I saw/heard something in mcdonalds today that upset me.

A family came in and one of the boys did not want to order anything, so the mother started yelling at him and told him that he would be given a time out when they got home. Before anyone says i may not know the whole story, I witnessed the whole thing, starting from when they walked into the place and started asking the kids what they wanted.

To me this is abusing the time out system, but also i have to wonder what kind of people punish a child because he didn't want to order anything from the place.

Maybe i'm just nuts lol I would have thought they'd be thrilled that he didnt want mcdonalds food lol

I'd guess kiddo ate junk before they left or will ask to eat the second he gets home. I try not to assume the whys... but these are logical potential reasons.

Abusing time out? The point of time out is to get calm or think about behavior. It's hardly abuse. It is only a few minutes!!!

My child won't eat McDonald's. There's no way that I'm giving them a time-out for that. That's just nuts. Yelling at him too? Yikes. Mom needs a time-out to calm down, IMO.

from the the whole thing i witnessed, they gave him a time out simply because he did not want to order anything. The kid was trying to tell her that he wasn't hungry and she didn't want to hear it.

Time outs like other punishments can be overused esp. in a case where the child has done nothing wrong but is getting one anyways.

Maybe... the child before they got there begged their mom for McDonalds and then when they get there, refuses to eat. You really don't know the whole story. You only know what you saw from the time they walked in. Maybe she told them she wouldn't be making lunch later on and they had to eat now. There could be several different reasons.

I can't tell you how many times I have dealt with a kid that isn't hungry... then we eat and 10 minutes later they are whinning and complaining that they are starving and now want some McDonalds.

It's good for parents to pick their battles.

I stopped that one real quick in my child's younger years. My child knows that dinner is what's on their plate and there's no eating after dinner.

the kid is smart and knows that mcdonalds is sh1t food. hes trying to avoid heart disease at an early age.

boy, parenting standards really have taken a drop off into the deep end.

Granted we don't the situation. However, I didn't think its fair to force a child to eat when they are not hungry. Yes, it may be inconvient for the parent. But, if we force our children to eat when they aren't hungry, what are we teaching them?

I agree. I wouldn't get upset if my child didn't want to eat if she wasn't hungry. However... maybe the child has a habit of this? Claiming they are hungry and then refusing to eat? We don't know...

ONLY ABUSE about going to McDonalds IS going -t o- MCDONALDS ,, ewwwwwww

i lost a kidney.. had to have my pancreas scrapped n my intestines were full of POSION
FROM EATING AT MCDONALDS..
i vote for the kID.
just say NO
to MCDONALDS... RESTURANT...
is my motto.

I doubt you got all that from eating at Mcdonalds...or if you did you shouldn't have been eating there as often.

Kids don't want to eat, don't make them eat...but if they want something later...feed them carrots.

This has been going on at my house for quite a few months. My child says that they aren't hungry. I can tell by the clock that they should be hungry. I see by their eyes and dwindling energy level that they are hungry. They sit down and say that they aren't hungry. They take a bite and then eat like they're starving. I'm thinking that they are too busy playing to think about food but once that first bite happens, the salivary glands start working and the hunger hits.

I could go for a Big Mac right now...........

I have thought ut this all day and I think that what upset me more than anything was that she was yelling at him in the middle of an eating establishment. There were lots of people there.

I know its different for everyone but when i was younger my mom never yelled at us in public. She would lean in and talk quietly to us and if that didn't work would march us right out of the place and back to the car.

I know the whole place heard her, and I do not believe in publicly humiliating a child. If there was a problem before hand and they were aware of it, they should have spoken to him softly instead of in front of all those people.

I see that behavior all the time. In some cases if you look concerned and the parents notice, they can become confrontational without you even saying a word. It's pretty sad.

now this I agree with

I've received mean dirty looks for giving parents looks when the parent was misbehaving with their child.