What do you do with a problem like McDonald's?

[hazelk]

The boys currently have a McDonald's obsession and like all their food obsessions that means they’ll refuse to eat anything else for the next few weeks. It used to bother me but every six months or so the obsession will be broccoli so I figure they get a balanced enough diet if you average out over the year. And it’s not as if obesity is a problem with them.

What is annoying isn’t the food but the new trend to gender specify the free toy that comes with the Happy Meal. If you say it’s for a boy you get a crappy plastic motorcycle rider, for a girl some proto-barbie with her own beach hammock. And I know, I know better than to expect anything different from big corporate corporations responding to consumer demand but it still kind of rankles that it can be so blatant. Although I suspect not many parents have issues about girls playing with ‘male’ toys in time honoured tomboy fashion. It’s boys messing around with girl stuff that still makes people uncomfortable.

And on a related (but not really) topic a neat article in this weeks Nature about sex determination in fire ants.

Comments

[ninerva.livejournal.com]

MacDonalds, hmmmmmm, aren't they that new healthy eating chain?

I used to live with this chap that had the same obsessional phases, stir fry for three weeks, pizza for three weeks, chips with everything for three weeks and so on, speaking on behalf of your boys future girlfriends I hope they grow out of this. :-) Just wait until they get obsessive about expensive things *shudder* GTi's for three weeks, motorbikes for three weeks.

I didn't realise MacDonald's did that with toys, it's a bit odd, or is it just me? And the fire ants??? I'm glad I wasn't the poor student that got lumbered with that little project.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

But it is healthy, I read the leaflet! Actually I think my eldest really got the message from the new adverts, he insists I get him a salad but then won't eat it.

Those fire ant type projects usually get divied up between hairy adventurer types who go out and collect the evil critters in darkest Africa so the rest of us just have to extract the DNA from the bodies they post home. Quite like ants really with soldiers and workers but without the guys getting to clonally reproduce themselves.

Oh and well done for finding a holiday. Have a great time.

[ninerva.livejournal.com]

...he insists I get him a salad but then won't eat it.

...you can take a horse to water...

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

But at least the horse is being consistent. Sigh.

[molly_may]

Although I suspect not many parents have issues about girls playing with ‘male’ toys in time honoured tomboy fashion. It’s boys messing around with girl stuff that still makes people uncomfortable.

I see this at work a lot, with parents taking books out of their son's hands and admonishing them with "This is a girl book". It's very depressing.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Grrrh!