The Clown Made Me Do It

RoadRage is mad tonight. You see, I didn't want to take my kids to McDonald's, and I told them they couldn't go. But then they asked again and again, so I told them no again--twice.

But they persisted, and since I have no backbone and never want to deprive my kids of anything their heart desires because it might hurt their little feelings and have destructive, life-altering ramifications for the rest of their natural existence, I gave in and brought them.

And now that I've done this for six years, my older kids are both around 40 pounds overweight.

I don't blame myself, though, or my kids. It's really McDonald's fault because they make good food at affordable prices and they also give away free toys in their Happy Meals, so what options do my kids or I have?

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Because if it does, you are a complete loser and don't deserve to have kids, because you are unable to teach them valuable lessons about not getting everything their heart desires whenever they want it.

But, that's not the way the Center for Science in the Public Interest feels about it. They are threatening to sue McDonald's for including toys in their Happy Meals because the toys indirectly lead to childhood obesity.

"McDonald's marketing has the effect of conscripting America's children into an unpaid drone army of word-of-mouth marketers, causing them to nag their parents to bring them to McDonald's ... Once there, they are more likely to receive a meal that is too high in calories, saturated fat, added sugars and sodium," according to Stephen Gardner of CSPI in a letter to McDonald's brass. And of course if a kid nags, his parents can't say no, right?

This is ridiculous. Why should organizations like McDonald's have to put up with this crap? If people are stupid enough to continue to buy McDonald's Happy Meals because they want to get their kids the 25-cent toys included inside, why is it McDonald's fault that their kids are overweight? The answer is that it's not McDonald's fault.

I take my kids to McDonald's once in a while, because, as I mentioned, the food is good, and it's convenient. But, neither of my older kids are overweight because they actually exercise, and they eat other food that, get this, isn't made at McDonald's.

The CSPI should focus their efforts on more worthwhile endeavors -- with whatever it is they do. And, parents should put their collective foot down and show their kids that they are not going to get everything they want for the rest of their lives. They're called life lessons and people are forgetting how to instill them in their children, because why should they bother? Anything negative that happens with their kids is always someone else's fault, as the CSPI's lawsuit shows us.

CSPI, you suck! And, any parent blaming McDonald's for their child's obesity should take the money they would have spent there and go buy themselves a spine, so that they can stand up to their kids.

RoadRage