This is crazy!

Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high-calorie children’s meals will soon be banned in parts of Santa Clara County unless the restaurants meet nutritional guidelines approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.

I have to be honest:  I don’t have any strong feelings about this one way or the other, but my first reaction was why does the government need to be involved in something that is a parent’s decision? Honestly, another example of wasted tax money.  Santa Clara County, by the way, is one county south of where I live.  It’s a pretty affluent area where I guess there’s nothing better to do than pass stupid laws like this.  A better approach to childhood obesity would be to focus on school lunch programs, which children consume daily instead of occasionally (at least I hope people don’t buy their kids happy meals every day!).

And for the record, I in no way support fast food chains.  I’ve been known to eat fast food on rare occasions, but I have never once bought my 4-year-old a Happy Meal.  She has never asked for one, or gone ga-ga over a toy that is included in one.  At most of these places, it’s possible to purchase the toy separately from the meal, so what’s the big deal?!  When she sees those Golden Arches, she knows (and has said) that “we don’t eat there,” “they don’t have any food that we like to eat” and their food “is not good for our bodies.”

Be sure to check out the full article.  What do you guys think?