Baby Tea Leaves: Another Ridiculous Waste of Time and Money

Friday

Another Ridiculous Waste of Time and Money

I hope I don't annoy anyone here when I say this, but I really, really just can't stand when we, as a collective people, can't take responsibility for our actions. Like, for instance, blaming America's obesity and inability to parent on now, a Happy Meal toy.

Yes, McDonald's Happy Meal toys are the latest culprit for a potential class action. Because that's what's made us fat. Yeah. That's what it is.

Have you read this yet? A consumer advocate group has threatened to sue McDonald's if they don't remove their toys from Happy Meals because they say the toys lure in children "like a stranger on a playground handing out candy..."

When I was at the very beginning of the weight-loss journey, I was angry about commercials because they shoved all that yummy yucky food in my face, all that stuff that I knew I couldn't have, and I was bitter about it. But that was my issue. Not theirs. I hated how I had gotten to a size 16, pushing 18, because I had eaten that food. But they didn't make me. I joke around now that Ben and Jerry's is part of a conspiracy because they put their little love-pints on Buy One Get One sales and so then I get not one, but two Peanut Butter Cup pints. But I'm the one with no restraint.

This world is filled with temptation.

Doesn't mean we gotta eat the apple.

If we eat at McDonald's or any other fast food every single day, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell me what will happen. And my children know too the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, we talk about it all the time, they actually surprise me and make healthy choices on their own, even at 4 and 2. It's my job to make sure they do that. Sure, they will eat fast food if I give it to them or give them that option every single day. Of course they will. But who's the parent here?

The head of the consumer group says putting the toys in Happy Meals makes the "parents' job nearly impossible." Honestly, I find it just the opposite. I find it a teaching experience. I alone decide when we can go to McDonald's and when we shouldn't. I have conversations with my children about how often it is ok to have fast food and what kind of fuel our bodies need to do the activities that we do every day, like swim and play. Do they fight me on it? Sure they do! They've cried and thrown tantrums as I've passed those golden arches, but I don't cave in and they forget about them as soon as we sit down to a healthy lunch anyway. Trust me, the tantrum is not about the toy.

Come on, people.

Yes, I think that there is too much junk in our food supply. Yes, I think there are too many pesticides and preservatives and empty calories and yes I certainly do think that restaurants and packaged food companies could do a better job of labeling their products so that ultimately, we as consumers can make good, informed choices about what we put in our bodies. But I'm not going to blame my inability to make good, informed food choices or my inability to use restraint on a Happy Meal toy. As someone who has actually tried to rationalize how other people and other things made me fat (and failed, because, um, it was me!), that's where I draw the line.