California County Bans Toys in Kids’ Meals at Restaurants
Yeager said the aim is to help direct parents to more healthy choices. He said the government has a responsibility to keep kids safe, and cited rules on car seats, cribs and other baby items as examples where the policymakers step in to regulate products.
Yesterday, I watched my friend’s four children while she took her fifth to a doctor’s appointment. Thank goodness I own a big van, because three of mine and three of hers had piano lessons in back-to-back sessions. After the first session, I picked up my children and her one daughter who was working on a duet with Katie, left my friend’s older two, and drove straight to the fast food drive through.
It has been at least a few weeks since any of these children have eaten fast food.
I offered a limited selection: burgers (the small ones) or nuggets.
Everybody shared an order of fries with somebody else (and many were left uneaten).
I purchased no soda; We ate at my house, where they could have water, milk or lemonade.
My friend’s daughter asked for apple slices; I gave her an apple at home.
One of mine asked for a meal with a toy; I said NO.
All of these children are skinny.
Genetics?
Coincidence?
Better parental decision making?
We weren’t this obese 30 years ago, and they had toys then, too.
Reit This Way 
I'm pretty upset by the no-toy thing, too. We don't get happy meals, either, and seldom eat fast food, but it's NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS what I buy for my kids (who are also not obese).
Just because a meal comes with the prospect of a toy or prize does not mean it the parents will buy the most unhealthy option. Once a week my children are allowed a McDonald's Happy meal. In fact, I get one too. There is one and only one beverage choice made available to them–chocolate milk. We could get apple slices if we wanted them, but I let them get fries with their burger since we have apples at home. The toy? Maybe once every 10 weeks they get to keep the toy. The rest of the time the toys go in a bag and await donation to a school or other worthy cause.
I just don't see that one out of every three children in this country is obese. Maybe it's geography and they are all somewhere else, but I just don't see that many overweight kids.
The only way taking toys away is going to help the problem anyway, is if parents stay home and prepare healthy meals, and if you have issues with eating out too much, that doesn't seem very likely does it? Maybe the government could find a way to prevent us from going through the drive-thru more than once a month — maybe like a zap collar or something? Or maybe they could just tax us to death so no one can buy anything? That works, too.
Can you imagine if our free will was taken away so we wouldn't sin anymore?! Where's the glory in that? I know it's an extreme example but honestly, no one is going to learn anything by this. The parents who overindulge their kids with junk food and toys will find another way to overindulge their kids with junk food and toys. The parents who go through a drive-through occasionally and make the healthiest choices possible will continue to make the healthiest choices possible. The only thing that might change is that the fast food places will loose money, so they'll try to make up for it by offering special deals on deep-fried Something.
Oh, my goodness, Michelle. NO kidding. We don't eat FF, because, basically, it's poison. But, it's my choice, not the government's. I would NEVER load my children into the car without their seatbelts and carseats, either, but I bristle at the government standing over me with a switch mandating it. Since when is it the assumption that parents are too stupid to make these choices themselves? Why is it we always have play to the lowest common denominator?
Give me a break. There have been toys in food for at least 80 years, if not more. It's a question of what parents choose to let their children have.
My kids are not obese either, and it toasts my marshmallows that I can't get them WHOLE milk anywhere, because the Food Police have decided that restaurants may only serve lowfat.
It is not the government's responsibility to protect people from their own stupidity.
A quick look at the article made me think the perspective was especially weird in that it seemed to assume that kids want to eat fast food because toys come with it. Are kids really enticed by the cruddy toys that come in happy meals?
They never play into why we eat fast food. And even though I let the kids keep the toys until they don't want them–usually it only lasts a week or so, most of them are thrown away at the restaurant.
Toys schmoys….
what about chickfila who has cool things like a science book in their happy meal (ie. not some CPC i don't want in my house? :-p)
ahh, Cali, our home of record. maybe if they spent all the time wasted on big brother stuff like this on fixing the massive budget deficit they'd be in better shape.
that being said, i do love that BK has apple slices 🙂 if we do go there, DH or i gets fries and everyone gets them, so i like that we can include something relatively not awful with our meal too!