I think I know why my kid likes McDonald’s so much.
The one near our house has a playground and all that. It’s nice enough, I guess. And they have Happy Meals, but she can eat chicken nuggets at home; the ones we buy actually taste better. She doesn’t care much for French fries…
We had occasion to eat there about a month ago; it has probably been years since I ate at McDonald’s prior to that. Unless we were on a road trip or something.
But when I mentioned that we were going there today, she got very excited. She’s almost four years old now; certain things have that effect on her. Hello Kitty is one; going to her little friend Noveli’s house is another. I wondered why McDonald’s made the cut.
So we got there and we ordered, and we went outside to the play area to eat. Savvy enthusiastically picked a table and I placed our stuff on it – our food, my computer and her iPad. But with all the playground stuff for her to climb on, slide down, and crawl through, the iPad would go unused.
I sat down next to her at the bright blue table, as she smiled from ear to ear.
I ate my fish sandwich – she cheerfully ate her chicken nuggets; that alone was pretty remarkable for The World’s Slowest Eater.
Curiosity eventually got to me, though, so midway through lunch, I turned to her and asked.
“What do you like best about McDonald’s?” I asked. “Is it because I sit right next to you and we eat at the same time?”
She smiled and nodded, her mouth full with a chicken nugget bite.
I went further. “Is it because when we eat here, we just order and then sit down together, and we both eat at the same time, but at home we usually feed you dinner first and then Mommy and I eat later? So you don’t really eat dinner with us very often?”
She nodded again, still smiling and chewing.
That was a pretty good answer, I thought, and something for me to think about. She isn’t a baby anymore; maybe we needed to try to make a better effort to eat together, at the same time, and –
Savvy had said something, but I missed it.
“What did you say, sweetie?” I asked.
“The toy,” she said.
“The what?” I asked.
She pointed to her Happy Meal. It comes with a toy. This week it’s a round Mr Peabody and Sherman maze. Last time it was a Lego movie cup.
But the point was taken. Yeah, the McDonald’s near our house is okay. It has a playground with climbing things, and chicken nuggets, and French fries, and sometimes she gets to have ice cream. That’s pretty good, all in all. I don’t think that’s why she likes McDonald’s so much, though.
Even though she mentioned the toy in the Happy Meal, that didn’t matter.
I knew what she really meant.
.
.
For more funny, heartwarming stories like this, check out my Savvy Stories book series! http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Alatorre/e/B00EUX7HEU/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1425128559&sr=1-1
