Santa Clara County in California has taken action against childhood obesity by banning toys in fast food meals having excessive calories, salt, sugar and fat. I think that the fast food chains should give the kids real tools in place of toys. By giving tools instead of toys, the restaurants can comply with the legislation and make the kid's "really happy meals" instead of offering the same old boring plastic useless stuff. Rather than miniature Barbies and other plastic junk, what if they gave the kids real hammers and saws? It would certainly make me think better of McDonalds. Besides, if we are going to make our kids fat and unhealthy, we should at least give them real tools so that they can learn to be skilled enough to make up for it. Best, however, would be that parents prepare healthy meals and forgo the cheap fast foods that are killing our kids. Maybe the Santa Clara county legislation will make an important point. American corporations should be held accountable for delivery of quality goods.
On the final episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Oliver targeted the problem of commercially prepared brown bag lunches. Busy parents like to buy things they think their kids will eat, but unfortunately, those "lunchable," plastic packaged prepared lunch items are not good for kids. They offer too much fat, too much sugar, too much salt, and are very expensive relative to the amount of actual nutrition they supply.
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McDonalds has been giving toys away with Happy Meals since I was a kid. I loved them. My kids love them now. For being cheap Chinese givaway junk, they have a quality to them you don't see very often in dollar-store level stuff. So while I deplore the over-dependence we have on shoddy Chinese imports, in this case, I can't.
ReplyDeleteGive away tools? We can't afford quality tools for grown-ups without descending to Chinese junk imports for "affordable" use.
Perhaps if we stopped regulating and legislating, and grew up and realized that it is not laws that make us healthy, safe, and wealthy, but the willpower and responsibility of the individual citizen, we could return to an era where businesses in the country could make quality products without being red-taped into bankruptcy by government acronyms.
While McDonald's is not the best corporate citizen, I think in this case they have the right to do as they have been for decades, and I (a happy Happy Meal consumer back in the day) will make decisions for MY OWN family (which contains two McDonald's consuming, non-obese, happy, well adjusted children) without somebody else deciding I don't have the right or responsibility to do so.
Nate
You just couldn't tell I was kidding. Or sort of. I wish your McDonald's eating kids the best of health.
ReplyDeleteNo, you were too subtle for me! Not too hard to do I guess.
ReplyDeleteI had just seen this article a few minutes before reading your post, so I was already worked up for venting on it.
I wonder how I lived through childhood, though. McD's toys and meals given without thought. Playground equipment that looked like industrial leftovers on gravel bedding. Violent, fun cartoons that didn't teach sharing, morals, or Spanish. Tablesaws without riving knives.
It's surprising we ever made it out of caves.
Nate
(I'll go back to lurking now. That'll learn me to open my mouth!)
I think a better idea is to give kids learning tools such as rulers, calculators, and note paper. Its not a flashy as golden widget but it could make up for where our schools have left off in supplying our children the materials they need to get a good education.
ReplyDelete