I almost didn’t do this video.
I honestly thought it would be too wacky and out of the box for some readers to handle.
My change of heart occurred when one of my children said, “Mom, you HAVE to do that video”.
Out of the mouths of babes.
So here I am posting a video about the best trick I know for teaching your kids about the dangers of fast food and hopefully keeping them far far away from it forever – even once they are out of the house and making their own decisions.
While this trick won’t work for older children, if your kids are still quite young, it should work well.  My three kids want absolutely nothing to do with fast food and that includes my teenager who has more freedom away from his parents and has the opportunity to indulge if he chose to.
So here it is.   What do you think? Too wacky or totally on target?
Mom Versus Fast Food (Mom Wins)
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
You can even do this cheaper: for $1 just buy the toy! I noticed that my daughter didn’t even want to eat the “food” from the happy meal, she just wanted the toy! Now she knows that it’s really not food and that the toys are crap as well and end up in the trash within a few days, so finally we can skip it all together. If we are traveling we look for a Chipotle or 5 guys as a better alternative for fast food, but I also make sure there are plenty of fun and healthy snacks in the car so we do not get tempted. 🙂
I like this idea. I just wonder how your kids deal with spending the night or day with someone who takes them to fast food places? I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to the parent who is taking the playdate kids to McD’s as a treat and having one child flip out because the food is “poison”. Do you pack food for every meal for your child when your kids aren’t with you?
Ideally, my kids wouldn’t be with someone who thinks fast food is ever an option 🙂 If they were with someone else who ate differently than we do, I would pack a meal for the child, or have rules that my kids don’t go on playdates/outings where trash food is served.
It seems that your ideology matters over people in general. I would just pack my kid a meal and let them go have fun. But I rather teach them to value people over my ideology any day.
Your a parent you could just by the toy and tell your child that McDonalds is only good for the toy simple as that no need to throw food away even if it is garbage its still food that homeless people do not have if anything you taught your daughter the value of a dollar and how it means nothing great job!!!
So do you wait to take them through the drive thru when they actually ask to go for the food or toy, or do you preemptively take them through before they’re even interested in the toy/food? My kid is only 20 months but eventually I will need to teach this.
My daughter said, “Mommy, I am so glad that she didn’t feed her kids that food.” Love this!
Just started my own blog about living a healthier lifestyle. Check it out at http://www.everydayprimal.wordpress.com
Sarah,
I’m so glad I watched this! My daughter is only 6 months old but I’ve been trying to think of ways to teach her not to eat fast food, or all the junk that gets passed off as food, when she gets older. I’m sure my parents and in-laws will think I’m crazy, but if we teach her young she will never know the difference and be so much healthier! Thank you for the insight!
Not too bad, most likely not something I’d do though. My kids don’t know that there are toys at fast food places yet anyway 😉 They do know that any candy they get gets saved for Grandma (lol- our eating habits are TOTALLY different from hers) and they give it to me right away. They’ve grown up with the idea that we do things differently, and they’re totally okay with it. We don’t get Buzz Lightyear toothpaste, we don’t get fast food, we don’t watch 95% of the kids shows everyone else watches. I’m comfortable being different, so I guess that passes on to them.
Bottom line: We can’t mass produce Real Food.
If we are not willing to invest time & money in Real Food, we can’t legitimately call ourselves a free people.
Ciao, Pavil