“You’re never going to let your kid be an American kid and have a Happy Meal?”
I still remember that moment. The way those words stung. The overwhelming pressure of not knowing how I was going to navigate “American culture” as a new mom.
As I rubbed my belly, I whispered to the little one inside me:
“We’re going to have to figure this out together.”
Fast Forward 3 Years
Chase was scootering down the Southie sidewalk, his quickly cuts through the "Boring King" parking lot. But we weren’t stopping there.
We were headed straight for our spot—LuLu Green—where mom grabbed her “tea coffee” and Chase proudly ordered his blue spirulina smoothie.
The fast-food chains? He never noticed them. Because we never made them a thing. No attention, no conversation, no draw.
The McDonald’s Moment
About a year later, I overheard Chase talking with his cousins. Someone mentioned McDonald’s.
Chase, wide-eyed and completely innocent, asked:
“What’s McDonald’s?”
People were stunned. He was four years old and had never even heard of it.
I smiled and told him he wouldn’t like it anyway—that he had sophisticated taste buds. Then I added the truth:
“We don’t eat that food because it’s bad for your microbiome.”
And he got it. My son understood the concept of a microbiome before he ever knew what a Happy Meal was.
The Hard Conversation
By age five, though, commercials had done their job. During a sports game, he finally noticed the golden arches.
So I told him:
“Chase, the world has good people and bad people—good companies and bad companies. Some companies will trick you into eating chemicals and poisons that hurt your body, dull your brain, and weaken your health. They don’t care if you live a long, strong life.
McDonald’s is one of those companies. And because I love you, I’ll never feed you that poison.”
Out of the Mouth of a Toddler
Months later, driving back into the city, Chase spotted a billboard from the backseat.
“Hey mom, there’s that evil french fry company again! Look—there it is!”
Then he asked, with all the innocence in the world:
“If people know they’re hurting people, why don’t they get arrested and go to jail?”
My answer was raw, but honest:
“It’s called politics, my son. A government filled with unqualified people who know nothing about health—but sure do love money.”
✨ Motherhood Unscripted
It means teaching my son that no shiny ad can turn poison food into something good. It means naming the evil french fry company for what it is. And it means raising a generation that won’t swallow lies—no matter how cleverly they’re packaged in a red box with a toy.
We don’t play nice with companies that profit from sickness. We raise kids who see through the noise and fight back with truth.
So yes, we cut through the “Boring King” lot. Yes, my son calls McDonald’s the evil french fry company. And yes, I’ll keep telling him the truth—even when it’s uncomfortable.
Because one day, he won’t just know what a microbiome is. He’ll know how to stand for what matters.