Fast food and children

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042703768.html

A scary study done several years ago asked preschoolers what they're favorite restaurant was. Overwhelmingly, McDonald's came in first place, even amongst children who had never been there. This, of course, was accomplished by advertising; children who hadn't eaten at McDonald's were still watching enough television to be indoctrinated into American consumer culture. (okay, so a dig about tv as well as bad food) And what is the number one draw to McDonald's? Why the Happy Meal with a toy, of course. Which makes Santa Clara County in California just plain awesome in their attempts to battle childhood obesity by outlawing giving away toys along with unhealthy children's food. Children's meals must be under a certain number of calories, fat, sodium and sugar in order for a toy to be included. The law hasn't passed yet, but we can keep our fingers crossed. Although some (okay, many) will say that the government is being much too big brother-ish, I say good for the county. Children cannot make healthy decisions on their own, it must be done by parents. And too many parents are laying down on the job. I see it as a matter of child welfare to save them from their parents (and yes, I'm willing to go far enough down the zealot route to say feeding kids unhealthy foods all of the time is a form of child abuse, along with smoking around them, and not buckling them up properly in cars). As goes California, goes the nation (heck, I don't even live there anymore, but I'm proud of the various protections the state has enacted!).