Cupcakes and Happy Meals

When my kids were in elementary school parents were allowed to bring cupcakes ito class to celebrate their children’s birthdays. And during the year holidays were also celebrated with food—usually something sweet. Children are not allowed to eat cupcakes in school anymore. Part of the reason has to do with food allergies. But mostly sweet treats are banned because they lack nutritional value. People fear that eating one cupcake per month creates obese children. If birthdays or holidays are celebrated at all, they are now replaced with healthy alternatives.

I can buy into the safety issue—food allergies may be deadly. But banning all sweets because they are devoid of nutritional value defeats the concept of the treat---a treat is something you do not consume on a day to day basis. It is available only on special occasions.

Since my college days I have eaten Mc Donald’s happy meals. It is a guilty pleasure that I enjoy on occasion. I like the portion size and as old as I am I enjoy the toy too. I purchased one for lunch the other day. It was to be my special treat. But my happy meal  did not make me happy. Well intended people pressured Mc Donald to modify the contents of Happy Meals. I received a hamburger, barely 9 French fries and 7 apple slices. The 9 french fries and the 7 apples slices didn't even add up to  one Weight Watcher's point. I was miserable. The best thing in the world is sodium laden, hot from the fryer McDonald’s french fries. I was robbed. And so now are all little kids. It’s one more thing someone has decided to suck all the fun out of.

Call me politically incorrect but I want my happy meal back. Children do not become obese from an occasional visit to McDonalds nor an occasional cupcake or Rice Krispie treat. The key word is occasional. Treats are a part of growing up. A better lesson for a child than prohibition is limitations. It’s the it’s better to teach a man how to fish theory. Don’t take treats away—teach kids control.

So now after about 30 years I have to rethink my ordering at Mc Donald’s. I will have to purchase just a hamburger and convince my husband to share some of his french fries. I must give up the toy. And I wonder if little kids will be annoyed like me. They will order the small French fries instead of settling for the miserly amount in the happy meal. If they do, the calorie content will go up leading to unintended consequences of well intended people who pressured Mc Donald's in the first place.

Perhaps I am just a grump. But life was good when parents brought cupcakes in to school and parents surprised their children with an occasional trip to Mc Donalds. It was something you looked forward to. It was special. It was a part of childhood. It made you wish you didn’t have an August birthday.