Around 34% of children aged 2 to 19 eat junk food on a daily basis. Interestingly enough, the American Heart Association estimates that one in three kids in the United States is overweight. It’s not hard to see the correlation between obesity and junk food, isn’t it?
McDonald’s Role in the Obesity Epidemic
As we all know, there’s an obesity epidemic going on out there. Instead of eating at home, most children prefer to eat at fast food restaurants, most noticeably, at McDonald’s.
While we can’t blame all of our nutritional and health problems on McDonald’s it’s fair to say that the company played a huge role in it. The biggest problem isn’t even the food quality – it’s fast food, so you can’t expect much – it’s actually McDonald’s marketing department.
For decades at this point, McDonald’s has marketed their products to children. They are pretty sneaky about it too: the company dedicates more than 40% of their marketing budget to advertising in schools. That associates their brand with learning and education.
If you want your children to stop eating so much junk food, you need to invest some time and effort into it. Here are a few things you need to do…
Start Preparing Healthy Snacks
Another option is to start preparing more healthy snacks back at home. By healthy snacks, we don’t mean to make your kids eat more fruit or veggies. Despite what many people think, there are, in fact, healthy snacks that will keep your child healthy and satisfied.
Here are some healthy snack recommendations from the Food Network:
- Crispy rice treats
- Oatmeal snack cakes
- Frozen fruit pops
- Flavoured popcorn
If you want to go all out, you can also prepare healthy cookies and milkshakes. Preparing these is easier than you think. Modern milkshake makers only require you to put the ingredients in, push a couple buttons, and voila, you have a healthy milkshake.
Stop Using Junk Food as Bribe
It’s not uncommon to see a parent offering a food reward to their child for good behaviour. Some people do the opposite. They prevent their children from eating junk food as a punishment. Mother or a father may refuse to serve their child with dessert, for example.
However, using food as a punishment or a reward is problematic to say the least. If you say that you won’t go to McDonald’s until your child finishes homework, you’re sending a horrible message to your offspring.
By doing this, you’re basically telling your child that fast food is not only ok, it’s actually good. You wouldn’t use something bad as a reward, right? And this is not just us saying it, scientists say that this method is bad too.
Now, using rewards is ok, but instead of a trip to McDonald’s, use the following as rewards:
- Trip to a park or the zoo
- Art supplies or school supplies
- Sleepovers and playdates
- New toys or video games
Don’t Let Your Child’s Diet Become Monotonous
You can’t prevent your child from eating junk food completely. If you make your child eat veggies all the time, there’s a good chance they’ll become tired of your meals and start looking for alternatives outside of your home.
That’s why you should introduce a “cheat day” in your home. For one day of the week, you should allow your children to loosen up and eat something sugary or something grilled. New research suggests that introducing a cheat day will not only help someone lose weight but that it can also boost your metabolism.
Again, you shouldn’t mark this day in your calendar and make a big deal out of it. This shouldn’t be seen as a reward. Cheat day is there to prevent you from making your cooking monotonous and flavourless. Prepare something not-so-healthy from time to time. Trust us, your spouse and children will be thankful for it.
Final Thoughts
The only way to prevent your child from craving McDonald’s is to show them that there are better alternatives. Talk to your child, teach them about the dangers of junk food, and most importantly have patience.
Let’s face it, your child won’t stop craving McDonald’s just after one talk or one healthy meal. You need to realize that the transition will last for a while. However, once you manage to convince your child to stay out of McDonald’s, you won’t have to worry about it again.
It may be a difficult process but if you ask us, it’s definitely worth it.
