How Dare You Suggest I Be a Responsible Parent?

The news is old, but this is a post I've been kicking around in my head for a while, and well, 4 day weekends strangely motivate me to post.

Earlier this year, the folks out in Santa Clara California decided to ban "toys and other promotions... offered with high - calorie children's meals." How dare they make the decision on what kids can spend their hard earned money on after they've driven to the restaurant for their Kid's Meal at the local fast food place?!

Wait. Something's not right.

Oh, yeah. PARENTS are the ones that are letting their little butterballs scarf down a double cheeseburger in order to play with the vaguely Bakugaan shaped piece of plastic that accompanies it. But in today's world, the parent see's the kids meal as "Wait? I don't have to cook, clean up, OR entertain my kids myself? Sign me up!"

When I was a little nerdling in the great garden state, and there was a toy I wanted, my mom would either do one of two things. She would have the meal herself (back when she worked nights at the mall) and given the toy to me, or she would take me there on a nice Saturday. The reason it would be a nice Saturday is then she would take me to the park where I could run around and play for a few hours and burn off the calories I ingested.

But as I said, in today's day, a lot of parents don't have the time to do that, and they don't dare say no to their precious bypass babies. This is the same thing that happened to the Cookie Monster. Now cookies are only a sometimes food for him. That's just BS. He's not "The Cookie Positive Role Model," he's a freaking MONSTER. But whatever, I guess they'd rather have Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird be the bad guys than have to explain a balanced diet to their kids.

The other thing is a bit of a call back to my post about the BK Mimosa. Several Watch Dog Groups have issues with it because they feel it encourages drinking at a younger age. It's made with Sprite, not actual champagne. If it was made with actual champagne, no one would drink it. BK has a hard enough time deciding on a quality of "meat" let alone what vintage of champagne to mix with their watered down OJ.

But yes, Burger King's mimosa is going to encourage the kids to drink. Just like car commercials will encourage them to drive and Willy Wonka will encourage them to look like the cast of The Jersey Shore. I didn't know what the heck a mimosa was till I was 14. And by that point, I can't even begin to imagine how many beer commercials I had seen.

Parents need to step up and be the positive force in their kids' lives and not rely on the TV or internet to raise them. That's how you end up with your credit cards maxed out on Farmville crops.