I fell off the "healthy" train today and gave in to my 2 year old and her cries for McDonald's on the way home from the grocery store. However, instead of my usual 10 piece chicken nuggets and fries, I got a chicken nugget happy meal with apple dippers. And you know what, I feel full. It's hard to believe how much I would actually eat in one sitting, like 5 times what I actually need. Now if I could only cut out the fast food alltogether, but hey, baby steps.
Please don't allow a 2 year old to eat that food. You don't want to start her out badly, right? Plus, doing as she says will only start behavior and manipulation problems that will haunt you for a long time.
Getting rid of fast food entirely can be hard, especially with kids who enjoy it. I think it's fine in moderation and it just depends what you order.
I'm also shocked at how little I can eat and feel full. 3x this week I've had a toasted 6" subway club on wheat w/lettuce and pickles, and a cup of breyers lite yougurt. Twice I wasn't able to eat it all. It used to be that I'd get a footlong, bag of chips, and 3 choco chip cookies and STILL feel hungry.
Thanks for the encouragement! And don't worry, my daughter doesn't get fast food near as often as she would like. If she had the choice she would live on mcdonalds and mac and cheese. I only give in on the mcd's once in a while.
I think McDonald's has its place and that you did well! Yes, in a perfect world we'd all steer clear and never introduce our kids to it. But it is there. I almost think it's better to teach about better choices at McDonald's or to teach about moderation than to skip it altogether. Otherwise a child might become a teenager who wants to find what his friends have been talking about all this time and that's not good.
I think McDonald's has its place and that you did well! Yes, in a perfect world we'd all steer clear and never introduce our kids to it. But it is there. I almost think it's better to teach about better choices at McDonald's or to teach about moderation than to skip it altogether. Otherwise a child might become a teenager who wants to find what his friends have been talking about all this time and that's not good.
You said it EXACTLY.
As a kid, my parents NEVER let me eat fast food. NEVER. I think we'd had restaurant food of ANY kind only a handful of times before I was a teenager. And that did me a whole lot of good. As soon as I got my own car? It was off to the drive thru to see what I was missing. (And obviously, that habit never got kicked.)
My sister-in-law is great with McDonald's with her girls (2 and 4). They get happy meals with apples and milk. The third thing is up to them. The two year old gets french fries, the 4 year old usually picks chicken nuggets. I took them once when they were here this summer and I didn't know the routine. I asked Emma (the 4 year old) what she wanted and she said fries. I said cheeseburger or chicken nuggets? She says, "Duh, Aunt Traci. It comes with apples and milk. You only pick one thing." No argument from me, sweetie!
I think you did well..It could've been worse! My son was on a very strict gfcf diet for 3 months, but before that he lived on chicken nuggets practically. And I always ate with him.
I try to stay away from there as much as I can, for myself and the boys.
You made the right choice! It could have been easy for you to order what you use to get, because you were already there, right? Instead you made a better decision, went with a smaller portion and a healthier option! That's good!
As for kids who eat McDonald's, occasionally is fine! While you don't want the drive thru to be a nightly activity taking the children there occasionally is okay, and picking healthier options is the best!
Confession
