[WTF] Mayor of San Francisco speaks out against anti-Happy Meal law.

[kobold]

Know what's another option? Parents being fucking parents and making sure their kids don't eat shit. Worked pretty well for both of my parents (who both worked and were NOT even close to well off).

Comments

[kilbia]

Funny how that seems to be beyond the grasp of so many.

If I become an evil overlord in the next ten years or so, people will be given the option to simply rent children for those occasions when they *want* to have a child around and take care of it. And in fact I will *encourage* this course of action over the current tradition of having it and only being willing to take care of certain parts of its life.

[taperkat]

That would mean that

GASP

parents have to be parents.

And we can't have that anymore right? I mean hearing the word "NO", spanking (before anyone gets on me - there is a difference between spanking and beating), and general.. oh.. I don't know.. common sense. None of those seem to apply if you have "spechul snouwflaykes" I mean children.

[tinkerbell86ca]

When I was a wee one, McDonald's was a special treat. Once maybe twice a month. I remember when they had pizza. Get it? A treat parents, a treat. It's not that hard to I dunno, whip up a stir fry, make your own chicken nuggets, or something like that. Hey, works for my parents, who both worked full time and were far form well off. So yea.

I preferred romping around the play areas in McDs as a wee tot. Pretty fun actually!

[confusiontempst]

http://savageminds.org/2010/09/18/desertification-and-problematization/ details some of the problems with that viewpoint. Basically, if you're a member of the urban poor it's highly possible that there are no stores within reach that sell healthy food, or the ability to make them.

[tmixtli]

The post makes valid points about both the existence of food deserts (I work in one, and you'd think that the businesses around here don't even realize that people live here) and the hurdles to solving the problem. However, the San Francisco legislation is foolish on two counts: First, eliminating toys from children's meals will not improve families' access to decent nutrition. Second, San Francisco residents are never more than two blocks from wise food choices. Penalizing QSRs for competing with each other will not solve the problem.

[crs]

If you leave parents to be parents, how can you have any accomplishments to point at as a lawmaker, come election time? All the real problems have been solved; all that's left are the fake ones!

[mgafm]

While I agree with you that parent should be responsible for their kids, what is society's responsibility towards kids who have incredibly shitty parents? I'm not saying that the happy meal plan is great, but I understand the impulse. It's the same one that allows for intervention when Christian Scientists won't give their kids medical treatments. They want to incentivize good food choices for kids, and that's not an awful thing -- if you eat a healthy meal, you get a toy; if you eat a bad for you meal, you don't.

[mgafm]

Right, and if parents let their kids smoke two packs a day, social services should come in, but we've still stopped cigarette companies advertising and selling to kids.