Back story: I found out on the phone last week that my husband took my son (who we’ll call Mr. B) to McDonald’s. He was supposed to just take him to the pediatrician’s to check on his cough, but he ended up stopping to treat Mr. B to a Happy Meal. (My husband isn’t he one who revealed this information. Mr. B did, as soon as he got on the phone to tell me he was okay.)
This visit to McDonald’s was the first-ever nuclear family stop there. I am an extremist by no measure; it’s just that I read Fast Food Nation a long time ago, and the line “There is shit in the meat” has never fully been erased from my mind. Not only that, but I don’t like the way McDonald’s gets into your head and your heart when you’re really young and tries to make you loyal forever. (It’s a little like Catholicism.)
The last time I had a McDonald’s cheeseburger was 2003, and I shoved it down during take-off on a plane. I don’t recommend that.
Since then, I have prided myself on not going there or to any other huge cheap food chain. And I’ve especially refused to take my children there. The only time they’ve gone has been when they stay with their grandparents for a few days, and I’ve of course overlooked that because it’s a special thing they associate with staying at their grandparents’. (P.S. You really can’t complain when someone offers to watch your children. For free! For more than one day!)
When I found this secret out last week, I was particularly gracious and calm and did not freak out at my husband. It didn’t hurt that he told me that Mr. B only ate the apple slices (with God knows what sort of insecticide poured all over them) and the French fries, not the chicken nuggets. Phew.
So here’s how our dinner time conversation went down.
Mr. B: Mommy said she doesn’t like it when I get toys.
Me: That’s not what I said. You asked me if I was mad that you got a toy today, and I said that I don’t think you need any more toys.
Husband: I agree with that. It was just a special thing to go to McDonald’s.
Mr. B: Mommy doesn’t like Old McDonald’s. (Note to reader: I really like that he makes that mistake.)
Husband: Mommy and I both don’t like it because we don’t think the food there is very healthy.
Mr. B: Nuh-uh! They have apples and fries and chicken nuggets.
Husband: Yes, but—
Mr. B: And you got a burger!
Aside.
Me: What? You did?
Husband: I conveniently left that part out.
Me: Mr. B, do you know our food comes from plants and animals?
Mr. B: No. It comes from the supermarket.
Husband: But before that—
Me: Before that, it comes from a plant or an animal. On a farm.
Husband: Farmers are the best place to get your food.
Me: Right. And I don’t think McDonald’s treats their animals very well, that’s all.
Aside.
Me: Was it any good?
Husband: It’s not that bad. It’s decent meat.
Me: It is not! There’s shit in the meat.
Me: So, Mr. B, that’s why I don’t like McDonald’s.
Husband: But it’s okay to go sometimes.
Aside. Sort of.
Me: No, it’s not okay for us to go.
Mr. B: But it doesn’t matter because they have toys!
Me: You can go with Nana and Pop-pop. We just prefer other places, like Colonial Market or a farm stand or a restaurant.
Mr. B: When you’re a grown-up, can you do whatever you want?
Husband: (swigging beer) It matters where you get your food that makes it healthy.
Aside.
Husband: Do you know that a McRib and fries and soda is 1200 calories?
Me: (getting up to pour more wine) I can’t believe they call it McRib. How can people eat that? It sounds like cannibalism.
Husband: 1200 calories!
Mr. B: Can we stop talking now? This is boring.
Husband: And, Mr. B, do you know how the meat is made?
Me: (Quickly coming back to the table) Ulp! No, no! I think he had a question about grown-ups. Can you do whatever you want or something?
Mr. B: Well can you?
Me: (Sigh.) Yes, you can. But it’s only because when you’re young, grown-ups give you such good advice and teach you how to behave.
Husband: So, they take all the animals from off the fields—
Me: Ulp! Mr. B, go watch TV. Fast!
Aside.
Me: You don’t tell a kid how meat is made! Do you want him to be a vegetarian or something?
Husband: The burger wasn’t bad. It was like, hyper-palatable. But it didn’t feel like it nourished me, you know?
End scene.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I foolishly didn’t send my girl to watch tv during one of my rants. She still asks,what animal is beef? what does ham come from? every now and then.
Good times.
As a side note, I think they stopped buying the pink slime for chicken nuggets, so that’s good, right?
I’m not a vegetarian (I just don’t eat a lot of meat), but it takes a special day for me to even consider eating a pig product. I think I was both Hindu and Muslim in previous incarnations.
I had to laugh at this. We avoid fast food, too, but Trinity figured out (thanks to my sister) that McDonald’s has french fries. We never used to eat french fries at our house before, but after she made the association between Golden Arches and fat-soaked potato sticks, we now make homemade ones from time to time. It’s easier than listening to her whining for fast food (which admittedly makes me die a little inside).
Mr. B’s “Old McDonald” reference was too cute. And after reading this, I’m thinking I need to start consuming wine with my dinner.
If I can convince one more mother to medicate herself with some good old-fashioned dinner wine, I’ve done my job. :) (We eat a lot of supermarket-bought fries that we bake in the oven. They’re super good.)
I lived this scenario a few years ago. I actually read my kids excerpts from Fast Food Nation, and included discussions about how McDonald’s treats its workers along with the bacteria in the beef. Then, OTHER parents took my kids there on playdates, etc. Of course, to my chagrin, my kids lectured them on the evils of fast food. I ended up feeling elitist and apologetic. Its one thing to abstain from it for yourself and for your family but it becomes a complex issue when you are part of a larger community with parents and friends who think differently. You need diplomacy to avoid injured relationships. My suggestion is to add another conversation with your kids about what to do and what to say when their friends’ parents decide to “treat” them to a Happy Meal.
lol. Hilarious! I have a thing against McDonalds, too. Even though I know they’re trying to clean up their act, I just don’t trust them…yet. Having said that, my child has had their fries before and LOVES them.
The fries are good. And I tell myself, What can be so wrong with potatoes? But in general, I try not to give them more money because they don’t need it. And because they have more money than God. (And because I don’t trust them.)
Hey! What’s wrong with being a vegetarian?! J/K I know you have nothing against us wonderful people. My daughter has been informed and very much knows where her meat comes from but she still chooses to eat it sometimes even if she its saying to her friends, “did you know that these burgers use to be cows?”
The funny thing is, Mr. B is pretty much a vegetarian with the exception of chicken nuggets. (And we only have those rarely.) I have vegetarian sympathies myself, which is why I don’t want to go into the whole killing-the-animals thing.
My thing is Princesses. The Disney kind.
I wonder: with these kinds of conversations (“Can we stop talking? THis is boring.”) are we going to drive them right into the hands of the enemy?
Wait. Is this what McD’s and Disney have in mind? (Dun dun DUNNNNN).
I’ve never talked about McDonald’s for just that reason. I don’t let him know I have a secret boycott against it. But HE brought it up! (Blame my kid and my husband…).
Welcome to capitalism right Jana? We, as a family, avoid most fast food joints as well. It’s simply the worst possible dinner choice you can make. When in a bind for a quick meal on the road we will stop at a Subway long before thinking about one of the Fried food options. My son, a cross country runner, has come to learn on his own how “body is temple” and is always the first to decline eating there, even when hanging out with his friends. Now if I could only convince him that the juice from the juniper berries in the gin of my Martini is a food group…