Today I had the care of our almost 2 year old while my wife did a co-garage sale with some friends from church as part of Bolivar's annual city-wide garage sale celebration.
For lunch, I decided we'd do a father-son outing to McDonald's. It's a weird idea because Elias has probably never eaten at McDonald's and we almost never eat fast food as a family. But I know McDonald's has a power similar to Elmo's-- I knew a 2 year old in a third world country whose first words were practically from the McDonald's menu, something she saw maybe once a month. I sort of wanted to test this power. The main appeal of our McD's is that it has 45 cent ice cream cones and I thought it'd be fun to share that treat.
I got Elias a Happy Meal and myself a grilled chicken club, and 2 small cones. Elias is always a huge lunch eater, so I expected him to do well with the chopped up burger, bun, and fries.
He literally turned his nose up at the burger, bun, and fries. He ate most of the cheese off the burger, and a few bites of the bun. He wouldn't believe me that it was bread. He spit out the french fries, he clearly didn't like them. And the only thing he would eat off of my sandwich was the tomato, he ate most of it.
He ate most of his ice cream, although he didn't seem to like it as much as the sugar-free stuff I give him at home. He didn't know it was ice cream until I told him.
So, feeling guilty about this idea, we went home. The fact that he likes his Happy Meal toy is little consolation-- we could have bought plenty of similar toys today at garage sales for a much lower price. At home, I heated up his leftover green beans, ham, and rice from last night along with some sliced strawberries. "Mmmmm!" he exclaimed as he began chowing down.
Elias is right, of course, McDonald's food is fake processed crud and no one should eat it. So, I feel guilty about taking him to McDonald's. It might be the last time.
I love it! I'm proud of Justin for trying to be a cool dad and make the day special for Elias, and I'm also proud of Elias for not knowing that McDonald's is "cool!"
2 comments:
Neither of my girls will eat french fries, which I find so odd. We are often desperately seeking McD's though, because time just gets too crunched. Chicken nuggets and apple slices with chocolate milk for my girls though.
Oh, I wish C had the same reaction to McD's French fries that Elias did! She doesn't like hamburgers, but she will eat the chicken nuggets. We get her apple slices and milk and just let her munch a few of our fries (AFTER she's eaten some of her food; otherwise, she'd be happy just eating the fries!). Peanut that she is, though, she MIGHT finish the nuggets and just eat a slice or two of apple. We don't go there often, though--usually just if we're in a time crunch for lunch, such as traveling or out running errands that have gone a little too late in the morning, we're a bit far from home, she's getting hungry, and she's already had her snack.
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