Wastful children/grandchildren - should I say something?

[Anonymous]

My DH and I were raised middle-class and never went out to nice restaurants unless someone treated us until we were making enough money to afford it. Our children have been fortunate enough to enjoy many meals in nice restaurants. We love watching them enjoy their food and always encourage them to order what they want. However, we also do not like to see them wasting food by over-ordering and will make suggestions on how much to order based on the restaurant portions and their appetite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a bit shocked that the parents allow this behavior. I would never allow it and make it clear that they can pick one entree under XXX price and that anything else is shared in less it is a birthday and then one desert. That is bad parenting and I would set a limit during the invitation and I would also pick a much cheaper place, like pizza or Chinese food. I can't imagine doing that to my parents. We order what we will eat and often share. I don't see the issue in sharing. I often will share my meal with my little one and its my parents ordering a separate meal. 1/2 the time she doesn't eat it so I feel bad spending their money to waste it.

I think it's up to the grandparents to choose the restaurant, it's up to the parents to dictate and police their children's behavior. I doubt the grandparents want to eat pizza or chinese food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

A shrimp cocktail, a three pound lobster, and a slab of cake is a huge meal. No one needs this much food. This isn't a meal. It's enough for three people.

A 2.5 lb lobster has under 300 calories. Obviously the butter and the sides will add up, but it's really not going to feed 3 people. The cake is over the top, but maybe not for an active teenage boy.

I would just take home the leftovers and have a nice lobster salad the next day. You can make a decent lobster roll with half a tail of a large lobster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

A shrimp cocktail, a three pound lobster, and a slab of cake is a huge meal. No one needs this much food. This isn't a meal. It's enough for three people.

A 2.5 lb lobster has under 300 calories. Obviously the butter and the sides will add up, but it's really not going to feed 3 people. The cake is over the top, but maybe not for an active teenage boy.

I would just take home the leftovers and have a nice lobster salad the next day. You can make a decent lobster roll with half a tail of a large lobster.

So you would take home someone else's leftovers? I can't see a 14-year old kid making a lobster salad. It does sound delish, though.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you have him take the leftovers home?

[Anonymous]

PP: the kid won't make a lobster salad of course but maybe his parents will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

A shrimp cocktail, a three pound lobster, and a slab of cake is a huge meal. No one needs this much food. This isn't a meal. It's enough for three people.

A 2.5 lb lobster has under 300 calories. Obviously the butter and the sides will add up, but it's really not going to feed 3 people. The cake is over the top, but maybe not for an active teenage boy.

I would just take home the leftovers and have a nice lobster salad the next day. You can make a decent lobster roll with half a tail of a large lobster.

So you would take home someone else's leftovers? I can't see a 14-year old kid making a lobster salad. It does sound delish, though.

How is it "someone else's leftovers" if the grandparents paid the bill? It's not soup, it's a lobster. I would absolutely take it home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

Do you know how much serving size has changed over the years?
PS - your size "2" isn't the same as a "2" from years ago. So you enjoy your vanity sizing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

Do you know how much serving size has changed over the years?
PS - your size "2" isn't the same as a "2" from years ago. So you enjoy your vanity sizing.

New poster. This is ridiculous. Are you actually trying to tell her she's fat and that a Size 2, however vanity-sized, is big?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

A shrimp cocktail, a three pound lobster, and a slab of cake is a huge meal. No one needs this much food. This isn't a meal. It's enough for three people.

A 2.5 lb lobster has under 300 calories. Obviously the butter and the sides will add up, but it's really not going to feed 3 people. The cake is over the top, but maybe not for an active teenage boy.

I would just take home the leftovers and have a nice lobster salad the next day. You can make a decent lobster roll with half a tail of a large lobster.

So you would take home someone else's leftovers? I can't see a 14-year old kid making a lobster salad. It does sound delish, though.

How is it "someone else's leftovers" if the grandparents paid the bill? It's not soup, it's a lobster. I would absolutely take it home.

It wasn't the grandparents meal that they were earing. I think that qualifies it as "somebody else's meal".

[Anonymous]

I am sure your grandson will have special memories of the annual event and who knows how many more years you will be gathering if he goes off to college etc..priceless. Don't say a word. I would have no problem with anyone taking the leftovers though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

Do you know how much serving size has changed over the years?
PS - your size "2" isn't the same as a "2" from years ago. So you enjoy your vanity sizing.

New poster. This is ridiculous. Are you actually trying to tell her she's fat and that a Size 2, however vanity-sized, is big?

Maybe I was too subtle. It's an EXAMPLE to show you that actually eating all that's in your plate won't make you fat. It's WHAT you eat.
Oh, and also, I assume fast food joints have indeed increased portion size in their menus (I wouldn't know, since I don't eat that food), but I doubt a classy restaurant such as the one where OP is gracious enough to take her grandchildren would "supersize" a lobster order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suggest sharing appetizers and desserts. Nobody needs their own shrimp cocktails and own huge slab of cake.

I hated when my grandparents did this. They always insisted that we all share because they had tiny appetites, and they wanted all the leftovers wrapped up. I hated eating out with them consequently.

+1

-1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No! Don't say a thing! My god. Clean your plate is a great path to obesity and if you suggest the smaller entree u will look cheap. It is once a year. Let it go.

Hmmm, no, it's not. It's all the junk you eat. I ate actual food growing up, and was always reminded to clean my plate, both so as not to be wasteful and also out of politeness. I had my meals and didn't munch constantly like most people seem to do nowadays. At 47 years of age, I'm still a size 2. It's appalling to me to watch adults encourage their children to throw barely-touched proper food away because "well, they're just not hungry, and it's good that they assert that" only to turn around and feed them snacks and dessert when they eventually want to eat. Talk about obesity.

Do you know how much serving size has changed over the years?
PS - your size "2" isn't the same as a "2" from years ago. So you enjoy your vanity sizing.

New poster. This is ridiculous. Are you actually trying to tell her she's fat and that a Size 2, however vanity-sized, is big?

Maybe I was too subtle. It's an EXAMPLE to show you that actually eating all that's in your plate won't make you fat. It's WHAT you eat.
Oh, and also, I assume fast food joints have indeed increased portion size in their menus (I wouldn't know, since I don't eat that food), but I doubt a classy restaurant such as the one where OP is gracious enough to take her grandchildren would "supersize" a lobster order.

Aww, did I touch a nerve, sweetie?
While the lobster might not be "super sized," other things, such as the dessert, are most likely larger.
You must have your head in the sand if you genuinely believe fast food places are the only ones increasing portion size.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you, OP.

Don't spoil his special day by making any comments at the table.

Remind him before the day, to his parents or himself, that last time he left a good deal on his plate, and that maybe this time he will have a better sense of his own appetite.

And then let it go. He will have better manners as he grows up, don't worry!