Taking my children to McDonald’s has always been their treat! Dining in or out, it’s a place where mummy can use leverage, it’s a place where nagging doesn’t take place because my children always eat their food. It’s a place they get excited going to because they know they always get a present- a present that occupies them!
I’ve actually never paid much attention to Happy Meal presents until recently. I was so impressed because my son was asked whether he wanted a book or a toy and even more impressed when my son asked for the book! Mummy cool became mummy very happy cool!
McDonald’s turned out to be quite a different experience the last time we went. I took my youngest son for a quick bite, rewarding him for good behaviour because like I said before, McDonald’s is our go-to-place when the children get pat on the back! My son ate his usual nuggets and chips, chose not to go to the play area and asked me to read the book to him. He loved it, I loved it, there we were sharing lunch time together in the least expected way. No toys, no tablets, no winging, no moaning, no mummy losing her ‘cool’. Just a bit of him and me time with a McDonald’s book.
Do you remember Cressida Cowell’s series of books, ‘How to Train your Dragon’? My children were mad over them. Now Cowell has written 12 titles for the McDonald’s Happy Meal Readers Programme and each book in the series, called the Treetop Twins Adventures is published in hardback. They are about two sets of twins, Asha and Alfie and Tulip and Ted, and their parents Professors Pablo and Penelope, who encounter a real-life dinosaur. The great thing is that every book contains dinosaur facts which adds additional value to them.
Well Done McDonald’s for gearing our children in the right direction. The Happy Meal has now turned into a Super happy meal – an absolute winner all round!
Maria x
