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?

Yes, OP does seem to be skating on thin rhetorical ice here. Apparently it's OK to take kids the age of hers (whatever that/those is/are) to Burger King, but not kids who are under, say, 2. I'm very curious to learn where OP sets the crossover point between "Nice treat in town" and "OMG parents today, call social services".

Yeh it is bad but sadly where we are.

Ignore the goads.

My 2nd for fuck sake on MN tonight.

Did you roll into the fast food establishment on your tractor like the Beverley Hillbillies... no you didn't as you have access to the internet clearly as posting online.

Your faux 'oh my goodness this happened' is absolutely bullshit and you know exactly what you were trying to get from this post and see to be honest it's so boring, nobody gives a shiny shit if a kid is having a hamburger whilst watching a bit of screen time 🤷🏼‍♀️

However you jump back on the harvester and get those kids of yours back tending to the land like the wholesome little cherubs they are.

Yes of course it’s always been a thing but it’s much common now than even when my kiddos were tiny (they are about ten years younger than yours).

When mine were little you’d see school aged kids with hand held stuff like Nintendo game boy etc out and about occasionally but rarely. Nowadays it’s commonplace to see them in a little child’s hands very often whilst their parent isn’t focused on their own screen, no proper communication happening.

What an odd thread. You say you have never seen it before, and ask if it is normal. Of course it’s not normal, that’s why you’ve never seen it before. FFS.

Can a baby even eat chips and stuff ?

This. For a child under 3 it's not ok. But has really been normalised.....

I think judging on a snippet is never great really. We never get the full context. My dc1 was entirely weaned on organic food, cooked by me. Entirely. Had many allergies and I had to make absolutely everything from bread to pasta, all sauces. Everything.

Dc2's first food was....a mcdonalds chip 🙈

Snatched from dc1 while i had a v unmumsnetty v v small salad with quite dry chicken strips.

Motorway services, in a hurry, needs must.

lol. You are a better mum than me!

None of your business really you don't know what these parents are going through judgy you shame on you

I find this mad. My daughter is 3 and has always loved watching YouTube. She could also speak in sentences brgpre 18 months and is already reading some words and able to hold conversation, regulate emotions, loves to draw and paint, helps me cook and bake. Basically normal development and communication skills. The idea that I am judged because my child watches Peppa Pig on a phone when we are out and about is crazy to me.

1 year olds should absolutely not be eating fast food.

Regardless, a 2 year old doesn’t need and shouldn’t have fast food with a screen. So so bad for them.

I find it strange that you've never seen it before, because it's not in any way a new thing IME.

I suppose it's new ish that phones have a large enough screen to display video and are cheap/commonplace enough that it's not a prized rare gadget that you wouldn't let anywhere near a small child, but even that has been the case for probably about 12/13 years, and before that there were portable DVD players and ipod touch type things and other screens that people took out and about.

So it's just the phone you were bothered about?
Are you sure it wasn't a toy phone and used for teething purposes?

Sadly I knew a mum who did this regularly with their babies and now the next generation does the same
The children are all now overweight adults and they copy what they know, a constant diet of junk food.
of course there is a family history of type 2 diabetes
I am glad that people are still shocked to see it.
I moved away from city to countryside and we don’t have the luxury of ‘fast food’ 😂
but there will still be the same families buying the same crap to feed their children and you’re right,I would be thinking how sad it was to see a baby with a phone and a bloody burger king meal too

Of course they can.

At 8/9 months old, I’d be extremely surprised that they could eat a burger or watch screens.
The child might be small for her age.

😂

Yeah I was going to say this... I don't think the parents of old were necessarily better as a group, they just didn't have phones.

But a baby with a screen? I’m never going to onboard with that. I still play cards with my kids and they are late teens. I’ve coloured, played Uno, 99’s, and many things that I’d rather not bother doing. It’s worldwide though and the worst offenders we’ve seen were in the Middle East, not a child without a screen in the whole restaurant of a very nice hotel. I was shocked

Poor child. No wonder kids have rotten teeth and are obese by the time they start school.

People really can't be that uninformed. It is just laziness.

Why do you need to write a thread judging a snapshot of a persons day? Sounds like they were otherwise a lovely parent.
Occasionally (a few times a year) if my toddlers throwing a bit of wobbly in a restaurant I find it preferable to a tantrum and I’m sure other dinners would agree. He has it a limited time at home and the rest of our time is activities, singing, playing, groups, parks ect ect.

Why do people have to be so judgemental of parents? Twice in the last week I’ve had random judgements.

I took my newborn out of his pramsuit to rearrange him in the supermarket because he was uncomfortable. A random woman informed me my newborn (also in hat/bodysuit/cardigan) was freezing. She ran away went I asked her to look in the bassinet filled with blankets and his pram suits.

Another woman told me when getting on a bus to give my toddler an apple when I gave him a packet of Pom bears. She muttered some nonsensical nonsense when I informed her, he hadn’t eaten enough of his avocado whole meal pitta breads with hummus dip for the insulin I’d given him for his type one diabetes and I was giving him the required carbs to stop him having a hypo.

I’ve never really had people say nonsense to me before this week although had the odd judgemental. My children are well cared for, well fed for and loved. Is my parenting perfect, no? However it doesn’t require random judgements at imperfect moments (which are not that bad) from random members of the public and I’m sure this lady doesn’t either.

Yes our city ways are strange to you country folks I guess. Were you also blinded by the bright lights and fast cars? I hope you hurried your children back to safety as quick as you could.

You may or may not know this, but Pom bears stick in their teeth, crisps that stick in teeth are worse than a jelly baby for such situations.