Today is the beginning of a brief but hilariously fun McDonald’s experiment – dubbed the “McXperiment (pronounced – ‘mickspeariment’)”? I can tell you right now, I shoulda started dating women with kids years ago. This is awesome. Why play with mice or guinea pigs when you can do it with a real, live human??!!
My girlfriend’s daughter turned 7 yesterday.
“Where do you want to eat for your birthday?”
“McDonald’s! Yay!”
We’ve spent the last couple of weeks with her nonstop, and she loves that Mickey D’s – mostly for the lame toys. This week it’s Spongebob playing basketball, which makes it even more fun as you will see in a minute.
We both think that it’s important that?a child has a balanced perspective about certain things. My GF’s daughter seems to be, like most kids, infatuated with television and McDonald’s.?TV was an easy thing to balance things out with. All we have to do is force her to watch it when she whines to do other things. This morning’she was whining about wanting to swim. We made her sit for 2?long hours watching the Cartoon Network in her bathing suit. Works like a charm. Plus it’s very?entertaining to the adults to say “You’re not going anywhere until you watch those?cartoons young lady!” and then try to stifle your laughter after saying it.
But today I had a novel idea to get?her past this McDonald’s fixation. She loves?McDonald’s. Calls her dad and grandparents and tells them, not about riding a horse, camping, massive waterslides,?bungee trampolining on top of?a mountain, or any of the other fun stuff we’ve been doing lately, but says, “Guess where I ate for dinner last night… McDonald’s Yay!”
And that novel idea kicked off’today at lunch about an hour ago. The experiment is,?of course, to get her to stop liking McDonald’s so damn much, because we’typically let her eat anything and everything she wants, as much or as little as she wants, etc. (probably why her abs are starting to show). But she loves McDonald’s a little too much, probably a culmination from having it be a?”treat” at her dad’s and “forbidden” at moms for so many years. It just needs?a little evening out, that’s all.
Sure, you can force a?kid not to eat there, but that just raises the excitement and fixation – reinforcing the specialness of the golden arches. With some kids I guess that?could work, but she spends?about a fourth of her time at her dad’s house, and he’s not going to stop taking her to McDonald’s anytime soon. If we were to force her not to eat McDonald’s, that would just make her trips to Ronald’s with her dad that much more exciting, and make us look like’the enforcers – him the fun dad. That’s not acceptable. The only solution,?and the best solution in a world with tens of thousands of McDonald’s restaurants serving up cheap, quick, and?neurologically-tasty food is to decrease the desire to eat there.
For the next 3 days, we will be testing this out.?No matter what she wants to eat,?or asks us to eat, we will take her only to McDonald’s for every meal, 3 times daily. Not only that, but instead of picking at her food and playing with her stupid Spongebob’toy, she will be forced to sit there eating every last bite of her chicken nugget and french fry Happy Meal. She was not so happy to do that today?lemme tell ya. Kid looked like she was forcing down soggy broccoli finishing those fries for lunch. And it’s only a few more hours before her next?not-so-Happy Meal.
The best part is that they give out the same toy for like a week I think, so getting the same toy over and over again is going to be a spectacular let down. Ronald is gonna look like’such a Meanie Pants McPanster Head by lunch on Thursday.
We were already?having trouble hiding our laughter in the first meal. I don’t know if we’ll have the stamina to’take her to McDonald’s only for 3 days, but we’re gonna try. And it’s gonna be hilarious. I will be reporting later and how it went and hopefully capture her on video?whining?about having to go to McDonald’s by the third day (probably the?2nd).
With any luck, this will have her asking to go to McDonald’s a lot less often, which would probably be a good thing because when she asks to eat something, we do our best to give it to her – complete and total unrestricted eating.
If?none of this?makes sense, take a moment’to review my post and video on How to Feed Your Kids
First! Man, I wish someone had done this with me as a kid! I was encouraged to eat sparingly of most of the things I actually wanted, which in turn led to massive bingeing on everything else!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Brer Rabbit.
Controversial….
Though probably not as controversial as the idea that popped into my head half way through reading that. I won’t go into details but lets just say it involved a hired rapist/pedophile, a Ronald McDonald mask and a cold Chicken McNugget….
Basically it was to hire a rapist to wear a Ronald McDonald mask and go over and throw a Chicken McNugget in her face, knock her drink over and spit on her burger. Then steal her toy and run off with it. She would probably start to cry and never want to go back.
But then I thought it’s probably not a very good idea – how would he spit on her burger if he is wearing a mask? What if some “have a go hero” pulls out a gun and shoots him? Too many variables, too many things that could potentially go wrong.
I like your idea better Matt.
Yeah, plus, you know, the whole potential for lasting psychological trauma from being assaulted by a stranger in a restaurant.
In what possible world would it ever be a good idea to pay someone to attack a small child?
I was thinking…let’s say a 5-year old kid never heard of McDonalds because he/she didn’t have TV at home and played with other kids whose parents had a similar philosophy. Let’s also say this kid ate clean from the day they were born. If you took them to McDonalds and ordered them a gross combo – the fish sandwich (with tons of sour pickles and that nasty sauce) directly followed by one of those sundaes drenched in that sticky carmel crap, they wouldn’t want to finish it and might even start crying if you forced them to, and if you’re lucky they might even get sick. Their brain will get wired to hate McD’s and they may never want to see that place ever again.
My youngest daughter was born while we were eating 100% real food and she is now 2 yes old and won’t touch fast food with a stick. She won’t eat Chick-Fil-A, McD’s, Whataburger and won’t even touch resturaunt food. We don’t do cable tv, only DVDs so she doesn’t see commercials either and our freinds mostly eat like us too. I guess it works like you say. The only things she’ll eat out are tortilla chips and ice cream. Oh and sometimes goldfish crackers, but even then she has to be hungry or she’ll reject them. My other 2 are 5yrs and 3 hrs and they rill tear up the fast food and beg for it. We started them on real food diets when they were 3yrs and 1 year. So it makes all the difference how young they are when exposed to it. Just my experience.
good job :)
This type of social engineering might work until Middle School, I suspect.
Ultimately a kid wouldn’t be exposed to such superstimuli at a young age, so that they could enjoy simple things and simple, unadulterated foods. And never feel restricted or deprived. But this is more of an experiment with what to do when it’s way past that point. This is a true Chef Boyardee kinda kid. She’s hardly tasted “real food.” It’s a slow and very delicate transition that we want her to lead, and not have it forced upon her. It especially doesn’t work when you’ve only got the kid 5 days a week. The only option is to find ways to get her to like and want to eat unprocessed food. And that’s quite a challenge.
Don’t some modern foods have an addictive nature to them, the msg and so forth? I would be kinda wary about that.
Funny, last year you were saying that parents shouldn’t force kids to clean their plates and now you’re doing just that. LOL.
We just tell them the food there is nasty – which it is. Blech.
As you wrote:
“Give Them Real Food
It’s always great to have a nice spread laid out for kids consisting of real food that tastes good. By real food I mean things that don’t contain white flour, white sugar, corn syrup, chemical flavor enhancers, or otherwise refined or packaged foods. A parent’s prime food duty is to have healthy food available to eat, with very little, if any, junk available to eat in the home. Junk foods pervert natural taste and reward centers, making wholesome food bland and uninteresting.”
This is a pretty complex thing, which is why it’s so interesting to think about. We can’t just give her unprocessed foods, because she gets processed foods on the weekend with dad, never really allowing her senses to awaken enough to enjoy un-cracked food. Forcing her to eat only processed foods and forbidding her from eating what she requests all week just makes dad’s house seem better, and mom’s house a drag. She also despises trying new foods, another big challenge.
Despite all that, she’s a healthy kid and seems to be getting healthier. In fact, really salty foods and calories seem to be really important for her physiologically, and processed foods typically outperform health food in that department.
Anthony Colpo is all about the refined carbohydrates. He claims a proper analysis of scientific research is in favor of refined, not unrefined grains. He points out that the cultures known for real food and slow food, mainly Italy and southern France, make bread and pasta with white flour, not whole wheat flour.
you’ll get wheat belly didnt you know?
Rami Nagel writes some interesting things about refined flour being the rule elsewhere as well. There’s only a few places where whole grain was consumed and he attributes that to a particular grain, mostly wheat, being a recently introduced food.
My oldest had a lot of cavities from an early age and we always ate whole grains from the start. We ate out too, but the majority of his foods were quite wholesome. Last year after reading Nagel’s book, I took out all whole grains and he’s been eating mostly white rice, with the occasional white commercial bread and potatoes for his starches. Hasn’t had a new cavity since (knock on wood), and one of his old cavities has started healing.
McPoop’s every meal for 3 days = Cruel and unusual punishment. All because she requests McD’s? What do you expect a 7 yo to ask for: foie gras meatballs? Twice-baked potatoes topped with a dollop of salmon roe?
I just put out a spread of what I consider to be healthy foods and that’s all my kids had to eat. They never begged for McD’s or big gulp diet Pepsi.
Charlene’s statement= obtuse and completely missing the point.
That’s not funny; that’s messed up.
This is very much “reverse psychology”. This can work better for most children than the usual approach of trying to control there food choices too strictly and ending up with children that are obsesses with junkfood – they will severely crave the forbidden fruit!
In my own experience with my 3 children I have seen that trying to enforce healthy eating and demonizing junk food has not been successfull. Extreme behaviour by the parent or caretaker seems to only lead to orthorexia/ food obsession in children.
We have to be more clever to teach our children to make good long term nutritional choices, we will not be with them forever to police their eating habits. I believe that a more relaxed and less obsessive approach, than fighting about there food likes and dislikes, will result in more balanced result. The key is not perfection but improvement! (quoting Matt directly!)
The majority of children, also most adults, will be far less infatuated with, craving and obsessing about junkfood if it is not treated as the devil itself. By making even junkfood allowable/ permissible, takes away the long term obsession with it, I am not saying that in the short term that it will seem effectivebut long term it will most probably work best for most people and result in far less abnormal eating/food behaviour!
PC
Hmmm…
I’m all for experimenting and personally find it fun too – cause I think *learning* is fun and fascinating – call me crazy! But I gotta say, when I first started reading this, my intuitive alarm bells went off, and I was really hoping that you were gonna silence them as I continued to read. But that didn’t happen. Up until the very end, my inner voice was saying, “No, no, no, no, no!” Haha.
I know you’re trying to use reverse psychology, and with good intentions, to “reverse” the programming that many kids (and adults) are exposed to and largely controlled by. And maybe you were kidding, but forcing a kid to watch TV for 2 hours instead of swimming, which she “whined” she would rather do, is NOT a good idea. And neither is forcing her to eat Mickey D’s for 3 days. Both being in total disharmony with encouraging a child to be an individual and to think and decide for themselves.
She had made a really good choice of her own (the better choice) to swim over TV. She even whined (begged) for it. Yes, you may have gotten the desired result. Physical force/punishment gets desired results as well. But does that make it the right thing to do? By forcing her to watch TV instead, you, inadvertently, sent her the wrong messages – plural. One, that TV is better for her than swimming – not good. And you didn’t honor her choice, especially when she made the better choice – sooo not good! Plus, you essentially transferred the obsessive “forbidden” appeal to the “other” thing. Ya just totally missed out on a perfectly great opportunity to encourage her own decision-making and to reinforce and support a good decision on her part.
And the McDonalds experiment? Way overkill, I think.
You wrote:
“probably a culmination from having it be a ‘treat? at her dad’s and ?forbidden? at moms for so many years. It just needs a little evening out, that’s all.”
Ah. Yes. “A little evening out, that’s all.” And this “experiment” is taking things to unnecessary extremes, making things much more complicated than need be. Just simply stop making it “forbidden” and it will “even” itself out. You’re underestimating her ability to AND robbing her the opportunity of working it out on her own. And she can by learning from her own choices, if you let her.
You would get the desired result, that you hope to get from this experiment, by simply letting her eat McDonalds every time she asks. She asks often. Right? She would eat Mc D’s every meal if given the choice. Yes? So let her. Then she will get sick of the crappy-happy-meals and lame toys all on her own. It will have been her choice to eat it and then her choice to stop eating it – so much. It will have all happened naturally and she will have learned from her own choices.
Forcing a child to do something for any reason is never a good idea (no matter how good your intentions are). It will always have negative consequences. Oftentimes manifesting later in life. Sure, she will no doubt get sick of Mc D’s by the end of this experiment, but it won’t be of her own free will. And she won’t have learned anything of real value because it was all forced upon her.
And… at the end of this experiment, you will have been the enforcers and you’re gonna look like the Meanie McPanster Doo Doo Head, not Ronald.
No need to play such mind games with children. That’s not to say that children are going to always make the right choices for themselves. But that’s how we all learn – adults too – by making mistakes… from our own choices and our own mistakes… not someone else’s.
Let the kid be. Geeez! :)
“Parents. They just don’t understand.”
—
PS. Just couldn’t give this one the Dr. Dean Seal of Approval. Sorry ;)
For good intention? Yes. Plan of execution? Not so much. Haha :)
Done!
Thanks Robster :)
Like the “let ’em go nuts with the Halloween candy” kinda Jedi mind trick. You know?
Use the power of her own mind. Works like a charm. With no negative side effects :)
It’s a very tricky and interesting situation. There are a lot of details left out. For example, we couldn’t go swimming until 11am the other day. She wanted to at 9. So yes, we had to tell her “no.” I figured I would get a one-liner in there about television while I was at it. Forcing someone to do something always decreases intrinsic motivation to do something. We are having some troubles because she just spent the last 6 weeks with dad, watching television, playing video games, sitting around the house, and eating plenty of Mickey D’s. It’s very difficult for what we are doing this summer to compete with that. We are thinking of innovative ways for her to enjoy what we are doing, what we are eating, etc.
The McDonald’s thing is interesting, because she doesn’t even really like the food all that much. We asked her today what her favorite thing about McDonald’s was. 1) Play Palace 2) Toys 3) Chicken Nuggets
The stimulation of toys and playgrounds and clowns and neat paper boxes with cartoons on them and all that crap is what makes a homecooked meal, or any normal stimuli, weak competition. McDonald’s knows this. The success of their business depends upon the kick-assedness of the whole experience for kids. Get a kid in there and you get a couple of parents there along with them. The food of course is another example of superstimuli, impossibly sweet, salty, easy to chew, and calorie dense. The kid is pretty disinterested in the food though. But she ends up eating it anyway because there is simply no other place on earth that is as fun to eat as McDonald’s. I think what she really needs is to be left at Play Palace long enough to get bored of it, and want to do something else. We’re packing books and computers today, and are prepared to let her spend a couple hours going apeshit.
So I don’t know. It’s all interesting thought for food and food for thought. Ultimately this is about getting her to enjoy what we are doing instead of yearning for tv, video games, and McDonald’s when we are out backpacking and doing stuff like that. Stuff that isn’t that exciting with neon colors, flashing pictures, and other pornographic properties. It’s odd, because she really loves it. But has it in her mind that she misses some aspect of “normal” life.
Ultimately her decision making power has increased exponentionally lately. And I love watching kids make mistakes as I’m sure you do as well, knowing what a powerful investment each mistake is for the future.
Ah. I figured there had to be more details behind the madness. That’s why I was hoping for something? anything? haha. I was rooting for you, though. You know I’m always rooting for you. I understand that every situation has its own complicated set of circumstances and it’s easy for people on the outside looking in to throw out their 2 bits. Well, in my case, more like 200 give or take. Haha! :)
So, here’s more food for thought, for what it’s worth?
“Forcing someone to do something always decreases intrinsic motivation to do something.”
True. But consider, at what costs? In this context, force is not the only way, neither is it the best way to remove intrinsic motivation. And fortunately, in this case, you can set things up so that it happens naturally ? without the negatives of using force. Forcing McDonald’s on her so she will get sick of it, is very different (on several levels) from letting her choose it (go nuts!) and tiring of it on her own. And the latter is more effective, without the negative side effects. Plus the grown-ups come out the good guys ? bonus! :)
Anyway, I understand the well-intended motives behind your McXperiment. Just sayin’ you can get the desired result by letting her overdose on it of her own free will. For example, rather than forcing it or choosing for her, at meal time, say to her, “Hey you wanna go to McDonald’s?!” Of course she’s gonna say, “Yeah!” Then repeat however often you want. And say yes every time she asks. Then it will always be HER decision each time. See? Sneaky. But in a good way :)
She’ll learn a whole lot more in the process. And you avoid the negatives of forcing it ? them having nothing to even do with Mc D’s or food or toys ? there are deeper more delicate things at stake, especially at such a young age. For one example, rebellion ? where the dynamics become more of a “me against them” mentality (from the child’s perspective), that so many parents find themselves dealing with as their kids get older. And there are any number of things that can go “haywire” in a child’s psyche ? low or no self-esteem, not feeling good enough, little to no confidence in their own decision making, lack of critical thinking skills, not feeling accepted or loved unconditionally (“my parents love me only if/when I do what they want” kind of programming, etc.), resentment – just to list a few possibilities. It’s not the good-intentions of parents, it’s how actions/words are perceived (the perception in their mind), that ultimately impacts a child. Same is true for all of us, of course.
“The McDonald’s thing is interesting, because she doesn’t even really like the food all that much. We asked her today what her favorite thing about McDonald’s was. 1) Play Palace 2) Toys 3) Chicken Nuggets”
Yay! So this is already working in your favor. If she doesn’t eat her crappy-happy-meal, great! Don’t force her to. Let her play. That IS good for her. Then get her some good food after she gets bored and works up a real appetite playing! :) Be glad she doesn’t really like the food. You can even reinforce this in her mind just by pointing it out to her when she doesn’t eat much of the food. Saying something like, “Guess you don’t like the food huh?” And agreeing with her by saying, “We don’t blame you. It doesn’t taste very good, does it? Me and mommy don’t like it either. Yuck! Let’s go get some good food!” (pizza! or whatever)… Rather than forcing her to eat the food and saying what most parents say, “You asked for it so now you gotta eat it.” Huge difference. The fact that you didn’t force her to eat the crappy food, and that you agreed with her that it was crappy, puts you all on the same team ? instead of grown-ups against the child – AND it stands out more in her mind that yeah the food tastes like crap. One less reason to go back to Mc D’s ? in her mind ? Yay!
“It’s very difficult for what we are doing this summer to compete with that. We are thinking of innovative ways for her to enjoy what we are doing, what we are eating, etc.”
Kids wanting to go to Mc D’s is no different than grown-ups wanting to go do what grown-ups find fun. As you and others mentioned, the kids seem to be less interested in the food and more interested in the toys and the play palace. Makes perfect sense. They are kids. They would rather play than eat crappy food. Great! And there are other kids at Mc D’s to play with so that makes it even more appealing to them. So, just like grown-ups enjoy hanging with other grown-ups, kids would rather play with and be around other kids – cause kids are fun, grown-ups are boring, don’t you know? For kids, that place would get real boring real quick if there were no other kids to play with.
Y’all are probably already doing this, but kids love to help make plans. Let her decide the plans sometimes too. More decision-making she can learn from. And giving a kid a choice between 2 or 3 things works really well too. Verses just saying this is what we are doing ? kids are more likely to resist then. But if given multiple choices, they feel like they’ve been able to have a say, and they will naturally pick one. Just give 2 or 3 choices that are all reasonable and it doesn’t really matter which one they choose. Win-win :)
“Ultimately this is about getting her to enjoy what we are doing instead of yearning for tv, video games, and McDonald’s when we are out backpacking and doing stuff like that. Stuff that isn’t that exciting with neon colors, flashing pictures, and other pornographic properties. It’s odd, because she really loves it. But has it in her mind that she misses some aspect of ?normal? life.”
It’s really not odd, actually. It’s quite natural for her to miss the things she’s been exposed to her whole life when she’s away from them. That’s all she’s known (until recently). But now she is being exposed to lots of other neat things ? yay! And it’s great that she seems to be enjoying them. Now she can gather even more info from which to make decisions and learn ? yay! What she does and doesn’t enjoy, what she wants, doesn’t want, what she truly loves to do, spending less time doing some (less meaningful) things and more time doing things she enjoys more, etc. But figuring all that out takes time, of course. Give her time to get sick of lame Mickey D’s and get used to doing other new things that she finds she likes.
I totally get how and why McDonald’s operates the way they do ? and all the rest of ’em. But it is what it is. So you just work with it. And it’s totally workable.
If she doesn’t get totally sick of the place, what’s the harm in taking her there, really? It’s a great opportunity for her to play and socialize/interact with other kids AND learn (all outside of a rigid school setting). It’s really not so bad, if you think about it. Rather than be defeated by the magical powers that Mc D’s has over children, parents can take advantage of its good points. The play area is a safe, fun place for kids to play with other kids. And it’s basically free! You can literally walk in and go straight to the play area without even buying anything. But even if the kids do want a happy meal (mostly for the lame toy), you’re getting off cheap! The price of a happy meal is a lot cheaper than most other places where kids can have so much fun and play with other kids.
And, as many have pointed out, the kids don’t really like the food anyway. Good. Don’t force them to eat it. Be glad they don’t eat it. Throw the crap away and go eat some good food after. A trip to Mc D’s is much better for kids (and the whole family) than sitting in front of the TV. The kids get to play. The grown-ups get to have grown-up conversation, adult time, and stuff. Heck, the grown-ups can even play too. Go play with your kids in the play area. There’s nothing a kid loves more than when their parents play with them. I always played with mine. I still play and mine is grown :)
Absolutely encourage and expose kids to all kinds of different things. But be careful not to force it. They will rebel and say they don’t like something even if they do ? same with food. They know how to play the reverse psych game too. Haha. Seriously, if they sense that you are trying to make them choose one thing (that you would rather they do) over another thing, they will resist ? often this happens on an unconscious level. But, in the same context, you can show them new things without making them choose this over that. Or making them feel like they have to give up stuff they like. Like Mc D’s, for example. She will go along more freely with the other activities, if she knows that Mc D’s is always an option (never forbidden) and she will get to go later. Plus, she’ll want and think about Mc D’s far less too. Same goes for other things like TV.
“I think what she really needs is to be left at Play Palace long enough to get bored of it, and want to do something else. We?re packing books and computers today, and are prepared to let her spend a couple hours going apeshit.”
Great idea! And a much better plan. When she wants to go to Mc D’s, bring along your grown-up stuff, and let her play literally till her heart’s content. Plus you get your grown-up stuff done. Win-win. And on days when the grown-ups wanna go backpacking or something, you can even present it in such a way that y’all go to Mc D’s first (yay!) ? if she wants to. Then take her to Mc D’s until she gets bored. Then? go backpacking or something else fun. Win-win again.
Regarding the swimming/TV deal, I think honesty would have worked. Telling her the truth, that y’all couldn’t go swimming until later. And, again, empathy and “team” goes a long way with kids. Like telling her how bummed you are too – cause y’all wanted to go swimming too. Like you’re all in it together, rather than grown-ups vs child. And saying something like, “But we can go at such and such time so what should we do until then? Hey, you wanna go to Mickey D’s?!” Double-whammy! :)
Another opportunity to let it be her own choice, not forced. You bring your grown-up stuff you needed to do. And ya get one more trip closer to her getting sick of that place! Haha. And that’s definitely better than the cartoon network for 2 hours. Imagine the amount of commercials (programming) she got exposed to during that time. Mc D’s and all the rest of ’em. Yikes! Playing at Mc D’s for 2 hours instead? Definitely better, I’d say :)
“And I love watching kids make mistakes as I’m sure you do as well, knowing what a powerful investment each mistake is for the future.”
Clarification: I don’t love seeing kids make mistakes. I love seeing kids learn from their own decisions ? right or wrong. Either way, what they learn from them is so much more valuable than anything they can learn in school or when parents/others decide for them.
But I know that’s what you meant :)
Hi! Just wondering how the McXperiment turned out!
Very well said Corena
Thank you Brandon! And I appreciate your taking the time to say so :)
I know what works really well with kids because, well, it works! :)
It worked so well for me. And it’s worked for those I’ve coached and counseled over the years – resulting in strong, healthy, special relationships between parents and children. Including my own. And my 21-year-old son would totally agree. He’s gonna be such a great dad someday :)
Anyway, my hope, my goal, always, is that my input help peeps. And it always means a great deal to me when it does. It’s one of my passions :)
I’m with you on this one… This whole thing sounds manipulative and disempowering… Blech… And mean.
I also want to add that deprivation (in a psychological sense) seems to be a major drive force in children to become even more obsessed with junk food. We cook and prepare the majority of food at home and make it as nutritious and tasty as possible, but every now and again we allow junkfood when our children craves it (which is not daily!). Their relationship with food has vastly improved compared to our previous approach of talking about good food and junkfood all the time and putting them on a guilt trip when they want junkfood or even agressively refusing it!
By using the extreme approach that Matt is using in this article, I believe that abnormal obsession with junkfood can be overcome in a lot of children. It does not matter how much you like something, being overloaded with it frequently for long enough most often result in aversion to that very same thing!
PC
Lawlerskates. Hmm, seems kinda fucked up, but I like it at the same time. Whatevs =) Looking forward to the results and I hope it goes as planned. I was fat and always craved that shit. I just smashed at golden Coral (eww..) and the chocolate fountain would’ve given me such a child chubby it’s not even funny. Ever since incorporating your and Chief’s etc.. wisdom that shit has no power over me. and I’m stinkin tired of Chief sayin he has posts ready to dish out and never does for months. Give me more information FLOD FLAMN IT =D <3
I’ll be watching this with keen interest…I too have considered trying such an experiment with my own son…only with ramen noodles and/or Kraft Mac n’Cheese. Because that’s all he ever wants to eat (and always what he gets Grandmas’), and after making my own bread, soaked grains and all, spending so much time and energy cooking my own chickens, sourcing good eggs/meat and lovingly preparing big delicious breakfast and time-intensive dinners…and always getting the turned up noses (by his father and sister as well) I thought maybe I should buy a giant box of ramen and mac n’ cheese and let them have at it for every meal everyday for a week and then see. Never brought myself to do it. Maybe I still will.
My son is always asking for mcDee’s as well…but he never eats the food, all he wants is the dang toy. So we have a house full of crap toys that we spent way too much to get.
Megan, you definitely should do this! Not only would it give you a mini vacation from the cooking but it would give them a better appreciation of all your hard work and good cooking.
I had unfettered access to all things processed and fast food growing up. Nothing was banned. Nothing. Soda for breakfast? Yup. Pop tarts. Every 80s sugared cereal. I lived two city blocks from every imaginable fast food joint, and ate them regularly.
Yet, I was the underweight, shortest kid in my class…{with a mouth full of cavities}
It wasn’t until my 20s, when my own health turned south, and my father died of renal failure, that I saw a relationship between food, pharmaceutical drugs, and health.
Now, in my 30s, I’ve been on the quest for the “perfect diet”. I haven’t eaten fast food in two years, because we’ve been in the GFCF prison to “help” my oldest son’s autism.
Lately, I’ve become rather suspect of all diets, and namely creating “forbidden” foods. {hence, how I stumbled upon your site, Matt}. My boys go psycho for carbs, and we are in the stages of entering back into a more “normal” diet, but with healthier twists…
My NT 3 year old has never had McDonald’s because he was weaned from nursing right when we started GFCF for my older son. I’m okay with that for now, but as he ages…I don’t know how I will handle fast food.
I’m still recovering from thinking “ALL” gluten and dairy are evil. Most importantly, I don’t want my boys to grow up with a screwed up relationship with food. Luckily, I never did GAPS or SCD, so they’ve still had plenty of carbs.
Cuz, just like drinking in high school, the more the carrot is dangled and slightly out of reach, the more the kids craves it. Funny, my parents were okay with that too, underage drinking, and I never had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but food yes. Namely: sugar and wheat…
So perhaps, my family’s laissez-faire approach would have made more sense, if, the “homecooked” food would have been less processed…
I’ll be interested to see the results of your Mcxperiment.
Nicolette
Well ive hit an alltime low today and actually went to McD and ordered some chicken nuggets and a big mac. Now i know again why i didnt go there for years….it tastes likr crap!actually it dorsnt have any taste at all.
And all the while i keep fearing eating 3simple paleo meals,yet keep wasting money on tasteless crap which in turn makes me feel bad in the long run. I started part1 of stronglifts yesterday though with really kids weight,so its impossible for me to imagine the body needed all the crap i ate today before mickyd. I really wish i had a trainer who could guide me a little and ease my anxiousness,regarding what the pre-paleo dietician calculated and said i needed,then sisson with his carb curve became the exact opposite. The way its going now i’ll end up falling back in my old (chronic)exercise patterns. The problem is also that the people at the gym never heard of paleo,so they can only advise the standard diet.
Maybe i should explain my food issues to the kind lady who demonstrated the moves to me and ask her if shed be willing to look into paleo to guide me a little? However who is the best,clearest site i can point her to?cause cordain is kinda old skool regarding nuts&seeds…which i rar3ly eat. I also cant handle fructose well,so virtually all fruit is out….apart from some banana/plantain and some manuka honey occasionally and i also kinda need to limit/be wary with nightshades.
So,who shall i mention? Sisson?
Matt, you should reply to my youtube comments =(
I know. I’m lazy about responding to youtube comments because I would have to log out and back in to comment. Way too much work for me! But I do read them and chuckle.
Hmmm, tricky situation. Have you tried cooking or gardening with her? In my experience kids seem more likely to try new (real) foods if they have a hand in making them and it is a social experience. You could start with things similar to what she eats now (Homemade pizza, perhaps?), and then slowly try adding some more traditional meals. Show her how to cut and measure and such. Container gardening some veggies might be fun too! Bet she doesn’t get to do that at her Dad’s house….
As for the McD’s, I’m interested in hearing how it goes. I think I would take a more moderate approach, but I see where you are coming from in trying to desensitize her to it. I think I would rather just be nonchalant about it as a “sometimes food,” as the new politicially correct Cookie Monster would say. Send the message that McD’s is No Big Deal, positive or negative.
I don’t know. I have a 14-year old relative who only eats about 6 or 7 different things (like one fruit, one vegetable, one or two main courses from fast food restaurants, etc.). His parents have always catered to his eating requests and they haven’t changed. I know of others about his age who are almost as picky. They only like certain fast food items and a handful of other things.
Maybe it’s case-by-case, but I don’t think the “let them burn out on junk food” approach will always work.
Fun experiment. As a mom, kinda feel awkward that it’s the boyfriend directing this ‘idea.’ But whatever… She’s a lucky gal in the long run.
Yes, I’ve trashed McD’s since my kids were born, but I always tell them why. In fact, I promised them that when we make it to Paris, they can eat at their McD’s (ironic for a foodie like me). Or Australia. I make the point that it’s not all fast food’s direction. They serve what we (moms) will tolerate. Of course in Paris, my kid’s menu at Maxim’s (his name as well) will be frog’s legs, escargot and chocolate mousse. He says he’ll happily do both ( if that’s what “I wouldn’t care.” suggests.)
So what were the results? :) I hope you’ll write another blog post about it?
I’d just say no. Really recommend reading Jesper Juul, esp The Art of Saying No. Next time she asks for McD, you can say no if it’s not where you want to go to spend your dollars, for whatever reason. Kids are programmed to believe their parents rock, and that they can make sound decisions, even when the trust has been damaged to some degree.
I read a lot of Juul when my oldest was little, but I guess I didn’t get the idea behind setting limits while still maintaining respect. I just re-read him last month and it’s finally clicked and it’s working great with my now 4-year-old. When he asks for something I don’t want/am not willing to give, I say no once or possibly twice and then I break contact. I make sure I’m centered and calm, cause I know how hard it can be to have to say no to someone who whines desperately and how easily it feeds into our own old insecurities.
After I say no, there’s inevitable pleading, but there’s no need whatsoever to address it and try to reason with them, as long as you’re sure of yourself. Once they understand it’s a simple no, they get past it. It’s worked beautifully with my difficult to handle boy. He’ll cry and plead for perhaps a few seconds, and then he simply redirects himself. With my oldest I tried to reason with him, redirect him to other activities etc, and all of it made it much worse. I’ve also let my kids be the boss for long periods of time and that hasn’t produced happy kids either.
So how’s it going?
Late to the party but have to say I fucking love this.
xo
deb
So interesting! Can we get an update please???
It was probably around that age that I had my kids watch “super size me”. They never asked to go to get fast food again.