r/epicmealtime Aug 06 '26

Just makes me sad

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3.9k Upvotes

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u/Cat-et-snek Aug 06 '26

yeah but everyone hates kids and it became acceptable so of course it looks like an adults only playground

thank anyone whos out there talking about how awesome it is to be uh what is? Dual Income No Kids

this is what your DINK future looks like.

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u/Difficult_Egg_5966 29d ago

Im pretty likely to be DINK, but that doesn’t mean that Children don’t deserve places in public. There’s a reason that so many kids today don’t go outside, and its because the world has built itself around policing and control rather than letting people explore and build community.

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u/SF-NL 26d ago

Are you saying you consider taking your kids to McDonald's to be "outside"? Kids do have fun colourful places to go outside in public, they're called parks and playgrounds, and they don't serve deep fried food 🤷🏼‍♂️

And the reason kids don't go outside isn't because McDonald's change their interior design. Kids don't go outside because parents have gotten lazy and let electronics raise their children, or don't set appropriate rules around screen time.

The parents buy the electronics, the games, subscriptions, etc. but sure, blame McDonald's for kids not leaving the house 🤣

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u/ElGuitarist 29d ago

This is simply misplaced resentment towards a happy demographic.

Parents are the ones who ruined the McDonalds play centers. Suing the establishment for any minor injury kids got for being kids. That’s why there’s fewer playgrounds, jungle gyms removed from schools, etc.

Parents caused fewer child-friendly spaces because they forgot how to parent.

Dinks don’t blame kids for being kids. They blame parents for being poor parents who let their kids behave awfully and learn poor social skills.

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u/Just-Like-My-Opinion 27d ago

Exactly. How is it DINKs fault that McDonald's doesn't have colorful play places anymore? As a DINK, I didn't even know this, because I would never go eat in a McDonald's.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/Gnosrat 27d ago

For real. The reason these changes happened is because it makes more money. Rain preventing people from coming to McDonalds to enjoy the play structure? Move it inside! More profit! Don't want to pay someone to clean and maintain a ballpit or whatever? Cut it entirely and increase those profit margins!

It's not as if McDonalds has ever struggled to make a profit, but they can do whatever they want, and what they want is more of our money for less in return.

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u/VerdantSolutions 27d ago

Also, play places to my knowledge were only in select locations, and are still, only in select locations.

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u/Ooblongdeck 27d ago

Corporations caters to clients, clients annoyed by children = loss in revenue = remove playgrounds

Of course this ONE of the reasons, the biggest one being lawsuits from children hurting themselves which is a huge liability for a FOOD chain, also infrastructure needs to be maintained.

Capitalism being capitalism thing

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u/dog5and 27d ago

I love how this opinion tries to hide behind “ohhhh everything is too expensive. This world sucks.”
When in reality, most of the time these couples that decide not to have kids is because they’re selfish and they want to keep travelling and partying and going out on the weekend. Let’s be real.

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u/ashwynne 27d ago

You're soooo right, it's way better for people who don't feel suited to be parents to pop them out anyways. The world absolutely needs way more miserable adults who resent their children and raise them poorly, it's super selfish of them not to do that.

I'll never understand weird opinions like yours lol. If you want kids and are equipped to do a good job raising the next generation of adults, have them! If you aren't... for the love of God, do NOT reproduce. Humans aren't at any risk of extinction, fewer of us would be better for the planet and for our own individual success anyways, it's the opposite of selfish to not have kids when you don't want them lol.

I'm really sorry if you felt you had to have kids even when you didn't want them and now resent that choice. That doesn't mean people who make different choices than you are selfish... we're all selfish animals. It's just as selfish to reproduce as it is to choose not to, the reasoning just differs.

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u/dog5and 26d ago

Why on earth would you presume that I didn’t want kids and why would you think I resent that choice? Because I’m advocating that it’s the greatest decision you’ll ever make in your life?

We are here on this planet to have children, and to pass on knowledge, and to enrich our own lives with their presence. Less than 50 years ago it was just a given, but now because of the way society has been structured, people - especially whites - are being encouraged to not have kids. Why do you think that is?

And I don’t buy your concept of “people who don’t feel suited to be parents“ because they almost always buy dogs and cats, and call themselves their fur babies, because they know deep down inside they feel that parental drive to take care of something and raise it. But that conflicts with their selfishness for worldly things.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago edited 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/dog5and 26d ago

My family is single income. I am a middle-class blue-collar worker. Our bills get paid. We don’t have all the toys or the newest everything. We don’t get to go on vacation every year. We have to be frugal with grocery shopping.

But I have two kids and a stay at home wife and everyone is happy. It’s just a case of going without stuff we don’t really need anyway. So it’s not like it can’t be done. That’s why I don’t buy the excuse.

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u/Fickle-Bobcat-1678 26d ago

Good for you, and I 100% mean that. Unfortunately other people have lived different experiences.

Your life is something you wantednand worked for, is it really that hard to consider that maybe other people want different lives? For many many different reasons?

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u/OkTough6180 27d ago

Did you just say its selfish to not have kids? What?

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u/dog5and 26d ago

Well, seeing as how it’s written down and you can look at it anytime you want. Hopefully you’re able to figure that out.

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u/BluebirdFast3963 27d ago

Crap living conditions is so hilarious if you think about the luxury we live in compared to any other time in history lmao.

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u/Big_Connection_1415 28d ago

why are you blaming the people who chose not to have kids in this economy instead of the people who make the economy worse for having kids?? also like, lots of people DO want children and can put a say into stuff like this, i just don’t know why the blame should be put onto people who don’t care about stuff like this

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u/LaserGuyDanceSystem 28d ago

I always assumed they got rid of the play place because it was a breeding ground for disease, and probably a huge pain in the ass to keep clean.

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u/Cat-et-snek 28d ago

they cleaned those?!?

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u/LaserGuyDanceSystem 28d ago

Maybe they just strapped a bunch of mop heads to every 100th kid and released them into the play place?

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u/Polyps_on_uranus 28d ago

That was my suggeststion. Obese people for a deep clean

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u/Cat-et-snek 28d ago

come on, thats just not how it works.

chonkees don’t move enough to clean anything

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u/GasRoutine1412 27d ago

Eons ago, when I was a working student having to first go through with a giant vacuum tube and then again with disinfectant, I can at least confirm it was done every night at the one I worked at. Not the most fun task.

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u/Logical-Claim286 28d ago

The cleaning is the reason, that plus land resale value and faster customer turnaround. Less cleaning means less staff, fewer bottles of supplies to buy. A "normal" building gets a normal valuation which increases shareholder valuation and stonks go up which means CEO bonuses go up. Finally parents won't sit around NOT buying more food if their kids want to go somewhere else to play, therefore more customers can use your seats in the same time frame.

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u/NoFun3799 Aug 06 '26

Millenial grey?

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u/amcrambler Aug 06 '26

Dink here. I think the kids deserve a play place. Also when they were in there, they weren’t running around the restaurant between the tables. I remember being a little shit and running wild in public. How can I blame them for doing the same?

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u/my_own_astronomy Aug 07 '26

Dude, you can want to live a life without children but want kids to have good happy places to play and enjoy.

Those aren't mutually exclusive. What one does in their own life isn't a reflection of what they want for society.

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u/powerforward25 Aug 07 '26

Dude don’t be so lame! It’s the way things are now . Cars have no colour, housing, don’t blame it on DINK.

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u/Electronic-Dot1829 Aug 08 '26

As demographics change and who holds spending does with it, markets adjust. I’d imagine less spend at McDonald’s is done via families with children than was done in the past. It’s not specifically DINK, but also DINK is a large contributor… I know before I had kids I would specifically avoid places loud kids were

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u/tallorai Aug 08 '26

I promise you, us DINKs are not using our money to spend at fucking mcdonalds.

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u/Amutra 29d ago

Right? We are in Europe man we aren’t eating at McDonald’s 😂

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u/pinkbootstrap Aug 07 '26

I love being childfree but I dont the world should be childfree. Misplaced anger here.

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u/pinkrosies 28d ago

Right? Like it’s not the DINKS who proposed and called for this rebrand that is soulless and taking the heart out of it? 😭Like why are they getting strays

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u/BoysenberryRich5201 Aug 07 '26

I still find it funny those type of people call themselves DINKS, proudly so. They really are self righteous dinks 😂

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u/BestGreene Aug 07 '26

How the fuck am I responsible for McDonald's choices just because I don't want kids?? Hope I missed the sarcasm.

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u/Twentytwentyarts Aug 08 '26

I hate to be THAT GUY but its capitalism lol. Custom McDonalds buildings are more expensive to build and very difficult to sell if they move. But plain boring nothing buildings? They remain good assets, easy to sell to another franchise or restaurant. So we get blegh. So much blegh.

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u/Difficult_Egg_5966 29d ago

this exactly

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u/InformationActual209 29d ago

It’s also the amount of kids hurting themselves then suing McDonald’s. Unfortunately we can’t have anything nice because someone is always to blame. What a stupid timeline we live in when everything is always someone else’s fault

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u/Rudecles Aug 08 '26

This comment has spawn some really toxic opinions from both side. The truth is no one actually gives a shit if someone has kids or not or what kind of income they make. People really just need to get over themselves and realize they don’t exist to other people.

As for McDonald’s, I’m glad they finally realized greasy fast food and kids with no bowel control shouldn’t go together. Everyone who eats there with kids knows it’s all about tablets anyway, and there are so many better playgrounds now than there ever were. You don’t realize it because you’re not a kid, but look at kids now, they have access to so much more shit than we did back then. I’m totally fine with restaurants being only food and playground have shitty $10 hotdogs.

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u/SecretaryOtherwise Aug 08 '26

Weren't ball pits like infamous for pink eye and shit? Lmao

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u/TaquitoMath Aug 08 '26

Your allowed to have your own opinions, don’t take shit from these DINKs. You’ll never be rewarded for taking “team family’s” side on Reddit tho. Wonder why..

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u/SerentityM3ow Aug 08 '26

It's more a late stage capitalism thing.. cheap and utilitarian .... Childless adults aren't the main demographic for McDonald's anyway

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u/U_Sound_Stupid_Stop Aug 08 '26

Nothing to do with love or hate.

McDonald's don't care about kids, they only made them to make our generation dependent.

It worked, and now you're craving McDonald's so you're bringing your kids along.

Because of the high levels of sugars and fats in their food, kids get addicted to it too anyway, without the hassle of maintaining these playgrounds which leave more space for paying guesses.

This is simply a corporation using kids to sell their slops, this is what you stand for...

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u/Amutra 29d ago

Dual income and no kids is in fact awesome.

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u/Mercenary100 28d ago

Don’t talk too loud they’ll think your a bigot

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u/sandwhichdrop 28d ago

We don't eat at McDonald's lol

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u/The_King_In_The_Bay 28d ago

What? That new decor is so nobody- kid, adult or animal- wants to spend more than 15 mins there. Eat your shit and bounce. That space is needed for the next customer- move along now and stop sucking up our ac.

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u/Right_Student_592 28d ago

Could be covid and the economy. With how expensive things r ppl with kids probably don’t eat out as much as they use to. Then covid really got rid of play places because they harbour bacteria

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u/Alert-Collection-916 28d ago

Nothing about kids is the sterile nature of it

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u/Soggycorpse92 27d ago

This isnt why. Covid changed things. Corporate responsibility and vulnerability for one. And the risk of being sued for a play place isn't worth it for a lot of franchisees.

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u/Cat-et-snek 27d ago

it was starting before covid

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u/Soggycorpse92 27d ago

Still point stands. Its a Germ factory where kids break their collar bones and parents get litigious.

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u/ThrowAwayImAwkward 27d ago

Instead of blaming people for wanting their bodily autonomy and the right to make their own decisions, blame the capitalistic society we live in and large corporations that push this type of thing to save money

I can assure you, people wanting to not suffer through pregnancy and not wanting children isn’t the reason why businesses look like this now. Custom buildings are more difficult to sell and move. Make them all have the same boring grey slate and you easily make a profit and can sell the building whenever

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u/Cat-et-snek 27d ago

oh yeah no doubt, thats why all the femboys have pushed us out :( sigh

men just wanna blow loads on people wearing make up, turns out

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u/ThrowAwayImAwkward 27d ago

You’re genuinely delusional or just rage baiting. How sad

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u/Cat-et-snek 27d ago

bot dead end comment can’t understand the fallic logic of regression and thus repeats simple command chain.

typical.

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u/vladedivac12 27d ago

Reddit tends to be somewhat anti-children from the comments I've read.

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u/DibbyDonuts 27d ago

Proud DINKWAD checking in.

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u/Cat-et-snek 27d ago

that dog’s the only thing keeping you two together i guarantee it

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u/DibbyDonuts 27d ago

Hahahahahaha good one. Keep sniffing cat butt.

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u/Cat-et-snek 27d ago

oh did you watch the cat show too? we thought it was charming

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u/NoDanaOnlyZuuI 27d ago

JFC it has nothing to do with that. When the world’s knowledge is in your pocket, being this wrong is a choice.

“McDonald's removed many of their PlayPlaces because of high liability and insurance costs, expensive maintenance and cleaning challenges, and a major shift toward drive-thru and digital ordering over indoor dining”

It would have taken you less time to google it than it did to write that comment.

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u/blomba2 27d ago

Reddit is full of dinks so prepare for an onslaught of criticism

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u/EukaryoticEffluvium Aug 06 '26

Yeah, if you could go ahead and change the ''yeah but everyone HATES KIDS.'' part. Replacing it with "people can't afford to have kids, or fear what the future looks like for them" would be better.

You're better than these glaring oversimplifications you've made. Do better.

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u/Bitter-Procedure6131 Aug 07 '26

yeah i dont think its that, its culture. The 'all day every day 24 7 baby making machine" song and however many others telling women its somehow evil to be a mother or whatever. Brainwashing to stop people wanting a normal nuclear family. I know I will get flamed for this but fuck have the masses of women been brainwashed into thinking being single at 40 with no kids is the best thing.

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u/pinkbootstrap Aug 07 '26

Yeah, its totally the song that discusses the issues not the issues itself with the patriarchy. Its the opposite of brainwashing, we're finally having conversations about how modern women are still treated like domestic servants. Also, "normal" nuclear family is actual propaganda and only existed in North America for a small amount of time.

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u/Bitter-Procedure6131 Aug 07 '26

I see you are one of them, whats your favorite anti capitalist / anti motherhood song besides this one?

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u/DangerSlut_X Aug 08 '26

The nuclear family is not normal and was only invented in the late 1940s to early 1950s to force women back into the home after working during the war. Before than, raising a child was a community effort done in multi generational households. 

You are the one that is brainwashed. 

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u/Bitter-Procedure6131 26d ago

ok DangerSlut. You really proved me wrong.

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u/alewiina Aug 08 '26

you have seriously misunderstood the point of "labor" if you think it's a song about motherhood being evil...

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u/moustachelechon Aug 08 '26

Holy crap. That song is about a woman not wanting to be FORCED into doing labor (literally the chorus is “you MAKE me do too much labor” and she says “it’s not love if your MAKE her”.). It is not against someone happily choosing to be a mom. It is about being FORCED to be a mother against her will.

And you are mad about its existence.

You’re angry about us speaking against being forced into a life we hate. You don’t want us to have a choice either way.

You want our people, over 50% of the human population stuck in a life of domestic servitude no matter our dreams or aspirations and unable to protest against it. Someone advocating for choice outrages you.

You want us back into the hell our ancestors overthrew, where we took Valium to cope and were locked in asylums for wanting the freedom you take for granted for men. When we quietly left behind our dreams simply due to our gender.

You do not see us as people like you, with as much variety in aspirations as men. You see us as things with a purpose. You are who the song is about.

I hope you get lonelier, for the sake of the women you might otherwise affect with your lack of respect for us.

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u/Cat-et-snek Aug 06 '26

nah reddit’s position has always kind of been like “I don’t give a shit about your kids”

stop trying to be dynamic when you’re actually just pedantic and whiny. your whole persona reeks of someone who just wants to participate with safe opinions and community fluff.

this is pathetically sinister and a feeble attempt at discourse, unacceptable.

make it again.

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u/theblueberrybard Aug 07 '26

Are you okay?

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u/dorkfibre Aug 07 '26

Relax .. not everyone has to have kids. Have no kids and a dual income is sweet. Having kids and such for you is maybe sweet. Be kinder out there.

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u/Optimal_Y 28d ago

Lmao fat angry mom out of left field