To expect my nanny NOT to feed my two year old a McDonalds Happy Meal?

[coolbeans]

I know it's not the end of the world and he is nearly three but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect her to ASK me, at least, before takes him out and stuffs him full of chicken nuggets and chips for lunch.

I'm not against McD's as such, but he's still really little and there's no need to take him there yet - it's not a bloody treat - as she seems to think.

I think that's what has annoyed me most. It's just food, I don't want him associating it with being a "treat" outing.

....but then I allow my son to eat meat when he is out if he fancies it. I really hate the idea of making certain foods into 'evil' items. Therein lies possible future diet problems.

Thanks for the recipes, ladies - I'll have a go and see how I do.

Incidentally, if a burger is a treat for kids, then why not make the burger patties yourself from good mince (maybe a bit of onion and the odd herb to taste), grill or griddle them and put them in a wholemeal bun with some salad?

OP has run for the mountains. Hills don't give enough cover. Am reconsidering entire
life.....
..sans Micky D, bien sur.

My DH and I have been France several times for work and pleasure. We both found the food underwhelming when you consider that the French are famed for their food.

French cooking uses lots of butter and cream. I wonder how recipes like gratin dauphinois, anything a la beurre etc would compare to a hamburger or chicken burger in terms of calorific content and nutritional value (level of vitamins, minerals,salt, sugar and saturated fats).

This thread has demonstrated that

1. some parents need to learn the art of communication because believe it or not, nannies are not mind readers.

2. If possible, avoid being a nanny but if it cannot be avoided, choose your employer wisely and pray for divine intervention to protect you from the neurotic, paranoid, unreasonable, uncommunicative, punitive mumzilla.

3. The food nazis as usual take everything out of context, very often are not able to back up their prejudices with robust scientific data and for the most part, talk out of their rear end.

4)Eating fast food and homemade food are not mutually exclusive. Just because someone has the occasional fast food does not mean they do not know anything about nutrition or how to cook a healthy balance meal. It just means that they are exercising their right to choose to ingest something different from time to time.

spokette - pmsl at no 2

but oh so true

I think that just about sums it up spokette! the only thing that I would disagree with is being underwhelmed with French food-perhaps I have just been lucky but I have had wonderful meals.

As to no.2 I am surprised that anyone is a nanny-much better to work in a nursery IMO.

if you get a lovely family, ( ie parents ) then being a nanny is a great job and i love my family

I'm sure it is, nice to know that there are good ones about. I just get the impression that if I were to do it they would think they were interviewing me but in actual fact I would be interviewing them-a lot would fail!

many famillies have failed when i go for intereviews

i am a very fussy nanny, and have refused many jobs when odffered to me, but i want to be happy,and some famillies i just think NO WAY

as you said, its not just the family interviewing, the nanny also interviews the family

Hear hear spokette, especially on the underwhelming aspects of French food.

I don't find the attitute of people who proudly claim they never eat fast food that surprising as I know a number of people in rl who claim the same. However, that doesn't mean their stance has any logic. Said people also shop in supermarkets, buy clothes and toys from large international companies and buy pharmaceuticals so clearly they have nothing against large multinational corporations that in some cases pay poor wages.

They will also allow their children to go to cafes and eat carbohydrate cooked in fat (eg roast potatoes) served with cheap protein (eg hamburger or chicken) so they obviously hold no nutritional objection either. They are also happy for their child to buy a takeaway sandwich so clearly also don't object to the "fast food" element.

As I've already said, I think McD is pretty awful and personally I wouldn't eat it through choice. But so many things we do as a family, from impromptu days at the beach, far flung mountain biking expeditions and our many road trips across Europe would be so much harder if we set petty rules on the food we were going to eat which depended on the speed with which it is served combined with the presence of neon. I just don't get why anyone makes an issue out of it.

I agree chocolatedot. I think if you are going to freak out about your DC always eating healthy food you would have to put too much energy in always finding the alternatives. We like to do impromtu days as a family-often way off the beaten track and sometimes you just have to eat what is available because you are hungry!
I am still waiting for JaneLumley to explain how her DCs have a life away from her when she claims that they have never even had fish and chips. I live in a very middleclass area with our fair share of PFBs and yet parties are held in places that give fast food (they are not branded McD but they are no different).
Sometimes it is just much the cheapest option, for example, if we do long distance travel and stop at a motorway service station it is much cheaper for a family of 5 to have a BurgerKing meal than sandwiches; the sandwiches are not a healthy option anyway and sometimes it is too wet or cold to take your own.

Me too. Hate McD with a vengeance but hate even more the thought of no adventure. Or for that matter, having to patrol dcs social life so they don't end up eating in the wrong place.

I agree piscesmoon. You would also be setting yourself up for much anxiety when they reach adolescence. An average 17/18 yr old will chuck alsorts down their neck and call it food. (or eat nothing at all) You have to relinquish your need to control what they eat at some point or you'll go mad. I think it's vital to teach them about balance and healthier choices but if you ban and control you will be setting yourself up for a fall. How many Mums of PFB are there agonising over their teenagers love of all things fastfood thinking "I breastfed you for years, fed you all organic/freerange, never allowed an e number let alone a chip to pass your lips, and this is how you treat your perfectly nutured body. How dare you?!!!!"

thats'll be me Kiddiz
organic vegan (not super strict though) and soon as dd1 turned 13 she demanded meat, it wasn't allowed to be organic, she wanted that pepperami thing (its a bit of an animal. Yes, which bit?) and she started eating at MacD's. Just to piss me off.
I just said ok which took the wind out of her sails.
Now she's 16 and lives with in-laws who eat any old crap she has become uber-organic vegan
Feed them crap now and at 13 they will be organic vegans

1. Pisces, my children don't seem to get invited to lunch or dinner at Mcdos, probably because we live in the country. The scenario you and others seem to envisage where I say a stern no to outings never arises - and we aren't a stern-no kind of family on this, but a let's-talk-it-over family.

Ds is really too old for the kind of parties you describe - he and friends tend to go to the cinema etc or to tea at each other's houses rather than to large-scale parties.
But this may be because we live in the country, so people may be less inclined to get a caterer in.

At dd's age most parties are sleepovers, and they are therefore miles from anywhere (she goes to a country-town school and said town has no McD, KFC, Pizza Hut etc, though it does have some very nasty takeaway places which we never visit).

Presuming there is more pressure of this kind in towns?

1. Chocolatedot, my dcs and I are also fussy about clothes, and we rarely shop at supermarkets because we worry abotu farmers (we live in the coutnry, as above). We can't do a lot about the pharmaceutical industry, whereas we do have more of a choice about what we eat.

We never eat takeaway sandwiches (oily and usually stale). If we go out for the day we usually take a picnic or occasionally eat in a proper restaurant or gastropub.

1. This isn't mainly a 'health' issue for me - it's about choice and lifestyle.

I've said nothing to condemn anyone else's choices, merely defended my own.

I am now going to stop posting in response to these questions, as it doesn't seem to generate much light, but only more defensive heat. I've said my say. More than.

I know you have said that you are not posting any more so I will have to go by what you say-I am just amazed!
I live in a village, my local town doesn't have a McDonalds and yet I would have to strictly police diet to avoid it. If I go to the cinema I refuse to buy drinks and sweets-however if they go with a friend for a birthday or on their own with friends I have no control over the junk bought.Going to tea at someone's house can involve food I have never bought, like microwave chips. Going on Scout camp has involved fish and chips all round. School residential courses, (very healthy, in the middle of rural Wales), have involved buying rubbish at service station stops.
I grew up in a village in a very rural part of the UK, even in the days before McDonald I would meet friends in the Wimpy on a Saturday morning. My friend and I used to stop off in town on the way home from school and have one portion of chips and 2 forks!
I am not disputing what you say -just incredulous that it doesn't crop up naturally.

needmorecoffee - your experience is why I let DS eat meat when he is out. I never cook meat at home and dont know how to, but I feel it is important that he is able to make choices re food within reason.

A bit of crap now and again is fine it is part of a balanced approach to life.

I'm with you Piscesmoon, We are also in the country and I couldn't even tell you where our nearest McDondalds or similar is. My kids have never been to a fast food restaurannt with schoolfriends (tbh, I'd be less surprised if classmates' parents offered them crack cocaine than took them to McDonalds). However, I don't think eating at such establishemets very now and again is a big deal and I wouldn't dream of making an issue out of it. Also, I want my kids to grow up realising that not everyone wants / can afford to follow a diet of organic, local seasonal food and you shouldn't sneer at those who make different choices.

chocolatedot, I'm not sneering. But I get to make choices too.

I wasn't accusing you of sneering JL. Was just talking about my approach to bringing up my own children. They lead an incredibly priveleged life and I am always at pains to ensure they are not brought up in a bubble and that they realise what life is like for the vast majority of people in this country. Part of this IMO, is not demonising cheap food or indeed making an issue about it.

chocolatedot - do you realise just how patronising that last post was?

And who is talking about demonising cheap food? Demonising bad food, perhaps.

Hi, chocolatedot.

I don't think kids acquire a vision of injustice and poverty by eating at McDos.

Does everyone (regardless of income, whether high or low) have to act identically or stand accused of 'demonising' what they don't themselves choose or happen to like? I've honestly not had to say much to my children abotu fast food. Repeat: they don't like it or ask for it or go out and buy it.

And is it wrong to encourage kids to discriminate between good and bad food (Totally agree on this, Anna.)? NB: good food does not mean expensive food.

Aren't you forgetting that your choices have consequences? If a good (eg) gastropub closes because you've chosen McDs, then the food choices others might want to make are more restricted. There are reaosns why eg bread in England is so awful and so overpriced for what it is.

You never guess what I saw on my lunch break I walked to my local Macdonalds and there was children in there loads of children eating dare I say it Happy Meals and drinking Fruit shoots as young as 1 I would say just awful it was I mean all that processed food rammed down there thoarts poor little sods.

I must say I got the Chicken Legand and a coke and a cheeseburger and fries with BBQ dip it was lovely

Hiya, I don't feel the need to ban my children from junk food because having been brought up on home made (mostly home grown) food, there is no need. They are not stupid and even at the age of 4 are able to figure out which tastes better. Hence, there's no need to make an issue of avoiding such places; they know we only eat there occassionally when needs must.

I would never condemn, insult ot judge those who do eat such food (not saying you have) as for many people, they don't have the resources to make that choice. You say good food doesn't mean expensive and whilst I agree to a point, I'd like to know where else in Britain a family of five can eat out (a hot meal with drinks) for under £20.00 aside from a McDonalds or similar.

Quite frankly, if one of my children grew up to be the sort of person who would label a Nanny who took her charge to MCdonalds "a moron" (despite her employer never telling her otherwise) as Anna did, I would be utterly mortified. To my mind, it shows a complete absence of understanding of how most people live.

PS If a Gastropub is competing with a MCD, then its doing something very wrong.