To think a leftover happy meal isn’t the worst packed lunch you could have?

[Tulipdreams]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teachers-share-students-worst-packed-36878989.amp

Hear me out first. Of course the article is pretty terrible, children being sent into school with only packets of biscuits for lunch, stories of children having no milk for their cereal and bringing in energy drinks.

But one example was a child took a leftover happy meal to school. Aibu to think that this isn’t the worst thing you could have?

No I have never sent my child into school with a cold takeaway for their lunch, and it would be concerning if it was happening all the time. But I would eat leftover McDonald’s if I hadn’t eaten it the night before. It’s probably no worse than taking a ham sandwich and a packet of crisps (which would be deemed as acceptable).

When I was a child most kids took meat paste sandwiches and a wagon wheel and that was a completely normal lunch.

Can’t think of many things worse than a cold McDonald’s, though reading the original article there clearly are.

There’s something seriously wrong if a parent can’t or isn’t bothered to cobble together something for their kids lunch that isn’t a cold leftover McDonald’s.

Presuming it’s been refrigerated it’s not going to do any harm

“Its not going to do any harm” is a pretty low bar to approach childhood nutrition.

Also not necessary. If the Happy Meal was the simplest option it might be excusable but it’s not. Its cheaper and easier to but a loaf of bread which will do most of a week for the child, with something to go in the sandwiches and some fruit. You can probably do packed lunches for a week per child for under a tenner.

If money is the primary concern there are cheaper options which are more nutritious. The only reason for giving a kid a refrigerated Happy Meal is just the parent not having their shit together.

All I am saying is that as a one off it isn’t actually harmful and I feel as though the outrage comes from a snobby pov, it gives rage headlines and gives people something to judge about.

It could be nuggets not a burger. The child might want it.

But one example was a child took a leftover happy meal to school. Aibu to think that this isn’t the worst thing you could have?

Who has said it's the 'worst thing'?

If we took everything that wasn't ok and compared it to the worst thing ever as though that makes it ok, the world would fall to shit.

It's just a silly way of justifying crap.

Op you seem hung up on the fast food reasturant and not the actual point of the article, kids eating fast food fine , kids being sent in with cold chips and a burger not fine.

I’m not saying that it’s a good option or a good idea or that there aren’t lots of better options. Of course nutrition is important so I am not saying that it’s not.

I’m just saying that the outrage feels misplaced.

I think a leftover McDonald’s wouldn’t keep very well.

If the child hadn’t eaten it the night before, they may not eat it the next day either.

If they hadn’t eaten dinner, there is more need for the next days lunch to be something they’ll eat with more nutritional value.

Whyvwas it ‘leftover’? Had an extra one in fact been ordered for the following days school lunch?

Lunches like this are often part of a bigger picture that is already problematic unfortunately, chaotic and neglected childhoods, lack of parenting, some sort of issue at home that needs addressing anyway for the good of the child.

A Happy Meal is going to go bad before lunch without refridgeration so the kid would possibly get food poisoning. Unsuitable, definitely.

As a one off if it’s the kids birthday and they’ve requested it fine, maybe the child is Autistic or has AFRID etc we don’t know. Maybe they had no money and a friend or relative got the family a Mcds the night before or it could just be lazy parenting, it’s easy for people to judge without knowing the full situation.

If the parent was struggling financially I believe most schools will give free school dinners as long as they let the school know.

All I am saying is that as a one off it isn’t actually harmful and I feel as though the outrage comes from a snobby pov, it gives rage headlines and gives people something to judge about.

If disapproving of people giving their kids a cold Happy Meal for lunch makes me a snob so be it, I can own that. Unless someone was living in a moment of extreme crisis and did it as a one off, there’s just no justification for it.

If a person can’t draw some lines around what is or isn’t acceptable parenting, he or she lacks the maturity and commitment to parent.

Very valid points and I could imagine something like this being part of a bigger picture.

I seriously doubt that the types of parents who would give a left over McDonalds to their child in their school lunch box is also the type of parent who usually gives their child nice healthy balanced meals the rest of the time.

Surely if it’s nuggets and the kid really wants it you could send the nuggets with some fruit and veg rather than cold soggy chips though? You wouldn’t just bung a whole cold happy meal into their lunchbox?

My dad grew up poor, like really poor. Poverty like most people in the UK today cannot imagine. His mum used to ration out bread and butter. She couldn't do any different for her kids.

If that is what you can afford, that is tragic and I'd sympathise.

The reality is most families in the UK are not in that position, because today you would have FSM.

So yeah, assuming you are not raising your kids in desperate poverty, it's shit parenting.

We should never accept a stance “oh this shit is better than nothing”. Feed children nutritious food. That’s the basic standard.

I shouldn’t laugh but I did find this comment in the article funny

In Manchester a teacher found an eight-year-old boy had grabbed a can of dark fruits cider thinking it was a soft drink.

It’s still shockingly bad though.

I've sent a few questionable lunches when my kids have had fussy phases. Currently he favours a cheese sandwich a hot pot of tomato soup and that feels pretty ok in the grand scheme of things. 1 day he asked for spaghetti hoops in and a hot cross bun and I let him. He always has an apple and carrot sticks too. If he desperately wanted leftover chicken nuggets and his wee side bits I'd definitely send it. I know people who make chicken nuggets and put them in a wee hot pot and the pens from food warehouse look exactly like McDonald's ones. A wee leftover hamburger also I'm not sure I could get worked up about.

The problem is people are judging because of the parent they imagine and they're not just judging the McDonald's.

So if it's OK for a school dinner, then why not in a packed lunch?

We eat McDonalds on rare occasions and the kids see it as a treat. However, having a whole burger/ happy meal left over indicates that it is a usual dinner for the family - that’s why the perception is so bad.
I also wouldn’t eat it the next day myself and would judge a parent for thinking it is good enough for their child when most adult wouldn’t have it for themselves.

I'd eat cold burger and fries for breakfast :-). It's not the sort of meal I have very often so it would be a novelty, in fact I fancy one right now.

Cold pasta and cold Chinese is quite nice, I remember that from my youth.

spaghetti hoops I assume are in a food flask .putting a few chicken nuggets in a lunch box is caring handing in a happy meal box with cold left over food is not giving a shit.

Leftover McDonald's is the absolute worst!! So yes you are BVVU.

I think perhaps I’m coming from a place of naivety because I’m envisaging the child, for whatever reason didn’t eat it the night before and asked to have it for lunch.

Yes of course I can see that a burger might taste horrid cold and of course I can see that there’s no nutrition. But there was no nutrition in the meat paste sandwiches and wagon wheels that all the 80s kids ate.

My child has also take weird stuff to school, cold pizza, cold chicken, because he was fed if of wraps and sandwiches. I put an ice pack in his lunchbox.