To think letting kids eat McDonald’s weekly is borderline neglect?

[BeAlertBeaker]

It’s not “a treat” if it’s regular.

A happy meal once a week is not neglect.

I agree! This elitist nonsense under the guise of "concern" is so offensive and misplaced. I come from a culinary background, parents wonderful chefs, and you know what us children had as a weekly treat? McDonald's. Am I overweight or unhealthy or terrified of "real food"? No. Wish people would give it a rest.

It's not neglectful.

But I am quite surprised that people do not think consuming 52 mcdonalds in a year is excessive - for an adult, let alone a child.

A hamburger happy meal, with a bottle of milk (which is what my youngest would choose) is 610 calories. The burger is 100% beef, the chips are potatoes and vegetable oil.

It’s not going to win any prizes for well rounded meal of the year, but it’s hardly poison.

52 meals out of 1095 in a year is 0.04% of your meals. I genuinely cannot see the issue.

If you want to cook organic, well balanced, nutritious meals 100% of the time, you’re free to do that. But the OP calling it borderline neglect is literal insanity

Er, no. Neglect would be not feeding your children.

Yes and my first line was - it's not neglect.

But I'm afraid you have been 'green washed' by mcdonalds 'health' marketing.

Some of the ingredients are literally banned in some places. They are known carcinogenics.

We have more obesity, higher cancer rates in young people than ever before.

You can't play off McDonald's as being meat, chips and vegetable oil - that's nonsense and eating 52 of them in a year is extreme.

And it's not 0.04% get your maths right. It's 14% of their main meal (their dinners) over the course of a year.

If you want to break it down to 3 meals a day - then it's 4.75% of their annual diet. Not 0.04%......

It’s 0.04% of their meals. My children have 3 meals a day. I don’t know about yours obviously.

Where are the carcinogenics? The literal only ingredient in the burger is beef.

Perhaps in other countries it includes other things: but not here.

You needed to multiply that 0.04 by 100 to get the percentage.

I don't disagree with your point, but the math ain't mathin 😉

1 meal out of 21 each week.

Call it 1 meal out of 20, that is 5 meals out of 100 which is 5%.
So true % is 4.something.

If you discount breakfast then 1 out of 14 weekly which is 7 out of 98 so just over 7%.

It still is nowhere near neglect.

No no, I am right it's 4.75%. If you take 3 meals a day then you have 1095 meals.

52/1095 × 100 = 4.75%

I've sent you screenshot of actually what's in them burgers - MN had to approve before they could be posted.

You're right the burger patty is 100% beef - but that's the green/health washing. That's where you've been fooled and that's what these companies do.

Everything else - the bun, the sauce, even the pickle - is just a toxic cocktail of chemical, e number, emulsifier, fake starch bunch of ultra-processed crap.

Which sure if you eat a couple of times a year probably won't do much harm but when it makes up almost 5% of a young child's diet over the course of a year - that changes things.

Seven days in a week, three meals a day = 21 meals a week. If McDonald’s once a week that’s 4.76% of meals.

I’d be more concerned about the kids who have chips, beans and nuggets/fishfingers/other beige oven food 5 days a week.

But still it’s not neglect. Fed is best.

I completely agree. This is not only a McDonald's thing and when it's compounded on top of ultra processed pre-packaged crap for the rest of the days of the week the outlook is even grimmer.

Sorry yes, forgot to multiply by 100. You’re right. I still don’t think 4% of your diet being bought from McDonald’s is either here nor there.

Are the people who think McDonald’s is neglectful only eating food they’ve grown themselves? Never indulge in a meal at a restaurant where you have no access to the ingredients for example? No store bought sauces at home?

If so then great for them, but it’s not realistic and I don’t think someone who’s living in that sort of world has much grip on what’s neglectful or not tbh

I agree with you for the most part and think McDonald’s isn’t evil poison, but to answer this post specifically… Processed red meat (eg. Beef burger) is a carcinogen according to the WHO.

Ok, that’s a fair point. But processed meat also includes sausages, ham, bacon etc.

if someone posted “AIBU to feed my DC sausage mash and veg once a week…I’m not sure the post would have got the same responses

Don't know if someone has already pointed this out but how is that any different from giving your kids (frozen) nuggets and chips for dinner after a hard/busy day?! I must neglect my kid on a regular basis 🤣

You have shared the US ingredients there, which are different to the ingredients used in the UK.

There's not a huge difference....but if you want the UK version with our allergies in bold here you go but it also takes you back to the .com website.

I never refer to any food as being a treat, food is not a treat

some food is better for you than other food and some food you eat on occasion

no I would not consider it borderline neglect i would look at the bigger picture

Supermarket bread won’t be very different to the bun. I am horrified by how long a Warburtons white toastie loaf lasts. Is it formaldehyde they use? Breadmaker was revolutionary for me.

I work in a safeguarding role. There is a lot of misunderstanding around the term Neglect, mostly because people use it to describe parenting that they personally consider to be "not good enough", according to their own standards and values. This is incorrect.

Neglect is defined as the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child's health or development. Of course, you could reasonably argue that a McDonald's every week is "unhealthy", as in it's not optimal for a childs health. But "not optimal" does not equal neglect and you would be very hard pressed to argue that a McDonald's meal once a week is likely to result in serious impairment to a child's health and development in the context of an otherwise reasonable diet. Would I want my own DC eating McDonald's every week? No, I wouldn't. But does that mean children who do have a McDonald's every week are "neglected"? Absolutely not.

Bread was one of the biggest shockers for me. We've switched to supermarket own brand wholemeal pitta bread for DC - which is generally pretty 'clean' for chemicals. It works well as soldiers with a dippy egg and 'pockets' for sandwiches, isn't pricey and freezes well.

Behave yourself. No way is that neglect.

One junk food meal out of 21 meals in a week? No,I don't think this counts as borderline neglect.

I was at McDonald's on Sunday with my kids (I love a McDonald's) & I said to my husband how great McDonald is because it is classless. You will find all different types of people, poor or rich who love a cheeky wee McDonald's every now and then. My kids had their McDonald's for lunch then my husband cooked a Sunday dinner in which my kids ate potatoes, chicken, broccoli, peas and carrots. My husband said some of his fondest memories are going swimming with his dad on a Saturday and his brother and then going for pizza or McDonald's afterwards. In my household Friday night was chippie tea night. Something to look forward too after a busy week at school or work. My kids eat fruit and veg every day and drink water. They enjoy a weekly takeaway of McDonald's or pizza. These little weekly treats (alongside a balanced diet) are lovely. Really can't understand how 'treating' your child once a week could be considered neglect. My husband, kids and I are slim, healthy & active. There seems to be a lot of small minded stereotyping on this thread. You can educate your child on healthy choices, provide nutritious meals, exercise and still indulge once a week.