What do you think of this joke/story from online?

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The joke/story is this. I guess it's somewhat famous, because I remember seeing in it online quite a few years ago. Not my own work; credit to the original writer.

One evening, a family went out to dinner at a restaurant. The waitress handed everyone a menu, including the youngest person, the only child, a 6-year-old boy. He just sat there with no one talking to him, engaging in impromptu fingerplaying by himself. When the waitress took everyone's orders, she came to him last.
“What would you like to order?", the waitress asked.
"I want a hot dog, please. With tater tots and an apple juice," the boy answered.
"No!", his father cut in. "We want him eating healthy. He's going to have roast chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots. With a glass of milk."
The waitress tuned out the parents and asked the boy: "Do you want anything on your hot dog?"
"Ketchup. And can I get a pickle too?"
"Yes, you can.", she said while scribbling down his order.
"Thank you, ma'am."
The waitress smiled, and walked away. The boy just sat there, looking totally confused.
"What's wrong?", his mother asked.
"That lady thinks I'm real!"

Ten or even five years ago, I would have automatically sided with the waitress and the boy. But now I'm more ambivalent. First and foremost, metaphorically speaking, whoever's driving gets to pick the music. So unless child labor laws got repealed and that boy was pitching in for the check, his parents aren't completely in the wrong to order for him. Second, the waitress could have put the boy in harm's way by letting him order something he was allergic to. Granted, hot dogs and potatoes aren't known allergens (unlike, say, peanuts), but still.

And yet, when a child is confused by the notion that a stranger "thinks he's real", something's definitely amiss. The floor is open to any thoughts, opinions, questions, and comments.

Last edited by Aspie1 on 21 Apr 2016, 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Is supposed to be a satire of how children are treated?
It's not very funny because it doesn't really hit the point home and it's confusing.

Plus it's not uncommon to make kids eat healthier.

It's a cute little joke

I wouldn't call it cute. I'd say it's almost like "The Giving Tree" of jokes. Cute on a surface, but with plenty of dark undertones. Slenkar was spot-on about in being a satire. I don't know how I'd feel in that boy's place, though. He was, presumably, NT. So he knew what was going on. I, on the other hand, at his age, would be less unsettled by an non-favorite food than by the social protocol of ordering in a restaurant.

I had to think about it for about 20 seconds just to figure out what the joke was about, a funny joke is something you get straight away

if my parents had done that to me i'd just be like, oh ok they are looking after me, not OMG THEY ARE TREATING ME LIKE I DONT EXIST!! !

"That lady thinks I'm real" as in his thoughts matter. Lot of parents decide for their children because it's about helping them make good choices. You are the parent, it's your job to direct them. If your kid only wanted to eat junk food and lot of starch and you just let it happen because it's your kid's choice, you are not being a parent. A kid doesn't know any better. So that's the joke. It was implying that parents don't let their kids make decisions for themselves and they dictate their lives and tell them what to wear and eat and so on as if their thoughts don't matter. As a child I just thought people had kids to boss them around and to have power and control. Then when I was older I thought they had kids so they can play with them and change diapers and use strollers and buy cute clothes for them and see them in them. Basically I was thinking all parents were narcissists. I just didn't know the term for it then. Good thing I grew out of that mind concept. I even though adults punished kids to get back at them because you got them mad and they wanted to watch you suffer and they did it for control. I basically didn't understand the rules and only followed them blindly because I didn't want to make the teacher mad or my mom or another grown up and get a consequence because I had pissed them off. Good thing I didn't have ODD. I thought rules were made for control so I couldn't wait to be a parent and be in authority so I could push my power around but good thing I grew out of that. I would have been a narcissist.

I don't get the joke.

You described me to a T. Everything you described, that's exactly how I was as a child. Not just in regards to my own parents, but all parents as a demographic. And needless to say, I was very much looking forward to having kids and being The Boss.

How is this different from you? I didn't grow up. (In fact, as a kid, I wanted to invent an age-acceleration machine, that can age a child by 15 years in 15 minutes.) No, actually I did grow up, since I found it within myself to sympathize with the parents in the joke. Even if it's mostly "whoever's driving picks the music", and if the kid doesn't like it, let him wait until he's an adult. Like I did. And now, I can eat Big Macs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if I so desire (only I don't). Makes getting through childhood almost feel worth it. As for having my own kids, I'm childfree now.