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I went shopping for new toys for my 2 year old granddaughters the other day and was absolutely dumbfounded by the collection of unhealthy toddler toys readily available for our children. I was so troubled 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 article.

It's risky enough that we adults are bombarded on a day to day basis with sly marketing approaches meant to brainwash and instigate hyper-consumerist tendencies, but some of the ploys intended to hook adolescents through their toys is just plain shady! We as adults can at the very least detect the rouse. We may still succumb, but we have the judgment making skills and (for the most part) the intelligence to decipher when we are being catered to for our betterment or our harm. Our kids merely don't have that experience; which is why it is up to us to cut out the destructive child toys.

One glaring violator was the McDonald's McKids toy line. Inside the french fry and burger casings, the backpack, and the kitchen structure were several dozen mini milkshakes, burgers, fries, and cookies. I shouldn't condemn the McDonald's corporation for attempting to profit and let's be factual, they would not sell these toys if people didn't buy them; but we have to comprehend that this is how our kids distinguish the brand and relate the golden arches with entertainment as a juvenile. This type of brand recognition marketing will retain the obesity rate at a steady incline until we as role models take matters into our own hands and begin saying no to damaging child's toys.

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

Like I said, I can't blame these billion dollar businesses for doing what they do best. 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 necessary to ensure their fiscal well-being. Establishing unhealthy habits in our children can affect their future bottom line.

It is up to us to 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 make and market these toys to our kids, but we need to consider that the power is always in our hands to say NO!

We can stop purchasing these unhealthy toys for our children and help our toddlers form good habits; or we can continue down the same path. Let our adolescents 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 right rather than what is easy. We can value our kids by valuing what we buy for them. We can keep our honor by giving our kids a fighting chance against the diseases and dysfunction both instigated and ignored by the fast food industry. Either way, it all starts by what we choose to surround our children with.

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