This is what the kids want when they go to McDonalds, and the worst of it is that the toy has almost zero play value after about five minutes.
Studies in Canada have shown that if the toy was to be included in more healthy meals on the menu, the kids would go for the healthy menu.
Yeah right. My experience with my granddaughter is that she only wants the toy and to play on the McDonalds climbing frames. Eating is down to taking tiny bites of food, and I have to do a deal with her on the number of bites that she has to take.
McDonalds say that they are not responsible for obesity in Canada, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are partly responsible.
If kids really did like the food, one might see them in Harveys or Burger King, but that is not the case because those two companies do NOT offer toys or have play areas at any of their sites.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the food at McDonalds looked interesting, but it doesn’t. The kids burger is limp and tiny, both meat content and the bun. It isn’t even particularly cheap either.
Personally, I would like to see the removal of the toys and the play areas, but parents eager to take the easy way out like them.
The other gripe that I have is with the cleanliness of the play area equipment. Is it cleaned down regularly? I doubt it very much, and here are kids crawling around the floor and the equipment, and then picking up food in dirty hands to eat it. Maybe it’s as well that many of the kids don’t eat anything while in the area.
It would be better if food was NOT allowed in the play areas. At least parents could then control the eating part better by not letting the kids play until a reasonable amount of food has been consumed.
McDonalds pay lip service by including apple slices and a yoghurt in each happy meal, but that is about all that it is. If we had any sense, we would not take our kids to McDonalds at all.
