I was watching the movie Super Size Me awhile ago actually, but anyway. It said that by having the playground and games at mcdonalds it makes more kids come, and they eat their food and it contributes to poor health. However, everytime i have ever gone to mcdonalds (i hate mcdonalds, especially because ive been a vegetarian basically all my life) and i looked out into the playground area, none of the kids were eatting the food. They dont want the food, they just want to play. I cant even begin to explain how many times i witnessed kids get in trouble for hardly touching their food, and just wanting to go and play. A lot of the kids only eat the food because their parents force them to, they rather go and play [exersize even] then to eat the mcdonalds food. They dont come for the food, their parents do and they only eat it because they have to. Besides all that, really the only kids who i have seen that do eat the food on their own free will dont like to play on the playground. Its like that with a lot of places even Chuck E Cheese, they just want to play not eat. Its not really Mcdonalds fault that obesity is such a big deal, its parent's fault for taking them to mcdonalds, or any other fast food restaurant, instead of packing a healthier lunch [like a sandwich] and going to a park.

Slightly on topic, I don't get how people who want "politcal correctness" and not be prejudice never want fat people anywhere...arn't they being prejudice?!

i see your point there, JasperIk, lol, i remember as a youngster i wouldn't order food i woud just play and grab a fry and sip of my parents drink then run off and play again...some people dont realize that kids have allot of energy so they not only burn off what they eat...they burn off more than what they need in most cases..

also allot of people are not realizing that babies now adays are getting loads bigger than what they used to be... i was 9 pounds 13 ounces when i was born...and 24 inches long too

possibly another reason that children are getting bigger as life goes on is because of the way the mother eats when the baby is in her whom..because if i remember correctly, whatever the mom eats and drinks the baby gets allready chewed up parts of it..so if the mom is sitting there eating a gallon of icecream in a week because that is the only thing that doesn't make her nauciuas the baby is obviously going to be a big baby..so it is not the restuarnts fault, they also serve salads...when is the last time you saw parents buy their child a salad and have them eat it

Another thing I hate: Before I switched to Independant Studies, I hated my school's lunch. First of all hardly anything didnt have meat in it. The salad had meat, the pizza had meat, sandwhiches were filled with meat. Everything was greasy. Its like why not take effort, and buy stuff that isnt filled with grease? Have some fricking steamed vegetables, or even atleast fruit for people to buy. Its healthier, and tastes better. And when the school says it has a nice balanced food menu, that is BS ...cup a noodles may have vegetables in it, but it isn't healthy for you. The schools are killing their kids, just to save money for things like repainting the bathrooms cuz of graffity, guess what? Leave the grafitty its going to keep coming back, spend money on better food because the kids health is more important. I know that isnt exactly on topic, but im talking about poor choices made by adults, besides the parents dont have to pay for school lunches they again, can pack a healthier one.

It's all about self control and management. If people weren't so spoiled by technology like the automobile or eating so many calories and doing jack about them, there would be less obiesity in the world. I'll bet many of you don't even know it's ride your bike to work day!

I agree. It is not there fault but I still think that they shouldn't have those restauraunts.

What all I hear is people who are morbidly obese attack large chain food stores like McDonalds...I personally think what they get on with is rubbish, there is such thing as responsibility and free will.
They go off and feel sorry for themselves and blame McDonalds because of their weight.

I may sound harsh and I know that the majority of obsese people would not blame McDonalds, but I know that there would be a large minority who would blame fast food chains because of their own weight.

Yea it is true. It is true that they have lots of energy and need to burn it off.

*comment: whoa, this is probably my longest reply yet. Hang tight!

I saw “Super Size Me” a while back and thought that it was an entertaining documentary. As a whole, I think that the movie had a rather profound effect on McDonalds (probably a financial one, to say the least) as I’ve noticed a significant change to their menu in recent times. McDonalds has strived to increase the amount of veggies in their long array of selectable menu/combo options. The introduction of their own line of salads, more lettuce in burgers and wraps… the list goes on.

But drawing back to the central question of this thread, do I think McDonalds is contributing to obesity in children?

Summary: Yes. I do believe that Ronald and his posse “were” doing a damn good job.

Kids like to play in the jungle gyms. Sure. I agree with that. But children also like the toys, toys that are given to them only if the parents buy the Happy Meal. Children also like fries, fries that are part of that same meal. Kids know what they want and when they want it (they cry, bicker, create a scene), parents oblige because they want to see their kids happy. Personally, I feel that the marketing scheme set forth by McDonalds is to target kids and only recently have that started to shift directions. Once kids are drawn in, parents follow suit.

Here’s the other side of the fence – my rationale for putting the “were” in quotations. There is no doubt that parents play a huge (and I cannot stress this enough) part in their children’s upbringing. Children will look up to their parents and follow whatever model has been set up by them: dietary choices being the one of focus here. If parents eat Big Macs and fries often, so will the children. Poor choices will lead to poor parenting which will subsequently lead to the poor upbringing of their offspring.

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Now, to address the issue of obese people suing someone/some corporation for causing their obesity. This reminds me of the time when a lady won her case after suing McD for not putting “hot” on the coffee cup after she had spilt the coffee and burned herself. I think that’s just idiotic. Clearly anyone with common sense would know that coffee is hot. Likewise, it should also be common sense that unhealthy dietary choices will lead to obesity and other diseases. I find it sad when people use this as an opportunity to score some extra cash rather than to deal with their problems with dignity.

Of course, we should not undermine the fact that obesity is in fact an inheritable disease and those individuals suffering from it should not be subjected to discrimination.

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And finally, the deal with school serving up unhealthy meals. A lot of school have contracts with companies like coca-cola (and their derivatives) and these companies regulate what foods can be served in the school. The principal (or other higher ups) usually choose this alternative because it generates more money for the school – money that can be used, as was mentioned, for repairs, buying new equipment, etc.

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My final comment: a proper diet