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

[BeAlertBeaker]

It’s not “a treat” if it’s regular.

You're being hugely snobbish and comparing apples and oranges.

1 MacD is a treat meal out.
2 Jacket spud is a bog standard, at home everyday type meal.

Once a week treat would be fine. Middle classes go to Byron, working class people go to MacD.

People can't look past the wording, because the wording was your point.

We used to get a pizza and sides, every Friday night after swimming, when the kids were young

Once a week is a treat.

And no, it’s not neglect

As someone who is making a conscious effort to reduce ultra processed food, cooks meals from scratch most nights and makes sure my children eat a diverse range of fruit and vegetables there are times when my children have had a weekly McDonald’s. I also work full time with a husband who works away a lot, a Friday night McDonalds is a treat for all of us because I don’t have to cook. It’s very short sighted to call it neglect, when you don’t know the circumstances surrounding those choices, or anything else about a families lifestyle. Maybe it’s not the healthiest choice, but over the course of a week, when every other meal is healthy, I really don’t see the problem. One of my good friends is a social worker so if you like I can check in with her on my neglectful parenting.

This isn't a new thing. Many families have had weekly take outs or eat out once a week for many years. You are making out like this is a new problem.

PP have said they used to have a chippy tea on a weekly basis and are a healthy weight and have an active lifestyle. Are you concerned that this is adding to the obesity crisis? I'm not sure what you want to achieve from this thread.

No, I don't think it's neglect - everyday, yes that would be lazy and neglectful, but as a once a week treat after an activity, I couldn't get worked up about it.

We've lost sight of what real neglect looks like.

Nah, you knew what you were doing by being deliberately provocative in your wording so don't act like the people responding to your inflammatory rage bait are the ones in the wrong

No it's not neglect. Clearly you don't know much about neglected children.

McDonalds once a week is unreasonable.

Go to Burger King sometimes; it's better.

(Unless you go to McDonalds once a week and BK on the other six days; in which case, possibly a bit much)

Ah well
I expect the OP will get all the frothing delight they were aiming for from this thread

This ⬆️

I get that and I know weekly takeaways are really common. But just because something is normalised doesn’t automatically mean it’s harmless.

I’m not expecting every family to be cooking organic meals from scratch every night - I completely understand cost and time pressures. But I do think we’ve gone so far in accepting fast food as a weekly staple that we’ve stopped questioning what it’s actually doing to kids’ health in the long term.

It won’t kill them, no. But it might help shape habits and health outcomes in ways we downplay because “everyone else is doing it.”

Again, I'm it saying it was a treat. A pp suggested she could only afford Macds and not 'Middle class culinary experiences'. I'm pointing oot healthy food is not expensive. Treats tend to be more expensive.

We all know obesity in this country is off the scale, just give them junk food occasionally. Not weekly.

<hands op even bigger spoon >

3 Mcdonalds fish fingers - 237Kcal
3 Birds Eye fish fingers - 174kcal

Mcdonalds happy meal size French fries - 230kcal
Birds Eye express French fries portion - 257kcal

Mcdonalds portioned serving ketchup - 27kcal
2 tablespoons Heinz tomato ketchup - 40kcal

Fruit bags, carrot sticks just as available as they are at home, you can request no salt on chips in MCds as easily as you can not put it on at home.

For the sake of 23kcal difference, you want to throw around the word neglect? seriously? Given neglect is child abuse You are accusing people that feed their children Mcdonalds of child abuse.

You should be seriously fucking ashamed of yourself for that. You don't have to like McDonalds, you don't have to feed it to your kids but comparing it to neglect is fucking shameful

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/neglect/

I can’t believe this is real. Do people really have such sheltered lives to think this way?

I’m happy to discuss it without the hyperbole of people can look past the wording and engage with the actual point.

Oh right. So now you've had your arse handed to you over your very deliberate choice of words, you want to start back peddling...

No, by limiting it, parents are giving a clear message that it's not the norm. It's about teaching children self management as well.
Plus, you don't know the circumstances. Please don't judge parents on this, it's really not a significant problem in the scheme of things.
I'm guessing you forbid yours to have smartphones and carefully monitor every device they use?

Jesus Christ, what an insult to the children that are actually neglected.
Most families I know have at least one takeaway a week, probably clogged with far more calories and crap than a McDonalds. When I was a size 6, I used to eat at least one McDonald’s a week after work.

My son has a McDonald’s once a week as a treat. He’s an athlete who does one or two sports practices every day after school and on a Saturday. I believe in moderation/balance and not demonising any food.

Having grown up in a house of very rare treats, I have battled disordered eating my whole life.

I'm 100% sure if I (or anyone else) examined your parenting, we could find multiple things that will, over time, have a negative impact on your children's health and wellbeing. This is true of every parent.

Are you honest about your failings?

Yes, I suppose so! It does seem strange.

You are spectacularly missing the point of the role fast food plays in lives where;

Two parents need to work to maintain a household
A cost of living crises pushing both food and fuel costs up
A lack of support systems more generally for working families

What fucking nirvana do you think the majority of households live in?

And what are your answers? What do you think parents should do instead?

I agree it comes down to parent choice, and sometimes the ones available are sub optimal.

But I don't believe you've ever set foot in a farm foods or Iceland, I don't believe you have an ounce of life experience outside of your privilege and I can't take your opinion seriously if all you've got is a bleating soap box.

LOTS of things we do day to day are poor choices, even now typing this message is a lost opportunity for yoga or gardening - yet here we are, going through life the best way we can but I'm afraid I've no time for naive people who offer nothing practical.

Except you are calling it abusive.. You’ve literally said you think it’s neglect!