I almost didn’t do this video.
I honestly thought it would be too wacky and out of the box for some readers to handle.
My change of heart occurred when one of my children said, “Mom, you HAVE to do that video”.
Out of the mouths of babes.
So here I am posting a video about the best trick I know for teaching your kids about the dangers of fast food and hopefully keeping them far far away from it forever – even once they are out of the house and making their own decisions.
While this trick won’t work for older children, if your kids are still quite young, it should work well.  My three kids want absolutely nothing to do with fast food and that includes my teenager who has more freedom away from his parents and has the opportunity to indulge if he chose to.
So here it is.   What do you think? Too wacky or totally on target?
Mom Versus Fast Food (Mom Wins)
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I just wanted to say great work on this video! $3.50 is NOTHING compared to the memory- that mommy would love them enough to splurge *just sometimes* for a toy AND toss out that toxic food so it won’t hurt them… that’s LOVE. I know everyone has a different parenting technique, but this is a FANTASTIC way to lead by example. Showing and telling are two different things. Children are always watching and since McD’s WILL be recruiting them (if not now, later in young adulthood!), its better we show this powerful action first. Great post!
Great idea. I thought for sure you were going to say stuff their faces with fast food and then they get sick and never want to eat it again. But of course you wouldn’t do that :))
My kids learned their lesson on fast food literally one day when my hubby and his brother decided to take our kids fishing early one morning. They decided to go to Jack in the Box to grab breakfast (I could’ve killed them). Well apparently my kids wern’t that hungry yet and left their food in the car which they decided to eat later on the way home. Both kids proceeded to vomit shortly after! Now I suppose it’s quite possible that they got some mild food poisoning from the food siting in the car but they already knew fast food wasn’t healthy and they came home with the the strong belief that the yucky fast food made them sick! Hats of to their dad and uncle afetrall!
I don’t think you’re approach is too wacky. In our house, we’re even wackier. One of the ways we prevented the desire for fast food early on was to get rid of television. No commercials equals no desire for the toys in the first place. We also talked to our kids early on about junk food versus healthy food. I read food labels with my kids from an early age and talked about processed foods and why they aren’t good for them.
The message was so well received that we had an awkward moment in the grocery store one day. My then 6 year old son and I were going past the processed deli meat case where we saw a woman putting Luncheables in her cart. My son turned to me and said very earnestly and audibly, “Mom, that lady must not love her children very much since she’s buying those Luncheables things for them.”
Thanks for all of your good work and informative posts.
Christina in northeast Ohio
Love it!
My kids have had the very very occasional fast food… and they Hate it! If I ever have a weak moment and suggest picking up fast food they freak out! My 10 year old daughter will ask me if they have salads and my 9 year old boy will tell me he’ll just wait to get home and eat leftovers! They were raised on real food and cannot stand impostors!
I am so sad that i was so addicted to this stuff when my kids were little that they got hooked on it, too. They are now 8, 6 and 4. I have taught my 8 year old that it’s not healthy, but my 6 year old still begs for it. I don’t cave anymore, but he still asks for it. It must be truly addicting for them to still be asking for it months later!
Thank you. Wee one is only 6.5 months right now (enjoying his Weston Price bone broth formula BTW!) but I’ll keep this in mind.
Great idea, but late is better than never if your kids are already older than that. My conversion to whole, clean foods came kind of late, so my kids did grow up eating this stuff occasionally, but now in thier teens don’t want it at all. Since they are not under my control any more and often eat less than ideally at home (they can go buy thier own junk now) I find that amazing. It also keeps me hopeful that if I keep extolling the virtues of clean eating they will eventually begin to make better choices more often. At least now they are aware that when they get acne, feel tired a lot, etc that they can change thier diet to remedy that, I often hear them saying as much to thier friends.
So it’s not too late when they are older, just keep a running dialog about how these places treat the food, the workers, the environment. I love to get books like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivores Dilemna on tape and play it the car while we are running around town. Of tne hearing someone other than Mom saying the same things makes a big impact on them. They still do listen once they are above 5, I swear, lol!
Off topic but I know alot of people that would give anything for a hot meal, “toxic” or not. Your not teaching your kids the value of money or the fact that many people go hungry everyday. I do undersrand your message but in relaying that message you are teaching them bad messages as well. Just food for thought and my 2 cents !
I see the point but there are SO many ways to teach value for money, charity, love and giving, and “facts” about the world. If we draw lines around food waste like that it won’t end. I even toss things we ourselves MAKE that don’t turn out right… like a rump roast last night that turned out to be ALL gristle… Yep we threw it to the woods to spare our jaw bones. the point is not to make children feel guilty because “someone else” doesn’t get to have food- toxic or not- we should tell them where prosperity comes from: FREEDOM and morality. Thanks to the heritage of this country (God’s!), we are blessed to be in a place where we CAN toss a meal (although times may change!). Lets work on spreading the blessing!
Love this idea! It makes perfect sense! As a child I went to McDonald’s a LOT and it was seen as a reward for good behavior or as a celebration. In fact, all going out to eat was seen as “special”, so guess what I want to do now when I am celebrating? Go out to eat! (At least now it’s only to farm-to-table places, lol!) But that memory of McDonald’s being fun and making me feel good is there, even though I am totally disgusted by it now. We would NEVER give our kids fast food, so this is a great trick to set up that negative (but positive!) association. Now to find some prescription bottles to throw in the trash too 🙂