I have a thing against McDonald's.

I find it ironic that Sesame Street is heavy on the nutrition education these days, and yet it is "brought to you" by McDonald's. What good is it that Grover is telling kids that fruits and vegetables make you strong if McDonald's was just on the screen seconds ago, giving them mental visions of PlayLand and french fries? I make it a point not to take my kid to McDonalds, and yet she is well aware of who Ronald McDonald is (thanks to the in-house McDonald's in our local Wal-Mart). (She is almost consistently NOT calling him Donald Duck now too.) I think the child has been in McD's less than five times, and those times were either a) out of my control or b) for breakfast only, which is an acceptable reason to eat there. I've taken a lot of flack for my avoidance of the Happy Meal, as though that were some rite of passage or something. Well, I can tell you my kid gets just as much enjoyment out of Burger King's Little Tikes toys for toddlers in their kid meals (plus they will give you choices other than fries) or the virtue books at Chik-Fil-A. I don't even know what comes in a Happy Meal other than an awful burger. That's enough for me. (I realize they probably offer a fruit option now too...but that's beside the point.) The only time I can remember going to McDonald's as a child was when Michel Johnson's birthday party was there, and we all climbed into their big blue conversion van to head for the party together. The only other time I'd ever seen those freaky puffy creatures that look like they are made out of colored french fries was on TV commercials. But when I grew up , I didn't feel deprived. My family didn't do kid meals (in fact we rarely ate out), and I don't feel like I lost out on a treasure of childhood. Everyone has his own thing. Mine was getting a Moon Pie at a truck stop on the way to/from Granny's house with Dad. Britt's was Christmas hot dogs because his family tended to travel on Christmas, and that's about the only thing you can find to eat at the kinds of places that are open on Christmas. I'd like for my kids to have something more unique to look back on together in moments of nostalgia than their Happy Meals.