There's No Such Thing as a Happy Meal

Taking the triplets to Mc Donalds, or any other fast food restaurant should be a cheap, efficient, albeit not the healthiest way to feed them. With every chain offering a dollar menu, it is almost cheaper to feed them there than from the store. I said "should". Lately the entire focus of the trip is to demand whatever crappy toy is being offered with the meal, usually one they have spotted in their too many hours of TV. These meals make the trip a whole different experience.
Since the girls have gotten older we have always ordered off the value menu. It makes feeding them about 1/3 the price as the same food would be in the form of a kid's meal. I always thought I would be one of those "cool" moms who allowed the small things: coins for the candy machine, checking out the toys on every trip to target, and yes-- Happy Meals. That's the mom I was until God blessed our happy home with three at a time. Now everything is times 3-4. It makes a big difference trying to fish through the purse for 4 quarters, not just one. It is a bigger deal to spend 15-20 dollars to eat crap. That's just the parental reasons that the meals ain't so happy.

The kids inevitably want a different toy than the one they are given. They are not happy if they don't all get the same toy, and they are unhappy when one toy gets lost, broken, or mixed up. While trying to eat in the car, we have to find spots for drinks, make sure every toy gets opened, and nobody's food is too hot. ( God forbid they mess up and put ketchup on something)

I think it is safe to say that the "happy meal" should be renamed. Perhaps the "reasons to complain" meal, or the "gouging parents for a cardboard box, and plastic toy" meal. I think I should go into marketing. While all of this rant does make me feel a little better, it does not change one thing: The kids continue to want them, and I will cave now and then. Who am I kidding Hadley will probably have more happy meal toys that the other 4 combined when it is just her.... The fast food geniuses have spoken: SUCKER.