Answering yes to this debate is the best answer, of course because there is no maybe. As a General Manager of a fast food restaurant and knowing that many children make the decision of, what’s for dinner? Children are decision makers and when a marketing group decides to attract its customers the client they usually have in mind is between 3 and 10 years of age. Why? Influence is why and the desires of our children generally become our desires. Just recently in the past few years more and more restaurants have been adding Kids eat free or Kids night to their ads to attract the families and to get the kids in the doors. It could be a coloring page, a nice lady or a kid’s meal that wins the child over but when they are addicted they will let the parent know.

Moms and dads make the financial decisions but children often are the decision makers on where the money is spent especially when it comes to toys, movies and food. So when answering this debate, the answer is yes that marketing should be held accountable as well as mom and dad putting limits on how much and when they get that Happy Meal or Little Debbie cake. You know in my few years of being a parent of four children I can tell you that my kids see most everything that is not cooked at home a treat or something special. From Soda to Fast Food Visits, and when they order they order   they know what they can and cannot have. I know we live in a time pressed world these days, but our solutions for what the kids eat are usually not good for them. We are just as guilty of falling for the ads as the children are. Do we really not have enough time to bake some chicken tenders and make some fries? Make sandwiches and such for after the game and maybe then you can stop for an ice cream cone. It is all about choices and the kids need to understand why we make those choices. So next time you are thinking about the dinner that is served tonight look back at last night and see if there is a trend. That will be a start to assisting you to helping make better decisions for dinner or lunch or even Breakfast.