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?

No they don’t but there are no excuses for this poor parenting. I haven’t misunderstood anything.

No, he sounds like a parent. Would you say a mum was a total legend for doing that?

I’m obviously in your bubble. I do find it sad!

Whatever the situation, babies and children eating over processed crap food with high salt levels is bad . THERE is no excuse

Im the opposite- dont see the phone as a big deal but worry about the food. But then it’s cheap and it’ll be all they know.

Well there is actually. Many people don't have the knowledge, skills or education (or perhaps the mental wellbeing) to cook nutritious, healthy meals for their children. I know a charity in south London which teaches mums some of these skills. But you can't assume everyone has them. And it is more expensive to eat healthily (and yes, you'll come on now and tell me that lentils and pulses are cheap - but this goes to my first point, cooking and eating lentils and pulses is a way of living that not everyone is aware of particularly if you've grown up eating fast food.) Your mistake is assuming that people don't want to be good parents, don't love their children, are abusing them because they are feeding them one portion of chips in BK (who knows what that baby is eating the rest of the time). Education would go a long way here

And then the parents that are in the depths of mental health crisis, or are perhaps homeless and living in a hostel - getting out of the house and giving the child a meal is a huge step for them.

So there are plenty of excuses, or indeed reasons why a person may be feeding their child a burger king meal.

You'd much better off looking at the really bad issues facing children in this country - crap, unhealthy, insecure housing, violence and abuse, poverty., racism.

Beans, egg or cheese on toast are incredibly easy, quick and cheap. Any would be better than a BK for such a young kid. And anyone who has spent more than five minutes at any school in the UK in the last twenty years will have been told something about nutrition. When do we stop making excuses? When do we stop saying "don't judge" and allow another generation to grow up as apparently clueless as some of the current parents? How about we invest in more health visitors, reopen sure start, identify parents who genuinely don't know and help them instead of leaving them to it cos 'no judgement '? Again, we all know the snapshot thing, let's not go round that again. There absolutely are people out there for whom this is habitual. Instead of tearing each other up on here about the impossibility of knowing a random person's backstory, would it not be more productive to accept this can be a real problem and talk about how to address it in cases where maybe SS are already aware, or school logs a concern.

I ordered in a Macdonalds two nights ago for me and my grandchildren. I got chicken burgers. After a week of big meals, roast dinners, cooked breakfast etc it was fantastic. People seem to be forgetting we've just come out of the festival of feasting. Or, like many on here, they might be visiting stingy hosts and having to eat out, before they go back to meagre offerings.

I don't need the lecture.
Your post makes the same point as me . Its jot good enough. It doesn't mean everyone doing it is evil, but it does mean we need major help and investment in areas that will help people understand

It’s always ‘don’t judge’ and ‘you’ve seen a snapshot’ and ‘none of your business’, yet we have an epidemic of childhood obesity, primary kids on TikTok and shittiest mental health ever in teens and young adults. But sure, it’s all just a snapshot and doesn’t affect anyone else anyway. 🙄

Are your grandchildren under a year old? Why not dippy eggs? Or cheese, fruit and crackers? Again, you're giving one example as to why you did, in that scenario get McDs, that's fine..we all completely get the idea of a one off...but we're perhaps now moving into to the wider point those who don't do as a one of..can we stop pretending they don't exist?

He is me and I'm just making a friendly joke 🙄😁

You cook beans, egg or cheese on toast a lot when you're out, do you?

@RhaenysRocks

maybe she had had enough of food prep if she’s done a lot of cooking and hosting etc over Christmas?? Maybe she fancied a burger? Maybe she didn’t want something as bland as dippy eggs? Maybe the kids didnt? Maybe she didn’t have those things you suggest in the house? (not everyone wants to live in a supermarket buying food all the time)

As a one off here and there it really really doesn’t matter

No, it doesn't, I haven't said it does. I've been trying to move the discussion to the wider point about more frequent consumption. And if you don't have the basics to make something on toast in the house (which I'm sorry, is not "food prep" to a functioning adult) then there is a problem. When mine were tiny, say, under 3, I'd take sandwiches or rice cakes or malt loaf or similar. Mostly because they wouldn't have eaten most found I can buy, picky buggers!. Anyway, I'm not sure there's much more I can do on this. I've said what I think, others disagree or want to remain stuck on the "one off snapshots" thing so there we are.

Agree . It's still shit food that's not good enough for health. Doesn't matter if its once a year

Of course it matters. Health is the priority but balance is important too and having a healthy view of foods. Eating BK once a year, even if the child is small isn't the end of the world and can teach them that you can have a balanced diet without the need to completely restrict some foods.

It teaches a child that you can eat food like BK in small amounts and it really isn't a big deal to do so. You then don't end up with a child who goes crazy with fast food, chocolate and the like the minute they get any freedom as teens because it's always this forbidden thing they can't have.

I don't think extremes on both sides are particularly healthy attitudes to have regarding food.

Giving a child over salty over processed food is never good

Just to add op, you fed your own baby Burger King on your trip to the city, what’s the difference between you and them?

In certain circumstances, that may be exactly what works for the whole family. It's only shitty parenting if it's a regular thing. The outrage at this is totally unnecessary. Viewing a snapshot of someones life and judging them on it is beyond unreasonable. People suggesting they should have bought a pouch or jar of baby food like they aren't processed too. My twins have always fed themselves and wouldn't touch the slop in pouches. Teaching your children that all food in moderation is completely fine leads to better eating habits in the future. I certainly would never see a family eating out and instantly judge them and make a post like this. I'd think 'cute kid' and get on with my day.

Yabvvvu. Id hate to judge parents like this!!

Spend time promoting extended breastfeeding, supporting a ban on social media for under 16s, revitalising sure start, campaign to improve school dinners (which are awful in secondary schools), support making nutritionally dense foods chesper; instead of vilifying a family on a thread...

The people on this thread more appalled by the comment than on a baby in front of a phone eating junk food 😟

11 pages in and we're still covering the same ground from p1. The snapshot thing is irrelevant. We all know that occasionally giving crap food is not an issue. We all know that sometimes there's understandable circumstances. No-one has said they've actually confronted anyone to have a go at them as a specific instance. "Judging" is, in this context, having an internal thought that doesn't cause anyone a problem. But as a pp just said, maybe we need to be putting a huge amount more effort into helping those parents who DO regularly rely on this awful crap to make different choices. What could the UK do to help with that?

Aside from the fact that despite the phone being there, the mum and baby were interacting delightfully with one another and the baby was more interested in their surroundings than the phone. So in this case, it likely was a few moments of a screen for some reason and OP has decided she needs to write a whole wide eyed "oh my goodness is this the world today?" post to judge parents who were feeding and engaging with their child.