Before I had a kid, I swore up and down that no child of mine was going to eat fast food. I was pregnant when I first saw Super Size Me, the 2004 documentary about a guy, Morgan Spurlock, who eats only fast food for 30 days. Long story short, Spurlock becomes a physical and psychological mess. So after seeing what happened to this grown man, how could I feed any of it to my child?
Fast forward a few years and my daughter was explaining to her grandmother that fast food french fries are not made of potatoes, no no no. According to her, they were made of “butter inside and sugar and salt on the outside.” *Gasp*
I kept my word about not feeding her fast food for almost three years and slowly (bad mommy) started to introduce her to that addictive stuff. She didn’t even know what it was for the longest, but it was my laziness that would drive us through the drive-thru … her class at the YMCA was two blocks from a fast food restaurant. How convenient. I’m a foodie myself and not opposed to cooking a good meal at all, it’s just when you have a hungry kid in the backseat and you’re running errands, convenience rules.
Back then, my daughter even made it clear that she knew what to order. “Burger no pickles, no onions, no ketchup, fries and a sweet tea, please,” she’d yell at the order-taker kid.
So here’s my confession: we were up to a twice-a-week lunch fast food habit. That’s bad. I guess it helped that we split the burger or four nuggets, fries and drink, but still as I’m writing this, I’m a bit grossed out.
A McRehab was in order…
Now, a year later, we’ve calmed down a bit with the fast food. Once a week, we’ll get fries or nuggets-the burgers she once loved are now “gross.” Instead of sweet tea, it’s an apple juice box or milk.
Parents: Do you feed your kid fast food when you thought you would never? Or do you think fast food as healthy as just as good for your kid as any other meal you would feed the lil munchkin?
