The Kid's Menu.

   One thing I can't stand about eating out at most restaurants is the kid's menu. I do not feed my daughter the foods that are generally found on kid's menus, so I am usually stuck paying for a full plate for her, unless I'm lucky and there is a healthier appetizer or small plate. What I wonder is, when and who decided that the only options kids need are pizza, grilled cheese, mac n cheese, or chicken nuggets, all with fries I might add. I guess that is what we should be feeding our kids. We feed them like this all their childhood, and then wonder why adults make such bad eating choices. We created the habits! Just because the menu says it's for kids and your child might like to color on it does NOT mean you have to order from it. So here are some options you can try to avoid buying a separate plate that the majority of is probably going to be wasted. 
1.) Ask instead of chicken nuggets if they can do grilled chicken. Most restaurants will.
2.) Ask if you can sub the fries for a vegetable. Most restaurants will do this, but some will charge you a small up charge of a dollar or two.
3.) If you are ordering a healthy entree, and it isn't large enough to split ask if you can add extra chicken or whatever the protein is. Some restaurants will do this for 3 or 4 dollars. For example, when my wife an I eat at one of our favorite salad spots, she asks for extra chicken on hers so that she can give some to my daughter. Yes my daughter eats salad. 
4.) Try to eat family style. Meaning if you are a family of 3 or 4, you may be able to get away with order soup, salad, and two entrees and splitting it all. At one of our favorite Italian restaurants, they will actually split a bowl of soup and split a salad, which makes it very easy to share. 

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