Santa Clara County supervisors ban toys in kids' meals

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lilchino4af
lilchino4af Posts: 1,292 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Main arguement: toys attract kids to eating fried, fatty fast foods.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=7408403

Replies

  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
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    GOOD! I hate how my 4 year old wants a happy meal instead of a grilled chicken salad just because of the stupid toy.
  • TZEJsMommy
    TZEJsMommy Posts: 7
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    I live in Santa Clara County! I don't care either way, because my kids don't eat Happy Meals.
  • sniffles
    sniffles Posts: 295
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    You can order the toy WITH a salad...

    Instead of banning these things maybe the county should focus on educating parents in helping their children resist and avoid marketing. After all they'll need to know how to say NO to marketing when they're older, why not start learning now?
  • dothompson
    dothompson Posts: 1,184 Member
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    This is so stupid. Since we're concered about high calories let's eliminate the item that has none. If they wanted to make a point maybe not allow toys in meals that have over 450 calories.

    I guess kids in Santa Cruz have to go to Monterrey to buy a Happy Meal.
  • sparkles321
    sparkles321 Posts: 107
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    Of course they do, why else would junk food companies (and junk cereal companies) use jolly cartoon characters and toys in their products. I notice the argument is also that it's the parent's responsibility, not the restaurants. I agree with that to a point. As Lisa1971 pointed out, there are no happy meals made of grilled chicken salads are there? I would side with the restaurant more if they actually had healthy meals attached to the toys as well. I realize some are doing better. McDonald's introduced the apple slices and milk or juice. But that's still alot of sugar along with the greasy main course. Especially if the kids eat the caramel sauce as well. "Better" is not "Great". I don't know that taking away the toy is the best answer, but at least they (government) are finally looking in the right direction.
  • quinnybear
    quinnybear Posts: 243
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    Yes, the toys do make kids want a happy meal. But you know what? The parents are the ones with the car and cash to go and purchase fast food meals for their kids. Let your kid want one and throw a fit if you say no, ultimately it is the parents' decision. And unfortunately, children are obese because THEIR PARENTS feed them fast food. Its annoying that they try to make laws to fix bad parenting.
  • sniffles
    sniffles Posts: 295
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    Yes, the toys do make kids want a happy meal. But you know what? The parents are the ones with the car and cash to go and purchase fast food meals for their kids. Let your kid want one and throw a fit if you say no, ultimately it is the parents' decision. And unfortunately, children are obese because THEIR PARENTS feed them fast food. Its annoying that they try to make laws to fix bad parenting.

    I heartily applaud this response! :)

    You said it far better then I did. Two thumbs up! :flowerforyou:
  • gc2052
    gc2052 Posts: 183
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    I agree this is stupid. Maybe we should ban the big MAc from adults. I guess the GVT has not heard of the word NO. Maybe we should teach that in parenting classes
  • gc2052
    gc2052 Posts: 183
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    I agree this is stupid. Maybe we should ban the big MAc from adults. I guess the GVT has not heard of the word NO. Maybe we should teach that in parenting classes
  • leavinglasvegas
    leavinglasvegas Posts: 1,495
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    I just saw a piece on the Today show this morning on a program to teach children to become responsible consumers and not be taken by the marketing industry. I believe it is a government program, but I didn't see the whole thing.

    I agree that its the parents who purchase and are ultimately responsible. We all fall victim to marketing schemes in one way or another. Nobody is perfect. Think of all the posts on here with people defending diet programs, pills, and certain processed foods. Shoot, I can recall a thread abut the taco bell diet that people defended it. Anybody can brainwash anybody into buying something. If the goverment is going to get involved, removing toys from happy meals is a start. Adding health and nutrition to the education system is good too. But someone will always disagree with something.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    It's also annoying when people fight laws aimed at changing our society for the better with the personal responsibility argument. :wink:

    Seriously, we need a multi-pronged approach. We need corporations to be more responsible, government to force them to when they won't do it voluntarily and people to be responsible for their own choices.

    We don't live in a vacuum -- we live in a society where we receive constant messages aimed at getting us to make poor choices -- I think we need to fight that any way we can including cutting down on those messages.
  • sweetrevenge
    sweetrevenge Posts: 188
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    I know this may sound extreme to some, but I don't see anything wrong with this. You can say it's the parents responsibility and yes this is true but it's also the parents responsibility not to abuse their children. If you do abuse your child the choice to do the right thing is then taken away from you. In all honesty I believe that feeding your child this crap on a regular basis is abuse. Allowing your child to become obese is unforgiveable. I have 3 children 8, 7 and my baby will be 5 tomorrow, I am a single Mom and I work a full time job and I still find a way to cook meals for my babies. If you can't do the right thing and allow your child to throw a tantrum until you give in to giving him/her crap then something is wrong. Some comments left on that site were talking about talking a toy from a poor innocent child....Come on, seriously.....First of all it's a little $.25 most of the time that they play with once and NEVER look at again not to mention that if they are NEVER given the toy in the first place then no one is "talking a toy away from a poor innocent child".
  • sniffles
    sniffles Posts: 295
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    It's also annoying when people fight laws aimed at changing our society for the better with the personal responsibility argument. :wink:

    Seriously, we need a multi-pronged approach. We need corporations to be more responsible, government to force them to when they won't do it voluntarily and people to be responsible for their own choices.

    We don't live in a vacuum -- we live in a society where we receive constant messages aimed at getting us to make poor choices -- I think we need to fight that any way we can including cutting down on those messages.

    I do agree on the multi-pronged approach. At this point most of this society is too caught up in (and frequently rewarded for) not taking personal responsibility that unfortunately the government DOES have to get involved. Although will government involvement make things worse and people more reliant on having their hands held? Or will it actually help? I wonder.
  • leavinglasvegas
    leavinglasvegas Posts: 1,495
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    I know this may sound extreme to some, but I don't see anything wrong with this. You can say it's the parents responsibility and yes this is true but it's also the parents responsibility not to abuse their children. If you do abuse your child the choice to do the right thing is then taken away from you. In all honesty I believe that feeding your child this crap on a regular basis is abuse. Allowing your child to become obese is unforgiveable. I have 3 children 8, 7 and my baby will be 5 tomorrow, I am a single Mom and I work a full time job and I still find a way to cook meals for my babies. If you can't do the right thing and allow your child to throw a tantrum until you give in to giving him/her crap then something is wrong. Some comments left on that site were talking about talking a toy from a poor innocent child....Come on, seriously.....First of all it's a little $.25 most of the time that they play with once and NEVER look at again not to mention that if they are NEVER given the toy in the first place then no one is "talking a toy away from a poor innocent child".

    You are so right. Most people would agree that there should be laws that child abuse is a crime. Yet there are still people that argue that the laws prevent them from disiplining the child the way that they choose to. They want to argue that it is their right to beat their kid. Most people see that that is wrong. When it comes to things like feeding your kids garbage, people still argue that its their right to feed the kid what they want. I think some people think children are their possesions. A soon as it becomes a problem and laws start coming out, everybody wants to complain that they are being controlled. Really, if the right things are being done from the start then there is no reason for the gov to step in. If we are doing the right thing to begin with then why complain about the law, as it doesn't apply to you.
  • sniffles
    sniffles Posts: 295
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    You are so right. Most people would agree that there should be laws that child abuse is a crime. Yet there are still people that argue that the laws prevent them from disiplining the child the way that they choose to. They want to argue that it is their right to beat their kid. Most people see that that is wrong. When it comes to things like feeding your kids garbage, people still argue that its their right to feed the kid what they want. I think some people think children are their possesions. A soon as it becomes a problem and laws start coming out, everybody wants to complain that they are being controlled. Really, if the right things are being done from the start then there is no reason for the gov to step in. If we are doing the right thing to begin with then why complain about the law, as it doesn't apply to you.

    Maybe this is off topic? But did you ever see that show half ton teen? There was a 17 year old boy on there who was basically on death's door because he weighed so much. The only source to food he has was his mother and she NEVER said no.

    If his obesity kills him - even if it doesn't - this is CLEARLY abuse. If he dies it's on her head.

    However, a child who is merely a little bit overweight? Can that REALLY be considered abuse? I think that's going a wee bit too far. I think it's scary to imagine the government having control over what our kids can and can't eat... hell, it's scary to think of the government controlling what WE can eat... but wait! It does! Yikes! What a world!
  • jsreay75
    jsreay75 Posts: 5 Member
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    Lisa I wish my 3 year old would eat something green!!

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