I went looking for new toys for my 2 year old granddaughters the other day and was absolutely dumbfounded by the choice of unhealthy baby toys readily available for our children. I was so disgusted by the vast selection of unhealthy baby toys I felt I needed to vent here, both for myself and for those of you who want to leave notes at the end of the post.

It's risky enough that we adults are bombarded on a day to day basis with underhanded marketing strategies meant to brainwash and instigate hyper-consumerist tendencies, but so many of the ploys meant to hook kids through their toys is just plain indecent! We as adults can at least detect the rouse. We may still bite, but we have the judgment making skills and (for the most part) the capacity to decipher when we are being catered to for our betterment or our disadvantage. Our children merely don't have that skill; which is why it is up to us to cut out the destructive child toys.

One egregious violator was the McDonald's McKids toy line. Inside the french fry and burger boxes, the backpack, and the kitchen setup were several dozen mini milkshakes, burgers, fries, and cookies. I can't condemn the McDonald's corporation for trying to profit and let's be factual, they wouldn't sell these toys if people didn't buy them; but we have to understand that this is how our youngsters recognize the logo and link the golden arches with fun as a juvenile. This type of brand recognition marketing will keep the obesity rate at a steady incline until we as role models take the issue into our own hands and start to say no to destructive child's toys.

I also saw a donut shop toy set...yup, donuts. Let's face it, any child that recognizes custard filled donuts and iced mocha the inside of the store is destined for cavities and diabetes... and that's the best case scenario.

Like I said, I can't blame these billion dollar businesses for doing what they do first. We already know what they're all about. We know that for the most part they are cold, methodical, profit machines that will do whatever is required to ensure their fiscal well-being. Building unhealthy habits in our children can affect their future bottom line.

It is up to us to educate and inform our children so that these marketing firms that are successfully initiating brand recognition at such an early age do not continue on to feed the unhealthy baby habits that feed into the childhood obesity epidemic through unhealthy toys for our children and babies. They will continue to create and market these toys to our children, but we need to try to remember that the strength is always in our hands to say NO!

We can stop purchasing these unhealthy toys for our babies and help our children form good habits; or we can continue down the same path. Let our children be influenced by people who don't care about them or their well-being. Allow them to be an additional unhealthy statistics in a growing unhealthy society. Or we can do what is correct rather than what is easy. We can value our kids by valuing our purchases for them. We can keep our integrity by giving our children a fighting chance against the diseases and dysfunction both instigated and ignored by the fast food industry. Nevertheless, it all starts by what we choose to surround our children with.

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