Want some Lipitor with that Kids Meal?

Most restaurants will give you an extra plate, either for free or for $1.50 split charge. Portions at restaurants have grown over the last 10-20 years, so that your adult plate often has enough calories for a whole day on it. One option is to order a dish to split, and maybe a couple of side salads.

Mauro,
I fully agree with your thoughts.Once in a while, we let our 6 yr. old son have a "Happy Meal", but most of the time he agrees on having what we at home call a "Sad Meal" of Cripsy Chicken sandwich when we visit a local McDonalds. We have got to this state for our son, by talking to him a lot about food choices and trying to help him understand how important it is to have a balanced meal. We have taken each item on the kids menu at our most commonly visited restuarant and tried to understand what is healthy. Give the way, food is sold and marketed it may take quite some time before we can expect the industry to change its ways. It may be prudent for parents to order a normal entree and share it with a child.

As a society, not just at restaurants, we're falling behind on just about everything.
In general, not only is the food "almost poisonous", the portions are completely out of control!
Here's another example, after eating a meal at these "kid friendly" restaurant, look at the desert selections available at most places: Cheesecake, apple pie (which may be a la mode), chocolate cake, etc. Occasionally, there may be a fruit salada, but even that is from canned fruits, which is soaked in corn syrup for weeks before it reaches the kids plate! The desert alone may account for enough calories for a whole day!
If we could just learn a couple of good things related to food from Japan, for instance, maybe we wouldn't be paying through the nose for health care. We can do better than this!

My daughter loves McDonald's. But one time we went to a Japanese restaurant when she was about 2 1/2. We got her chicken yakitori and gave her some training chopsticks. That was the bomb for her!

Introduce them to new ways of eating food and it becomes fun!

The problem is, that pricing would be prohibitive for most parents. Half sized portions would NOT be priced at half price- the relationship between portion and price is not linear! Smaller portions might knock $3 or $4 off the cost--- and most parents would balk at that.

Pricing in the food service industry is more complicated than people know!

I love hearing these parents complain about this and that at privately owned commercial establishments not "catering" to their precious little snowflakes "diet" requirements and expecting them to change for them. Why on earth should ANYONE give two shits what your kid eats; beyond you and the child in question? Personally I couldn't care any less if you let your child gorge on chicken nuggets and high fructose corn syrup laden soda pops and dipping sauces... If you want your child to eat salmon filets and sauteed french cut green beans or whatever ... Order that and give them half, if you want to pay 3 dollars for a "kids" discounted meal; STFU and be happy with burgers and chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. Sheesh. Parents nowadays are ridiculous.

JohnnyMnemonic: Amen, brother!

Just order your kids salads. Vegetarianism is ridiculously cheap and healthier in the long run.

I agree with the peeps above, who cares about what you feed your kid. I would prefer to not have to eat in the same restaurant you and the rugrats are at anyway. Further, you kid must be odd, because most kids I know wouldn't be eating salmon or sushi, are you kidding? I'm tired of families thinking the world should revolve around their needs, so wahhh!!!!

Note - You are not required to visit a restaurant.

Note - You are not required to take your kids to the restaurant.

Note - You can order a soup or a salad.

Please be responible for your choices in life. This is a great opportunity to teach kids about making the proper choices.

Don't blame the restaurant industry.

Are you people serious? Yes they have children. They are consumers. Therefore, as consumers they want businesses to meet there expectations. You ignorant intolerant buttheads. Do you have anything better to do then bitch about people who have children and are being somewhat responsible?
Do you have children? No, then STFU.

Don't bother with a reply, I don't care and won't read it.

Since when is feeding your child McDonald's considered being responsible?

When I was a child eating out was a rare event. If people really cared what their child ate, they would cook at home and not feed them crappy children's meals.

My family just returned from a kid-oriented medical conference in Dallas. (My son, who is 4, has a rare skin disorder.)

At every meal, there was a kid's station. Fruit was offered at breakfast, but it was impossible to find anything resembling a vegetable at lunch or dinner! The kid's menu included all the usual stuff: chicken fingers, hot dogs, etc. That bummed me out. I ended up picking out the grape tomatoes from the salad and offering them to my kid.

One night he was so hungry he couldn't make until dinner, so we ended up ordering from the hotel bar--they charged me $3 for a small dish of grape tomatoes.

Amen to Mauro's comment that he would like to pay less for good food. One of the reasons I like to eat at home is that my son is more likely to eat well. Tonight he ate a whole head of broccoli, fish, and rice. Now that's my kind of Happy Meal.

I used to think like Johnny Mnemonic - then I turned 20. Grow up kids, people have children. It's inevitable. And sometimes we decide we'd rather not stay inside for the first ten or so years of our childrens' lives and we want to go out to eat. And when we do, we invariably find the same 'kid's menu' that the writer described. Of course, I have choices. My current choice is to not order anything for the kids and to let them eat some of my food. The writer's point is that restaurants would serve their customers better if they offered more choices for children. And they would increase their sales at the same time. And I'm sure that in ten years or so when your voice stops changing and you finally grow all that hair that's popping up in funny places you too, may have children and won't want to limit your dining options to McDonald's.

LoL @ all the insults flying around; I stated what I thought... and FYI i'm 40 years old and worked in the restaurant industry for many years in both front and back of house. Just because you can't handle the truth; you don't need to stoop to juvenile insults.

What possible reason would a restaurant owner have to accomodate an expanded kids menu? Please, give me a break with this crap. NOONE cares if your "options on discounted kids meals is limited" Be happy that they provide ANY kind of kids meal at all... they do not have to AT ALL, and bottom line is that if it doesn't make them money, what's the point?

3-5 dollar half meals to provide the SMALL percentage of families bringing small children into the establishment is not "cost effective" -- you realize that cooking a mini burger for a small child or a small portion of mac and cheese requires the SAME amount of time and effort as preparing a regular sized burger or an adult sized portion of pasta and cheese?

This is just logic, restaurant pricing is a calculation encorporating the cost of the materials, labor, transportation of materials, etc. The portions are calculated and priced to provide a "margin" for the establishment after selling x number of units. The fact that restaurants even provide a portion small enough to be acceptable to a child is beyond the call of duty in my opinion, and whining about how your choices are limited at restaurants and that they should take measures to accomodate you is the height of arrogance in my opinion... you already have options, whether you choose to excercise those options is entirely on you; not the proprietor...

If restaurants want to stay in business they offer what the customer wants.

JohnnyMnemonic just remember you tax dollars will be paying those kids poor eating habits.

I am really enjoying this discussion.\

Let me make sure my point is clear...I don't think every restaurant should cater to children. But the restaurants with a kids meal on the menu could start serving half portions of the regular menu instead of only burgers and hot dogs. The half portions could be served only to kids 12 and under

As Rob in Madrid said: our tax dollars will eventually pay for those lipitors.

I would like to hear from more restaurant owners and workers as well. If you have a kids menu today, would you consider offering the half portions for kids 12 and under only?

Please keep the comments coming, but also keep them clean. Thanks

Why do you think most restaurants provide what they do for kid's menu's. It is cheap to prepare and can be sold to you cheap. Which is what you all are saying you want, and now you want to complain that you want to be cheap and picky.

Personally, I think restaurants should not have kids meals and charge $5 or $10.00 for a plate for you to share with your crumbmuncher. Then you would keep your dimple darling at home, so I don't have to listen to them whine.

I've been a chef for 25 yrs. There is no way that a half order of salmon is going for the same price as a hotdog. I'm also the father of 3 children. When I want my kids to eat healthy I cook for them at home. When we eat out I choose family friendly places that cater to families with small kids. I would never think of taking them to a place that is clearly for adults then start whining that my kids have to eat chicken fingers. Like Johnny said half portions will never equal half price. Never. I say pick a place that caters to you and your kids and leave the trendy places for adults.

I am rolling my eyes as I write this. My first instinct is to remind many of the responders here that although everyone is entitled to their opinion (which is clearly requested here), don't you realize that your opinion won't even be heard when you throw in insults and curses? Grow up a little and be secure enough to state your case with some manners and try not to sound so much like a junior high school bully. Second, Mauro...I give you credit for bringing this up. No, it may not always be feasible for a restaurant owner to serve half meals (as Rlogan pointed out) for financial reasons, but doesn't this go further than that? Maybe on occasion it could be feasible, and maybe there is possibly another option we haven't though through yet. Whatever the outcome of this blog and other discussions surrounding this topic, childhood obesity and childhood cholesterol issues ARE important and critical issues facing the youth of our country...like it or not. Why not applaud someone for trying to address it? Besides, many children eat well (salmon and sushi) and many children eat poorly (fried foods only). Stop judging. Coming from someone who's children lived on PB&J for years, I respect Mauro for addressing this. I would love to see us all pool together and come up with some good to add to this national crisis.

As a medical student (near future doctor), (*) you people who are accusing this person of blaming the restaurant industry.

This poster is clearly NOT blaming the industry, just asking for more choices. And yes, it is a HUGE problem that mostly oversized portions of very bad food are what is available to eat.

Ever wanted to eat less and waste less?

It'll cost you extra to get just a small meal if you're over 12. Retarded.

Smaller portions in general as well as healthier foods would be of great benefit to everyone.

Obesity is a huge problem right now, so why not just offer more?
The other half, poor people need more options. Not everyone can afford to eat healthy when only bad for you foods are cheap. So the request is; offer healthy foods for poorer people. Its only a craze right now that basically lettuce salads go for 9 or 10 dollars.

Blah BLah BLAH Mr restaurant industry, who cares whether cigarette companies only want to make money, they still shouldn't sell them to kids.

Get it?

When you see the diabetes and coronary problems all around you, I hope you think back to this and remember that you are part of the problem.

Changing the way kids eat one meal at a time.
Gourmet In A Box is dedicated to improving the food served to children in schools. Menus in most school lunch programs are too high in saturated fat and cholesterol and too low in fiber and nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Major changes are needed to encourage the health of the nation’s youth and to reverse the growing trends of obesity, early-onset diabetes, and hypertension, among other chronic diseases, in children and teens.
I too am fed up with the choices ore beloved children are forced to endure. The hospitality field does neglect our children's food choices. So I decided to offer a healthy alternative to our children's breakfast and lunch programs. I will deliver a healthy lunch or breakfast to your child's school. Sadly I can only offer my services in the Sacramento Ca area at this time.