“minimalist moment” – a moment in time when my journey to become minimalist impacted an unexpected decision.
yesterday, we were running late over the noon hour and i decided that it would save us some time to pick-up mcdonald’s for lunch instead of making something at home. i sent the family on ahead and went through the drive-thru. while in line, i remembered my complaints about happy meal toys (you can read about them here). at that point, i decided to try a small minimalist experiment: order the happy meal food without the toy. after all, it was cheaper to buy the food items individually anyway.
driving home with food in hand minus the happy meal toy, i was interested to see how it was going to go down with the 6-year old and 2-year old.
they jumped for joy when i walked in the door with a mcdonald’s bag and quickly ran to the table. we enjoyed our food. so much so, that i actually forgot about my experiment. that was, until my oldest asked me, “did you bring a toy for me?” at that point, my younger daughter remembered as well and said, “yeah, toy.”
i turned to my son and told him that i didn’t bring home a toy because i didn’t buy a happy meal, i bought the food separately. “oh, that’s okay, ” he responded. i was glad he approved.
however, my girl wasn’t quite satisfied with the answer and asked again, “my toy?” my genius wife quickly picked up a small doll on the kitchen floor (my daughter had dropped it so that she could climb on the chair), set it on the table next to her and said, “here’s a toy for you.” and my 2-year old said, “yeah. that’s a toy for me.” and that was the end of that!
i’m calling the experiment a success! no more happy meal toys when daddy is buying…
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Your kids will be able focus on real things, since they are learning about minimalism at such an early age. Good work and nice post.
We do this. It is much cheaper and healthier, especially if they get water. Those small random toys drive me nuts!!
well, i commented on your other post basically saying all of this hahaha i guess that’s what happens when you find the site so late and read it start to finish on only 3 days!
I love Chick Fil A for their “under 3″ toys, which are actually books. These I don’t mind taking home!
I’ve started reading your posts from beginning to end. Anyway, I just wanted to make a comment on buying at McDonalds. I think it is not healthy to eat food made in McDonalds. I would never bring my kids to McDonalds.
Good for you Kairos, but no one asked for your opinion on McDonalds.