I left a dinner party to get my 5yo Maccas because he's a picky eater

"You're setting your son up to be a spoilt kid," someone wrote on the now-viral post.

3 min read

June 20, 2023 - 3:34PM

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While we may try our best to cater to our picky eaters at home, crafting many and varied meals to suit their likes and dislikes, things become much more complicated when venturing outside.

One parent that knows that struggle all too well is forum member @according_owl who found himself at a dinner party recently with his picky five-year-old.

On the menu: salmon, quinoa and rocket.

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"He was picking at his plate, shuffling food..."

Posting to the Am I the A**hole forum, he explained that a friend of his wife's invited his family over for dinner as he has "a very strict diet" and so doesn't like eating at other people's houses.

But the host wasn't the only picky eater in attendance as the OP's son, five, also is fussy with food.

So while all the adults were digging into their salmon, the poster said his son wasn't "vibing with his meal."

"He was picking at his plate, shuffling food, and while he did try the salmon, he didn't seem to like it. I asked him if he was happy with his dinner and he said no, he wasn't," the man explained.

"I basically said, 'Haha, kids, right?' and asked if there was anything else for my son to eat. My wife's friend said that his daughter just eats whatever he makes, so he doesn't keep 'kid food' around the house," he continued.

"My wife said it was fine, our son would be fine. While he is a mild kid, he definitely gets hangry and this was the beginning of our night, so we anticipated being there for an additional hour or two. I said that our son needed to eat so he'd have the energy to play and apologised, saying I'd be gone for just a few minutes, picking something up for our kid. My wife's friend seemed irked but said he'd try and keep my plate warm."

The man ended up leaving for around 30 minutes and returned with a Happy Meal.

"I ordered extra fries in case his daughter wanted any, which she was not allowed to have," he explained.

After his son ate his meal and dinner wrapped up, the OP said that he thought the incident was a "hiccup" in the night but not a big deal.

However, his wife didn't see it that way and acted "cold" for the remainder of the dinner party.

Back at their home, she told him he was an "ass for no reason."

"I told her that if her friend had been more accommodating, we wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place."

Two days on, and the tension between the couple has only been growing.

Image: IStock

"You're setting yourself up to have a spoilt kid"

The comment section was in agreeance that the dad's behaviour was inappropriate.

"YTA," one person declared. "That was really rude, especially because they had a kid and you brought an obvious ‘treat’ food into the house. If your kid is picky bring granola bars along with you or something. If your kid was going to be like that, you could have left early and stopped at McDonald’s on the way home."

Another replied, saying: "Yep he overreacted, it's rude to leave in the middle of the meal. What is the OP teaching his son? Don't like your meal - no problem, dad will get your McDonald's right away. Don't expect an invite back."

And someone else joked, "Let's be honest, OP ducked out in the middle of the meal because HE didn't like it and wanted Maccas for himself."

Someone else pointed out that, "Saying that the friend wasn't 'accommodating' because they don't keep chicken nuggets and fries available for every random five-year-old that shows up is rude. They made dinner. That was the dinner they made. You did not indicate ahead of time that there would be food restrictions for your child so they didn't make any accommodations for that. Or that your child prefers traditional 'kid' food.

"It's okay for your kid to not enjoy a meal and to wait for an alternative."

And finally, this person concluded: "Your kid would have survived one meal that wasn't kiddified. He wasn't starving. You're kind of setting yourself up to have a spoiled kid who expects their parents to drop everything and get fast food for dinner if they don't like what has been presented."