A good chunk of this (particularly children's menus consisting of hamburgers, hot dogs, and such, but devoid of child-sized portions of adult items) grows directly out of the lamentable "fast food is the new comfort food" trend.
Children's menus from my own childhood had plenty of child-sized portions of adult items, albeit often with cutesy names referencing restaurant mascots; I look at a typical children's menu of today, at least half a century later, and I don't find a single thing I would have wanted even when I was at the target age.
On the other hand, I still regularly indulge in childhood favorites, at age 61. My 88-year-old father and I have boxed mac-and-cheese (although we've found that Annie's is quite a bit tastier than Kraft) at least once a week as our dinner starch (often alongside steak or pork chops), and on special occasions, I will have a childhood favorite breakfast of Cheerios and Rice Chex topped with hot melted butter (imagine "party mix" without the nuts or the seasonings). And I don't eat broccoli at all, and have trouble understanding why anybody would (although I do like boiled baby Brussels sprouts).
A good chunk of this (particularly children's menus consisting of hamburgers, hot dogs, and such, but devoid of child-sized portions of adult items) grows directly out of the lamentable "fast food is the new comfort food" trend.
Children's menus from my own childhood had plenty of child-sized portions of adult items, albeit often with cutesy names referencing restaurant mascots; I look at a typical children's menu of today, at least half a century later, and I don't find a single thing I would have wanted even when I was at the target age.
On the other hand, I still regularly indulge in childhood favorites, at age 61. My 88-year-old father and I have boxed mac-and-cheese (although we've found that Annie's is quite a bit tastier than Kraft) at least once a week as our dinner starch (often alongside steak or pork chops), and on special occasions, I will have a childhood favorite breakfast of Cheerios and Rice Chex topped with hot melted butter (imagine "party mix" without the nuts or the seasonings). And I don't eat broccoli at all, and have trouble understanding why anybody would (although I do like boiled baby Brussels sprouts).