Baby at Burger King- do I live in a bubble?

[Howshat]

We live in the countryside. Took DC to the city today and had lunch at Burger King. There was a couple there with their baby, about 8 or 9 months old. Not walking. She was sitting in a high chair and had a phone in front of her. She was mainly ignoring it and looking around at the people in the restaurant.

Their food came and the parents fed her a burger, chips and apple juice, with the phone still in front of her.

I‘m happy to accept that I live in a bubble. But I‘ve never seen anything like this before and was very shocked. This was a baby, not a toddler.

Is this a normal thing nowadays?

Totally normal for lots of people. The food & the phone…

That's disgusting. They should go to Nandos.

Could have been worse - could have given the kid full fat Irn Bru.

How can you be sure she was just 8 or 9 months old? My twin girls are 1 and absolutely tiny, only now moving into 6-9 month clothes. Yet they can eat and eat, and if we were going to a fast food place, I would get them a children's meal 🤷‍♀️
Granted, I wouldn't give them apple juice, and none of my children eat with phones, but loads of families choose to allow it. Whatever works for them.

I agree it’s awful OP. Not so much the food if it’s a one off - but the phone. Makes me sad.

Why is the fact that you live in the countryside relevant?

Because there’s not so may burger joints in the middle of rural Britain and therefore the OP is less likely to see this shit parenting (which is what it is).

Baby in food and distraction-on-the-go shocker!

I mean, obviously not ideal, but I remember doing something similar when my daughter was about 9months old and we had to all get fed quickly and cheaply en route to my great-uncles funeral. She probably didn’t eat much as I was still breastfeeding her, but she would have definitely had a couple of nuggets or fish fingers in front of her and some Peppa on my phone so that me and the other adults could wolf-down some food before the crem.

It wasn’t a daily (or even weekly or monthly) event, but it served a purpose.

Not to my taste, but honestly how hard is it to approach these situations with a little grace. You don't know what is going on with people. DH and I have been wiped out by a stomach bug in the last 24 hours and I deliverooed Microwave meals for my DS7 and let him play Mario Kart all day.
My 6month old also saw her first bit of Hey Duggee and I was determined to wait longer but she was crying for hours and we had tried everything else!
You just dont know. Could be anything. And it doesn't affect you.

The food I’d give a pass on it’s the mobile phone. I’m always appalled at how many parents are putting screens in their little kids hands.

I’m sure it’s not uncommon. It’s lazy parenting.

Was this your first ever visit to the city 😂

I agree with you op.

So, you saw a snapshot of someone's life.
You judged their child at 8 or 9 months old, which realistically means they could be 18 months or even older ( my sister had one who people used to think was under a year when she was nearly 2yo) and you judged a snapshot of their lives and rushed over to Mn to try and get others to judge too.

I'm sure there have been times you have been tired, wanted a treat or had an emergency which has meant even you haven't made the most wonderful parenting choice. Next time you do that, you can think two things:
There may well be someone judging you as much as you are judging them
It doesn't matter in the long term scheme of a child.

Teaching them it's occasionally good to relax and have a treat is better than teaching them to judge others when you know nothing about their life except a snapshot. They'll be far nicer, and happier, for that.

The phone was probably to give them 10 mins space and eat their food in peace.

The meal isn’t that bad.

I would say this is fairly normal as a one off. It’s unusual for people to regularly feed their babies like his.

Of course OP you have no idea whether they do this regularly or not.

I took my 10 mo to McDonald's once. It was towards the end of a twelve hour drive, nothing else was open (and really quick), and she was struggling. She's never been since and is now nearly 5 years old. Happy to hear you'd have judged me.

What 9 month old baby needs a BK treat ? They could have just as easily picked up a pouch or jar which I’d eat healthier. It’s just setting the child up with bad habits which are very difficult to break as an adult.

Absolutely shit parenting but sadly very common .

A baby doesn’t need a shitty pouch or jar either, not sure why you’re picking this as superior

Those city folk and their shitty ways.

I couldn’t care about the food as you don’t actually know how old the baby was and it’s a snapshot of their diet, but I’d raise an eyebrow at the phone. DS is 18 months and we go out and about regularly and not once, including flying with him on my own including airport layovers, have I used a screen outside the house (although there’s a bit of Hey Duggee goes on at home from time to time). We take small toys and books and loads of snacks wherever we go and on the rare occasion that doesn’t work to amuse him we simply eat fast and leave.

Parenting at it's finest

If the baby is actually a baby and only 8-9 months old, I'd be surprised if they had an entire burger and an entire portion of fries. If they actually had that much, they are probably quite older than you assume.

If they did only eat bits of it and are more likely to be 8-9 months old? Meh, nothing I can get worked up about.

Mine had the odd thing like that from 6 months if we happened to have it.

We just came back from Disneyland which as you can imagine was beautifully light up with much to look at at Christmas time. Still babies and toddlers being plonked in front of phones…