I don't even care if I ruin this pub favourite. The truth is more important.
This has gnawed away at me ever since I sat eating a chicken parmi and realized my son's kid's meal, nuggets + chips + salad and sauce is just a miniaturized concept. Rather, the parmi is just the 'adultified' version of the nuggets. You can @ me if you want to argue about the nuances about additional mozzarella, the difference between the sauces or even the number of nuggets versus the size of parmi, but I won't respond. You and I both know now you are eating a kids meal and you need to grow up.
One thing remains constant, crumbed chicken, sauce, chips and salad.
You can't run from it, you are eating a kids meal dressed in an adult's name.
So, in my opinion Chicken nuggets specifically came after chicken parm, since its recorded history dates much further back than an emulsified paste of poultry breaded and fried (dino shapes inclusive)
Therefore the kids versión is a riff off chicken parm and not the other way around, so you can feel better about that.