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?

But OP was in Burger King too? With their kids? How can you judge someone else for doing the same thing?

There's an awful lot of detail in this thread for the OP to have taken a quick glance at these complete strangers. It sounds more like she watched them like an episode of EastEnders.

But OP ‘lives in the countryside’ so apparently it’s ok for her to eat at Burger King

I think it's disgusting parenting but people defend this crap all day.

2 adults to one child that age, no need for a phone. And no baby or toddler needs to eat shit like that.

What is this King Burger of which you mention? How does a country person arrange an introduction?

I dislike with a passion having screens at the table, and it does make me very sad seeing kids plonked in front of it, ignoring their food and their parents.

However, when we had the day from hell on holiday last year, with tired, cranky kids that were crying and fidgety and not listening. We had to wait ages for food in a restaurant so we stuck those screens in front of them before and after the food, and it was absolute bliss for DH and I to enjoy our meal and actually have a conversation. The kids were quiet and content until their food came. Then we had a glass of wine after and gave the screens back. More bliss! We got judgemental stares but at that point it was the best evening of the holiday because DH and I had a second to ourselves!

I now think before judging. It could well be a one off for a hard day, a parent short on time or patience, for a host of reasons.

We are quite strict with screens generally, but my god they do have a role at times!

Bit sad with the phone, surely the surroundings would be interesting enough.

I don’t think it’s just Burger King tbh. I have even seen it at a Toby Carvery.

I'm always amazed that parents are okay giving their young kids a phone. I know my DS would watch for about 20 seconds then throw it on the floor.
Anyway it's not great, obviously but it may be a one-off or they may be going through something really tough and just doing whatever it takes to make sure they and their child are fed. We don't know from one snapshot if they are lazy parents or not.

Obviously we don’t know how much more exposure to screens this child is exposed to however, what the OP is trying to point out to is the side effects of screens. We already know through various studies that lack of attachment from caregivers to their babies mainly in the early years can cause those babies to be insecure adults who struggle forming relationships etc… screens can never substitute a caregivers attention and love. Increased screen time is affecting children’s attention span and focus and it’s evident in educational settings in last decade. And now with our addiction to social media like tik tok etc we are all looking for the next quick dopamine hit, while our increasing reliance on AI to complete schools/uni/ work related tasks using the path of least resistance, our neural connections and pathways are going to die out and we are going be like zombies roaming the earth.

5- 10 min of screen time at MacD is not going to cause harm, but in a world where everything is fast, parents dont have time to play with their children because of the financial constraints and pressure of the expectations to working till we drop, we are all losing our golden years that we should be spending with our kids to making other people and corps richer whilst our brains are rotting away on social media.

I didn't even know that Burger King was still a thing and I don't think I've been in one since maybe the early 2000s. Don't even see them.advertised anymore and think I assumed they'd been superseded by the likes of Five Guys.

You don’t know anything about them. Maybe they were on a long journey and it was the only option. I’m sure you have done things with your children that others wouldn’t approve of. Mind your own business and stop being so judgmental.

The horror, the horror...😱

Yes she is less likely to visit a fast food joint if she doesn’t live close to one.

But the shit parenting comment, how sad that you feel you can comment on people’s parenting from witnessing that, what if that was the first time they’ve ever been, maybe they’ve just had a hospital appointment & went to the closest food option, maybe neither of them are sleeping well and convenience won that day, maybe they are just trying to discuss something important for 5 minutes and the phone enabled that.

"Don't judge people for the choices they made when you don't know the options they had to choose from"

OP also said that the baby was still very much interested in their surroundings and that the mother was lovely with the baby and interacted with him/her.

Sounds like a non issue.

When do you collect your parent of the year award?

The massive one in the city where I live is long gone, it's a chicken place these days, amongst all the other almost too many to count chicken places

Saw similar in a McDonald's, baby was barely 6 months old, if that. Feeding her fries. I was appalled.

And yes, I was in there too but I'm a grown ass adult, not a helpless baby that shouldn't be eating shite like that.

I was in the NY honours list 😘

As a parent of teens, I could not give a shiny shite about this.
You don’t know anything about this family. What may have brought them to the BK, how old the child is, how they normally parent.
Go right ahead and judge. Says way more about you than them.
But I’m sure you’re perfect in every way, with your countryside and cows and stuff. You do you.

You saw twenty min of this family’s life!! You have no idea how they live. Stop the judgement

This has got to be a fake post. No one is this ignorant…

I love all the screens at meal times judgements. Its great. Its not like the hospital consultants actually recommend the use of screens alongside feeding thearpy in certain circumstances. Its not like, when youre in that situation of your child needing those professionals inputs, you don't already feel shit because your child isnt (or cant) do the most basic of things. Its not like you silently cheer every.single.mouthful eaten because it feels like a win even if if did take a mountain of love, reassurance AND a screen to get there and even so, the next mouthfull is not given. Not 9 months no. But from around 18 months that was our reality. At 3 years old we are off the tube support thanks to that screen.

I'd be far more concerned about the salt content than the phone.

I think some posters are being a bit disingenuous in saying this is just a small snapshot of family life and not the norm. From what I’ve seen, it absolutely is the norm. I noticed the same thing on holiday this year - babies (not unruly toddlers) put into high chairs and the iPad pulled out immediately, before they’d even made a peep!

I guess people don’t like these things being highlighted for what they are - lazy parenting.

I’d argue there is also an issue with adults spending too much time on screens ignoring their children too, though.