Kids Menus
I don’t even know why I’m bothering to write this because my feedburner subscription thing is all messed up and I’m not sure how to fix it, so probably no one will even know this is here. It could be google’s fault.
Either way, I have to say that I hate kids menus. I know that YOU know that I hate school foods (and pretty soon I need to talk about that word ‘hate’ again) but restaurant kids menus suck. In fact, they might be downright abusive.
Imagine you’re on vacation, right, and you dine at a different restaurant every night. Different decor, different elevator music, different servers with different utensils, different cups and different ambiance. Everyone at your table is enjoying colorful plates with an every-changing flavor profile, different smells, different textures and even unpronounceable foreign food names and funky garnishes.
On your plate, however, are chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, grilled american cheese on white bread, shitty pizza or overcooked spaghetti.
It should be illegal.
There should be a kids’ menu seal-of-approval stating that at Chinese restaurants, kids need CHINESE FOOD (in smaller portions- and not that red sugared chicken or pork) at Italian restaurants, kids need something with ACTUAL tomato, garlic or herbal flavor. At Sushi restaurants the kids need REAL sushi, they can even put mangoes in it, or gummy bears, who cares? As long as it’s not a chicken finger.
Why do we torture kids by only offering things that suck?
When my oldest was about 3, I took her to red lobster for lunch. It was just the two of us. I was probably pregnant and craving something. The server looked at us like we were from the moon when my daughter wanted Caesar salad instead of applesauce. Seriously, applesauce at a restaurant.
And why does everything on the kids menu come with french fries? Can’t we get fries at McDonalds? Aren’t potatoes like the cheapest food on the planet (I usually pay $1 for 5 lbs) so why do they sell 2-3 potatoes worth of fries for $3-$4? And why is it that people just ACCEPT that kids have no taste buds?
When I was making the kids menus for our restaurant, I tried to pull smaller portion items that were already on the menu and we didn’t get complaints about it, except that some parents requested no sauce. I always put it on the side because I think kids should be allowed (not forced) to at least TRY it.
When parents decide that their kids are picky, they sometimes pigeonhole them. I’ve heard so many parents look over the menu and say “You want noodles?” instead of saying “They have ravioli, pizza, little salads, steamed asparagus, soup…”
We hardly EVER go out to eat these days, unless we’re traveling. All over the country, kids eat the same brown and white foods (with basically no nutrition) while adults enjoy the delicious goodness of different regional and ethnic foods.
Back in the day when we used to eat out a lot (When we were spending 12-18 hours a day working at the restaurant and couldn’t bear the idea of cooking at home) we’d have our kids split real food items from the adult menu, or order from the side dishes or appetizer menu. They might not get the glow-in-the-dark plastic cup with the twisty straw, but the food was good, and all our kids have a taste for different foods, an eagerness to taste new things. Plus, we love leftovers 
i completely agree with you! when my kids were younger, they either shared an adult menu item with each other or their dad and i would share with them. kids should be encouraged to branch out when it comes to food and try new things. they, as you pointed out, should not be limited to the same 4 or 5 items at each restaurant. kids don’t always get the credit they deserve.
So glad you brought this up! We have a non-profit in San Diego County that works with restaurants to improve healthy choices for kids. Here is our website http://healthykidschoice.org also our donation link http://healthykidschoice.org/onlinegiving.html
Yes, kids menus suck. Chicken nuggets are totally my pet peeve because they have no nutrition whatsoever unless you count twice your daily allotment of cholesterol, and obviously they have some kind of crack because kids get hooked on them. I know so many people whose kids will eat nothing but (insert unhealthy food) and if Parenting does one more article on the topic I am going to cancel my subscription even though it was free.
Further, I am so done with people walking up to my kids and saying ‘WOW, you eat vegetables? My kids hate them.’ Ummm, thanks for making them feel like a social aberrant for making healthy choices. We eat vegetarian most of the time, so the choices are vegetables one way, vegetables another way, and brown rice. It hasn’t occurred to them that they can order me to make mac’n'cheese every night and I’d rather it never come up.
I know about the “Wow, they eat vegetables” I mean, the kid hears you. Of course they eat veggies. One of Maddy’s favorite foods is salad and EVERY time she eats it in “mixed company” she gets a reaction. I don’t think people realize that pointing it out can be negative. If I were a kid, my next question would be “What’s wrong with salad?”