You can have fries with that, but no toy

Our view on child obesity: In this toy story, San Francisco bars Happy Meal treats

So, I’m linking up to an editorial and a somewhat dated article, but both revolve around healthy choices at McDonald’s.

Are we shocked that Happy Meals exceed 430 calories? Are we shocked that Micky D’s employees will assume you want fries instead of apples 93 percent of the time? (Side note: that’s a training issue, not a McDonald’s issue.) The answer would be, no.

However, I do find it asinine that in San Francisco they are passing a law making it illegal to sell toys with the Happy Meal if it does not meet nutritional standards. How many of us remember being told as a kid (or even telling our kids if we have them) that we couldn’t play with the toy until we finished our meal? And what did we do? We ate our meal because we wanted to play with that damn toy. Cheap piece of plastic that it was.

So, essentially, by removing the toy from the equation, you’re really punishing the parents who are desperately trying to get their kids to eat. There are times when your child will throw down everything you put in front of them, so if all they will shove down their throat hole is a small order of fries, then you’re just happy to have gotten some sort of food in them, healthy or otherwise. Some food – even if it’s unhealthy food – is better than no food at all.

Now, that being said, I am the cruel and unusual parent who will always order apple dippers and milk with my kid’s dinner. But she’s used to it. She expects it. She does now ask for fries, which we will give her, but a few from our own meals, not her own complete order of fries. And we won’t necessarily give them to her until she’s actually eaten some of the healthy part of her meal. (Unless I’m too tired to fight with her, which does happen, but then reference the “some food is better than no food” argument listed above.)

Look, we all know the toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals (and all other kid’s meals) are done in an effort to get kids to beg their parents to go there to get that “worthless piece of plastic.” That’s fine. I can’t say that I’ve been immune to it, do you know how many Tiny Beanie Babies are in my house? The fact is, it’s the parents who drive the cars through the drive-thrus, the parents who are paying, the parents who are allowing their children to eat this crap – if you punish anyone, you punish the parents. If they don’t order their kid something healthy, then you force them to get a salad. “I’m sorry ma’am, you got fries with your son’s Happy Meal, that means the only meal options for you are salad or a fruit and yogurt parfait.”

That extremely sarcastic comment aside, if parents really care about what their kids are eating, then they will order accordingly. (And don’t get me started on the idiotic employees who take the order I made properly but give me fries because they are too freakin’ lazy to walk over to the fridge to get a bag of apple dippers.) If the parents don’t care, and they order whatever, and let their kids eat whatever, then they will suffer in the long run. They will have to pay for their kid’s health problems, they will have to deal with the low self-esteem that comes from being the only fat kid in the class who can’t dodge a ball (or a wrench).

Justice comes at one time or another, I don’t feel it’s McDonald’s responsibility to tell you how to parent – just like it’s not the government’s, or even your own mom’s. You raise your kids the way YOU see fit, not how everyone else sees fit. And if your kid turns into a whiny, fat-ass punk because you failed as a parent, you’ll know.