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

[BeAlertBeaker]

It’s not “a treat” if it’s regular.

I’m not judging individual parents, I’m raising a question about cultural norms and how easily things like weekly fast food become routine without much thought.

I agree that if it’s genuinely framed as a treat and part of a wider conversation about balance, then it’s far less of an issue. But in practice, a lot of kids don’t have that context - they just learn to crave and expect it.

And no, I don’t micromanage screen time to an extreme but I do think it’s worth reflecting on the habits we’re passing down, whether it’s food, tech, or anything else. This isn’t about perfection, it’s about awareness.

Mcdonalds was our once a week treat after swimming (I had a very reluctant learner). He'd pick just the one item for the walk home, so sometimes a hot chocolate, sometimes a burger. No I don't feel I was neglecting him 😂

FML. Neglect! How sheltered do you have to be to think that a weekly maccies constitutes neglect?
I’m embarrassed for you. Anybody who has genuinely ever experienced actual child neglect desperately wishes that the extent of their neglect was fast food once a week.
Stop being so offensive to people who were neglected as children.

There should be a WOW option in the react options. Is it really that bad that some children don't have their parents visit? That's heartbreaking.

I never took my DC to McDonalds or anywhere similar and fed them a healthy cooked from scratch diet. Guess what - as soon as they started making their own way to and from school they were in the cheapest fast food joints they could find buying chips etc. One now has binge eating disorder and the other orthorexia. Maybe if I'd been a bit more relaxed about "treat foods" they wouldn't have fallen on them as manna from heaven....

Nah there are to many nuances in situations to flatly say that.

my children spend a lot of time running outside, and inside. They attending swimming lessons & football. They play with toys, have minimal screen time, are articulate and have a good friendship groups. Help around the home, I ensure they have a good range of fruit, vegetables & protein throughout the week.

yes they get -a McDonald’s probably on a weekly basis, they are in no way shape or from borderline neglected.

So the post you are quoting made you smile?

Even though the poster said she used to get a chippy tea every Friday?

But a Mcdonalds once a week is neglect?

You have twisted that post by the way. @LePetitMaman said she used to get fish and chips almost every Friday for years. Not as a "one off beach memory". But nicely spun 👌

No it’s not neglect! It’s not a great habit to get into but…

Reckon we could put a social worker at the door of every maccies in the country 24/7.
They could check with every parent when they last fed their child a happy meal and then remove any child who's had more than one in the last month
Always best to err on the side of caution isn't it

It’s hardly neglect.

What if a family has a weekly Saturday night drive through happy meal for their children on the way home from their weekly visits to National trust houses?

People judge it as neglect but what they mean is working class poor use it instead of cooking and that’s neglectful!

Someone that is overly obsessed with healthy food that labels food 'good' and 'evil' is much more likely to raise a DC that develops an eating disorder than someone that introduces fast food as a normal part of life with an otherwise healthy diet.

We used to have fish and chips every Friday night. I wasn't neglected.

I wouldn't want my children eating fast food every week. They eat very little UPF, but have treats of some kind a more than once a week.

However, McDonald's twice a week, and sugary cereal for breakfast every day, and a biscuit after lunch every day still doesn't amount to anything approaching neglect!

And if their diet is generally really healthy except for weekly fast food, they'll be doing a lot better than many children.

Fairly sure my DS's plain cheeseburger, fruit bag and milk after rugby most weeks won't give him rickets.

Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet a child's basic needs.

How dare they feed their children!!

You’re probably right, no parent gets everything perfect and I’m not claiming to be the exception. We all have blind spots and areas we could improve on.

But acknowledging that no one is perfect shouldn’t mean we stop having honest conversations about habits that have become culturally accepted but might still carry long-term consequences, especially when children are involved and don’t have control over those choices.

This isn’t about policing individual parents. It’s about questioning whether “normal” always equals “harmless.” I think it’s possible to reflect on that without pretending we’re flawless ourselves.

I agree with all your points - but that's not neglect.
I don't think McD is any worse than other places where the kids meals are all chicken nuggets/fish fingers and chips.

In the UK in general the grownups have food and the kids have beige food - that's not very healthy anyway. So then singling out McD and calling it neglect - YABU.

I also don't think fish and chips from the chippy every friday is any better - so most people will probably think I'm BU.

It's just another way to judge and look down on those nasty fat common people isn't it
at least own your shit OP

I think even once a week is too often. Once a month max.

Great comment

Are you also measuring number of frozen chicken nuggets or fish fingers and peas at home each week? Context is everything. One macd after a week of organic humus?

Not neglect no, I dread to think about your opinion of actual real life neglect this is not it. Lazy parenting setting them up for unhealthy habits yes but in no way I would class this as neglect.

Bravo.

My kids happen to hate McDonalds! (They love plenty of other treats though!!)
But as others have said, McDonald's food does not amount to neglect!!!

Oh dear lord, my partner was neglected as a kid. He looked after his siblings after school every day from when he was 9 (they were much younger). He cooked (when there was food), washed, did homework and put them to bed. He slept in the lean to on the side of the house on the floor. In the summer he was thrown out in the morning with the little kids and told not to come back until evening. They were not given food. He had no help with schoolwork, he was thrown out of home at 16 and had to join the army.

That was neglect. He'd have loved a McD!