Happy Meal toys just got another knock against them.
A Connecticut mom says a toy her 4-year-old son pulled out of a The Last Airbender-themed meal at McDonald's almost choked him.
But in a twist on the old choking hazard tale, Maze Stephan's son didn't swallow the toy -- he put it around his neck.
Now the Connecticut chief of consumer protection is speaking out against the hazards of Happy Meal toys, even as McDonald's says the promotion has ended and the toys are no longer being handed out.
My first thought: Why did the child put this around his neck?
The second? Of course he put it around his neck. He's a kid; he wanted to see if it would go around there.
Fortunately The Day reports his mom "yanked the toy off the child's neck as his eyes began to flutter and he nearly lost consciousness."
We've already challenged the appropriateness of fast food toys being geared to movies that the kids playing with them can't watch.
In this case The Last Airbender is PG-13; a 4-year-old is too young for the film. And it seems he was likewise too young for the toys.
Whether Happy Meals in particular are actually encouraging childhood obesity or not, evidence that they're not particularly good for kids as a whole just keeps mounting.
Is it time to bid them adieu?
Image via YouTube
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Comments 16
kids can choke themselves with a shoe string at home! parents ought to teach their children not to do things like that. my 2 yr old knows better!
they have toddler toys for a reason. You as a parent just need to ask for them .
I mean Really? I'm guessing the mother either
DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO READ THE WARNING LABEL
ON THE PKG OR SHE IS STUPID AND LAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!. Parents can buy the stupid toy with buying the actual meal. DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
There are toys recalled on a regular basis, one kid doing one stupid thing with one Happy Meal Toy isn't reason to get rid of all Happy Meal toys.
I don't think happy meals should go anywhere, and they should continue having toys in them. I do agree with the fact that The Last Airbender is not a good movie for HM toys because of its' age rating compared to the average age of the kids who order the meals. It was a stretch, and they need to work a little harder to get the good kids movies as their themes (Despicable Me, for instance, some really fun toys could have been made from that movie). We got one of the LAB toys and it was stupid stuffed flying squirrel or something, it was left on the floor and then subsequently in the trash by the next day.
In the last 14 months since having my boys, I've had more than 2 dozen things from the recall list. This ranges from things like books (a spot had too much lead in the paint) and teething toys to a stroller and even 2 different crib brands plus everything inbetween. These were all items by highly reputable companies, most of whom only make kids/baby products. Some even in the consumer report as 'good'. Does this mean that companies should stop selling cribs? Strollers?
Of course not. Sometimes more riggor should be put into testing though.
I think many toy companies test toys only the way they were meant to be used, and forget that kids find new ways of doing things. They need to think like kids.
And for non-toy products, they need to test things like improper assembly by parents, using products when they are clearly past their life etc. (I've seen people putting 3 kids on a stroller clearly meant for one and then crying foul when a wheel falls off).
I wish my local McD carried toddler toys. We dont go often and only for breakfast, but there has only been 1 toy we've taken (you can get the meal without the toy).
Newsflash: small children left unsupervised with cheap plastic toy can find ways to injure/kill themselves with it.
Pay attention to them when they have these cheap little toys, and then they wont asphyxiate themselves. Or dont go to McDonald's to buy them.
Just don't go to McDonald's. Kids don't need to grow up eating that trash.