredients you can't pronounce listed on the plastic wrap.
I've just been through it. You come out the other side battered.
But let's also be really clear - it's not neglect, but then again, neither is smoking around your child....