Santa Clara County, CA bans Happy Meals

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http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15 ... l-19362009

This includes San Jose and the Silicon Valley.

While I agree that fast food is something kids should not eat all the time, the problem is NOT the toys. The problem is that decent, good food is hard to come by for poor and/or very busy working parents (or they're too busy to deal with an argument). Parents buy their kids Happy Meals because 1) they often do not have time or money to make a decent meal 2) parents nowadays seem to give in to their kids' every demand. It's crazy. When I was a kid I had to eat what my parents gave me. Dessert was fruit with cottage cheese or maybe applesauce. We had REAL desserts on weekends or special occassions only. Now though, I think a lot of parents just do not have the time to deal with a kid having a tantrum. They'd rather give them what they want (vs what they SHOULD get) so they don't have to deal with an upset kid. We ate at McDonald's every once in awhile (usually road trips) and my only choice when going was cheeseburger (or hamburger) or Fish sandwich because it was on special. That was it. I was not allowed a happy meal. Mostly because it was a rip offf in their opinion. There was no discussion. if I didn't choose from the choices given I didn't eat. Same thing at home. I was served what they were serving for dinner. If I didn't like it too bad. It was what everyone was eating and I needed to eat it. If I didn't eat everything, that was fine, but I had better not want some kind of dessert or be hungry 5 minutes later. If I was I was served the exact same thing I was served the few minutes before. We didn't eat GREAT (my parents were poor) but we had plenty of veggies and healthy choices most of the time because my parents went out of their way to make sure of it. And they BOTH worked. Of course when I got to be about 10 or so I helped make dinner a lot too. I guess we just made eating somewhat healthy stuff a priority. Also, food was a tad cheaper back then (now it seems EVERYTHING is so much more expensive really).

Parents now are so much different, at least the ones I have come into contact with seem to be. For instance, I have this friend that I visited the day after Halloween a couple years ago. Her son was about 2 then. We ran into her neighbor while outside in her yard and they both talked about how funny their kids were about the candy- they wanted it for dinner! SO THEY LET THEM. They actually, literally ate nothing but CANDY for dinner the night before. I was disgusted. I was like, "WHY?" and they said, "well, that's what they wanted." Um, I'm sorry, but since when does a 2 yr old know what to choose for dinner? I can only assume they meant that their kids were going to complain if they didn't get what they wanted. Well, yeah. That's what kids do. It doesn't mean you give them whatever they want. IDK, it just seems bizarre to me. BTW, her kid has had so many cavaties they had to CAP his teeth o.0 (I guess if baby teeth get too damaged they can permanently damage the roots and thus damage the perm teeth). She is convinced it was from drinking ginger ale while preg. I was like, "ummm, more likey it is because you feed the kid candy and juice all day long." LOL, god I am lucky this woman is still my friend after my many bursts of blatent honesty Love her, just really disagree with her parenting style, LOL

Anyway, I guess my point is that PARENTS need to grow a pair and put eating decently on their list of priorities. Guess what? McDonald's is here to sell you crap. They don't care if it is good for you. They don't care if you or your kids get sick. All they care about is selling you stuff that costs little for them to make, but they get the most money from you as possible. Also, parents need to be in charge of their kids again. Stop letting your kids dictate what the rules are. That is what YOU are there for. It's one thing to let your kid decide what toy to play with, what socks they want to wear or whatever...but if you let them be in charge of meals then they'll just eat cheeseburgers and cookies all the time.

Welcome to the Nanny State. Obama and the Democrats want to do stuff like this nation wide. The government needs to stay off my dinner table.

Dictating food choice is not the government's (local, state, or federal) place. I hope the people in this area stamp out the ban.

QFT.
Britain is just as bad, if not worse.

Where is the constitutionality of this law?

there isn't any. I'm sure it will be overturned. It's completely silly.

Oh what complete nosense the law won't change a thing about childhood obesity. It's up the parents to make thier kids eat healty. The majority of obese children also have obese parents. Remeber that 7 year old girl named Jessica that weighed over 400 pounds. She was actually taken away from her mom, by child protive services and lost 320 pounds.

Okay, this is stupid. You don't need to buy Happy Meals to get a toy, you can buy the toy alone so that's why banning them was stupid.

I think the law shouldn't be forcing it on parents by making such a silly law. It's up to the parents to decide how often they want to take their kids to fast food. They can just go and buy them them the toy only if they want it.

I think parents who let their kids get too big is considered child abuse. It actually is anyway because social services get involved and they take the child. That's what happened with Jessica and the mother had to take parenting classes. Her excuse was when she wouldn't let her daughter eat when she wanted to, she throw a tantrum. Pffft, I would have just ignored it and not give in and maybe give out a consequence. Giving in just teaches the child to have one to get their way. I felt sorry for the child and now had all that loose skin and her legs being crooked due to all that weight she had on them.

Anything that has to do with McDo is silly regardless. <.<

My inner 6 year old is crying.

But the (more or less) adult me thinks it's a good move. I don't know about the constitution, but a restaurant that uses toys to entice kids to eat its food seems inherently unethical. Add that the food itself is not healthy and implicated in the rise of obesity, then I would have to agree with the move. Anything that discourages children from becoming consumers targeted by big corporations is a good thing.

I know that when I was a child, I hated the meal itself; the burgers and chips would be left in a soggy pile at the bottom of the carton, and the coke burnt my tongue. I would still clamour to go there as much as I could though because of the 'plastic-lump of the week'... I gradually began to like the taste of the food after a few years, and if I hadn't become vegetarian, they would have had a customer for life. Their veggie burgers, alas, suck.

Happy meals for adults now, that's a different story.. we is all responsIble now :p

I don't see the issue, its the parent's job to make sure their kids eathealthy, andI really don't see the harm that an occasional happy meal has, Iate several during my childhood, but not day after day.

I'm not so sure an adult happy meal is a good idea, who really wants to pull out an adult toy alongside their burger?

Corporations are not meant to be "ethical"; they are amoral entities. They exist to make money. That is it. It is OUR job as consumers to decide what we need and don't need and if we are too stupid or wimpy to take control of our own health and that of our family then we suffer. KIDS do not make the decision to buy a hapy meal, parents do. The kid whines at the parents and they give in. That is the fault of the parent, not the corporation.

I hate McDonald's, but I don't give them my money. If they are so bad people should stop buying their stuff- then they'd go out of business. People don't. People like eating junk and they dislike hearing their kid whine so they eat crap from McDonald's and give in to their kids. BUT they don't want the responsibility to lie with THEM so they blame the restaurant. That way they don't have to feel guilty.

I'm sorry but it just really bugs me that people always say corporations should be ethical. They are AMORAL entities. They are not here to do good or bad, they are here to fulfill a bottom line, if that thing happens to be good (rarely, btw) great! If not, oh well, their bottom line is what they are here to take care of.

As far as regulation, I do think SOME is needed to make sure we aren't being fed wood shavings or ground up rat in our burgers (general safety and health) but it is unconstitutional to start dictating what exactly people eat (when it is just a matter of how much junk food one eats or gives their kids). That is what child services is for. If your kid is not healthy it is obvious. Their teachers and doctors would know and report it. If they are malnourished or neglected it will be obvious and action will be taken. ONE happy meal doesn't ruin anything. A bunch does. Giving a kid a happy meal on the weekend or something is no big deal. It's just that people have become so busy and/or lazy that they use fast food as a crutch to replace real meals, instead of something special reserved for "fun" time. That is how my family treated it, like entertainment. Gee, maybe we should just ban all junk food? we can all light birthday sprouted-wheat vegan loafs and snack on edamame at movie theatres I actually like health food sometimes- but sometimes, usually at the movies, amusement park, or my birthday, I really just want nachos, a churro, or a freaking chocolate cream pie! These things in moderation are just fine.

Anyway, this isn't going to solve anything. There are a lot of sources of junk food, many of them not coming from happy meals btw. When I was in jr HS and HS I got 99% of my junk food fix from school! There were soda and candy and chip vending machines all over! They served us burgers with ketchup as the only "veggie". It was ridiculous (and yes, I attended public school in CA). The healthiest thing offered was Cup of Soup ramen (HORRIBLE for you btw). They even had those coffee/hot chocolate machines. By the end of the day I couldn't wait to go home and have a REAL meal with some freaking greens and lean meat. If my parents didn't serve me healthy stuff at home I woulda been screwed, LOL. It is so funny to me that they are focusing so much on Happy Meals, yet we continue to destroy our education system in this state. It blows my mind! Yes, it is all McDonald's fault!

Even those How to Train Your Dragon toys?
*clutches Toothless*

I think if they want to stop people from eating fast food or even unhealthy food they should stop making it so dirt cheap. The low income families always eat unhealthy food because it's what they can afford.
Banning the Happy Meal won't do anything, because the kids can always buy another meal from Mc Donald's.

Obesity is on the rise, that's for sure. Australia is just as bad as America but banning just one thing won't work. I know that the Happy Meal is targeted at kids which is probably why they decided to ban it. It's still a stupid idea.

I am low income and I don't go eating fast food. It's occasionally when I do. We go to Winco Foods where food is inexpensive and we save money that way. We always buy the same stuff and the fruit and vegetables is pretty cheap.

If the healthiness of McDonald's Happy Meal is in question, why not let parents decide what is right for their own children?
If I were a fast food competitor, like say Wendy's or BK, I would be working quite hard to offer a healthy, low cost alternative to the Happy Meal.
Going after McDonald's is an easy target. The local lawmakers can pat themselves on the back and say: "We're doing something to fight obesity". Gimme a break...