I am one of those moms who said my kids would never eat at McDonald’s. (I also said I would never use TV as a babysitter, but that’s another story.) It didn’t help matters that the biggest McDonald’s in our entire city was 2 miles from our house. You know, the one with the mother-of-all playgrounds.
When my son was two years old, I rationalized and said, “Caleb would love that playground. It won’t hurt if he goes. He probably won’t even like the food.” I couldn’t have been more right and wrong. He loved the playground, but he loved the food more. Those fries were like a narcotic to him. He was hooked after one time. It turns my stomach to admit that we were going there at least once a week, sometimes more. Ugh.
Thankfully, when Caleb was three years old, we moved about 10 miles away from that evil temptation. But, wouldn’t you know, there was another McDonald’s about 1 mile from our new house. Every time I picked Caleb up from preschool, he begged me to take him to McD’s. I tried to be strong, and most times I did not give in, but he was wearing me down.
I talked to a friend about Caleb’s nagging, and she suggested picking one special day per month that would be McD day. That way, every time Caleb pestered me, I could just say, “It’s not McD day today.” My son was born on the 4th, so I decided the 4th day of every month would be the one day that he could eat at McD’s. I stopped taking him to the playground, but he was always interested in getting the toy in the Happy Meal.
In 2006, I went to a health presentation at a friend’s house, and she pulled out a Happy Meal that had been sitting in her house for six months. It looked petrified. I was shocked! She explained how the trans fat in the food keeps mold and bacteria from eating the food. If mold and bacteria won’t eat that stuff, why do we?
You would think that seeing the petrified Happy Meal would have kept me from going back, but we continued to go once a month. I kept rationalizing that once a month wouldn’t hurt us too badly, but deep down I had this unsettling feeling that even once a month was too much.
In March 2009, I decided to do my own McD’s experiment, and I purchased a cheeseburger, nuggets, and fries. They have been sitting in my laundry room unwrapped and out of the bag. Here is what they look like now (picture taken 9-18-09):
The white stuff is part of the bun that stuck to the cheese. No bugs have tried to eat it, and there is no mold on it.
And here are the receipts for the food:
A few months ago, my kids started getting very picky about the toys they were getting in their Happy Meals. They would pout and have fits if they didn’t get the toy they wanted. When we went to McD’s in the beginning of September, they weren’t happy with the toy they received. I couldn’t stand the ungratefulness any longer. I told them we weren’t going anymore. What is the sense in listening to them whine and complain and then filling their little bodies with trans fat? So September 4, 2009, was the last time we set foot in McDonald’s. My kids were a little disappointed, but they are over it now. They want to be healthy, and they understand that McDonald’s is not good for them. Good-bye McDonald’s!
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