Quick Serve Kids: Helping parents navigate the world of fast food
By this point, many of us have seen Super Size Me and read Fast Food Nation. I can safely assume that none of us prefers to serve our kids fast food. And yet we do it anyway. Sometimes the drive-thru is the easiest way to feed hungry children on the way home from soccer practice. Or it's the path of least resistance at the end of a long day. Or it's simply a treat every now and then. (I still have an annual craving for a McDonald's vanilla shake. Those childhood associations are disturbingly strong.)
Whatever role fast food plays in your family's mealtime routine, you'll find something of interest at Quick Serve Kids. The author, Lea Davis, is a mother and former editor of QSR Magazine (a trade journal for the quick-serve restaurant industry), so she knows whereof she speaks. She's also a Parent Hacks reader -- see that comely link badge in her sidebar?
She's got podcasts and a place to share war stories, too.
Tags: Fast food, Feeding kids, Nutrition, Parenting
While our kids (3 and 5) get to pick the main part of their meal, we order one with fries and one with a healthy option. The side-dishes get shared, and, because the fries need to cool off, the healthy choice gets eaten first. We usually end up with left-over fries. Somehow, they still think it's a great treat!
Posted by: Jennifer | Sep 15, 2006 9:17:41 AM
Hey, Jennifer, I like that idea! We'll have to try that with Baby A, especially when she's old enough to have more say in her orders.
That day might be approaching soon. We hadn't been seated more than two minutes at our local Chinese restaurant when A. flagged a waiter and politely ordered chicken and rice soup and a Happy Family with rice. We cracked up...and went with her idea.
- L over at Quick Serve Kids
Posted by: Lea | Sep 15, 2006 11:06:48 AM
as an adult, on the occasions when i treat myself to fast-food i go for the kid's meals simply to control the portion size.
at arby's i get the kid's meal consisting of two or three chicken strips, the fruit cup, and chocolate milk - it has more sugar than the regular milk, but a whole lot less than soda.
Posted by: m | Sep 15, 2006 5:29:40 PM
Don't believe the hype! Quite frankly, I think Eric Schlosser and Morgan Spurlock have created their own 'let's get rich on the back of McDonald's' cottage industry.
My views: http://www.theperthfiles.blogspot.com
Posted by: John Cooke | Oct 24, 2006 8:30:52 PM