Thursday, April 17, 2014

How to make your kid happy

(100% not guaranteed)


A few Fridays ago, I was out running errands with the girls.  While we were running around, I realized we were going to be arriving home at lunch time.  I also realized it had been awhile since I/we/someone had lunch with William at school.  In order for this to work, I was also going to have to feed the girls or I would have serious meltdowns on my hands.  The quick food options along the way were very limited and didn't include anything I would typically consider as it was almost all fast food (see backstory below).

However, the pull of seeing William at midday was now stuck in my head.  I was going to make a sacrifice and pick up some McDonalds.  As much as I dislike McDonalds and go out of my way to avoid going there, I knew that William would be overjoyed.   Overjoyed child won and I hit up the drive through window and got a Happy Meal (hey, if you're going to go all out, go all out).

As expected, William was super excited to see us (Gemma, Amelia, Mom), but he was beside himself about the McDonalds.

William: MCDONALDS?!?!?!  MCDONALDS?!!?!?!?  WOW!!! MCDONALDS?!?!?! (turns to kids on either side of him with an expression of disbelief) My MOM brought me MCDONALDS!  Can you BELIEVE IT?

Other kid: Huh.  Yeah. 

William: MCDONALDS!  I can't believe it is MCDONALDS!  This is the first time I've ever had MCDONALDS before.  YOU GUYS I'M SO HAPPY.

At this point people are starting to look at us funny.  There are two other kids at the table with McDonalds happy meals who aren't even blinking an eye at their meal.

Eventually, William ate his lunch and occupied himself with the toy inside the meal as well as the box it came in.  He is insisting on keeping the Happy Meal box itself in his box of special treasures...




Boring, but necessary backstory:  I have a thing about fast food.  I don't especially like it and it doesn't especially like me.  My stomach usually doesn't handle the fast food burgers and fries very well.  Sure, I will eat it from time to time, but I'd usually rather eat something else.  Slowly over the years, we have cut out most fast food.  I think the last time I ate at McDonald's, William was three years old*.  As a result, William has not ever had a Happy Meal.  Every few months it seems like we cycle through an increased interest of the fast food places that have a lot of conversations like this:

William: Mom? Why don't we eat at McDonald's today?
Mama: That isn't my favorite place to eat.  They don't have very many healthy choices for food.
William: But, they DO!  They have APPLES!
Mama: They do? How do you know?
William: My friends told me.  They also have vegetables.
Mama: They do?  Which vegetables?  Which vegetables that you would eat?
William: Ummmmmm.....
Mama: Hey look!  A bird!

--and the conversation is usually dropped for a short while--










* We eat at home most of the time and when we travel, I pack lunches whenever possible.  If we do end up stopping, we usually choose a sandwich shop.  If we are going out for dinner, we usually pick a kid friendly restaurant in our area.

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