UK mom living in America left stunned by oversized portions served to kids in restaurants

A mom recently drew attention and sparked debate about how much food is served to kids at restaurants in the U.S. Megan Gulyard (@megangulyard), who moved from the UK to the U.S., took to TikTok to share her thoughts. She called out the hefty serving sizes often given to children in American restaurants, pointing out that they are excessive.

In her trending video that has almost one million views, Gulyard made her point with a clear message: "PSA—your child doesn’t need a portion as large as yours." She contrasted this with an image of a much smaller serving of pasta, which she believes would be a more reasonable amount for her daughter. The 24-year-old also shared her take on the large food servings given to kids in the U.S. She suggested that the hefty portions might be a factor in the obesity and overweight issues among American children. "This is why toddlers and children in America are obese/overweight because nobody knows how to serve correct proportions," she claimed.

To drive her point home, Gulyard showed her young daughter enjoying a smaller serving of pasta, highlighting the difference between this and the much larger portions typically served at American restaurants. The video sparked thousands of comments from parents. While many agreed that U.S. portion sizes can be excessive, others pointed out that having leftovers is a common practice. "I completely agree but the cheesecake factory is literally known for their massive portions and a lot of people choose to split meals there lol," said @sydney_pt2.

@its_notdelaine commented, "Every time I mention this people call me crazy, the portion sizes are the reason why the health is so bad!!" "Portion sizes in the US are out of control. Get huge meals, served so quickly. Awful dining experience!" added @camillaleas. @abbygayle72 agreed, sharing, "We split the kid's meals at almost all restaurants for my five and three-year-old and they still sometimes don’t eat them all. It’s insane how much they give."

Children are notoriously picky eaters, and their parents often have to come up with creative ways to sneak vegetables into their meals. One dad took this challenge to a new level with a hilarious trick involving a multimeter. In a video shared on Reddit, a father can be seen using a multimeter on his child. He says, "Let me see if your belly is full. Pull up your shirt." The child lifts his shirt, unaware that his dad is using the multimeter’s beeping sounds to convince him to eat more vegetables.

"You have room for two more broccolis, but you have only three left," the dad tells him. The little boy, looking worried, glances at the bowl and reluctantly eats the broccoli. While the story is a bit funny at the child’s expense, you have to admire the dad’s ingenuity. With kids being so clever these days, it’s almost impossible to trick them into eating healthy, but this dad managed it perfectly.

You can follow Megan Gulyard (@megangulyard) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.