Children in restaurants

gregg1

GobbledyGook wrote: »

When you take your children out for dinner do you insist they eat from the children's menu?

I have inadvertently caused a stir amongst some new people from the toddler group. We all went for lunch last week and those of us with older children off school took them too.

It turns out allowing my daughter to have a starter from the main menu as her main meal is 'pandering' to her :rotfl:

I don't think I'm going to last long at this group, which is a shame as it is really local to my house.

Edited to add my daughter is 9.

My OH had similar issues with other mums when the kids were small and went out for group meals. DD only ever ate very small portions, even a kids portion seemed to overwhelm her. We never made a fuss about it and as long as she ate what we considered to be an acceptable amount, we never insisted on her plate being cleared. The best way for us was not to make an issue of it. To this day DD only eats small portions but is healthy and fit.

Other people however seemed to have a huge problem with it. One mother ranted at my OH saying she was pandering to DD and as a result HER child was now refusing to clear his plate and it was all my OH's fault for giving in!!!!

You will always get some parents who love to sit on their high horse and put others down. Ignore them, it's your child, your choice.

Lotus-eater

I don't understand why most restaurants don't just have kids sized portions of the adult main meals?
Makes more sense to me and means I don't have to try to deflect my kids from wanting a plate of chips with a couple of baked beans on the side and some breaded item.

We ate at one which had just that and my kids were happy eating a normal meal, no kids meals available. But when they are available, they want to go for them.

ladymarmalade

How strange!

I don't have kids myself, but when I was growing up I was allowed pretty much what I wanted (within reason of course). I was a 90s kid and childrens menus generally consisted of chips, chips and chips.....which I was not overly keen on. So I would often have a main meal from the adult menu...either a full portion where i would eat as much as I could or the restaurant might prepaer a smaller portion if asked nicely

tiamai_d

Always amazes me how these threads always turn into an anti-junk food parade with folk trying to outdo each other on what amazing food their child will eat.

mummyroysof3

taking my kids to an all you can eat chinese next weekend..bet they will only eat chips rice and chicken balls though.i am hoping they will try a few other bits though

joannaspanner

You should have let her choose from the wine list

Nan63

My grandson has a healthy appetite and is allowed to order whatever he likes off a menu just as the adults do. His mother explains that going out to dinner is a treat and why should he be restricted just because he's only 6?

Sometimes, he'll be happy enough with fish fingers/nuggets etc but more often than not he'll fancy something more grown up and he enjoys it. So what if he doesn't finish it all, more often than not, I don't finish mine as the portion sizes can be huge!

I do think she'd draw the line at a £30 steak dinner though! :rotfl:

jellyhead

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Sometimes I'm tempted to order from the kids' menu for myself!

Last time we ate out I had the dessert that came with my 6 year old's kids meal, and he had a dessert from the adult menu. It was banana in custard and I wanted it!

Sambucus_Nigra

GobbledyGook wrote: »

I haven't as no-one has said anything to my face. I went to add one of the girls to facebook (I'm hidden so they couldn't find me) and there is a few of them talking about it. She probably doesn't realise she has no privacy settings whatsoever by the looks of it.

Done me a favour, I'd rather know when people are snipping like that. They are clearly not my kind of people. I kinda wish the younger DD had spotted the mussels now - that would really have caused a stir :rotfl:

Seriously?

What a sad bunch of losers.

PasturesNew

I quite often prefer to sound of the children's menu and wish I had the b4lls to order from it (although some places specifically state you have to be under 12). I'd rather have fishy shapes and chips than something like a grilled fish with its eyes staring at me, sat upon a bed of rocket.