Good News: Now we're suing McDonalds

So the battle for the hearts, minds, and stomachs of our youth rages on. I wish they would just hurry up and shut down McDonald's altogether. Ever since I gave my 6 year old the reigns to the family budget and the keys to the car, it's been nothing but Happy Meals.

Monet Parham is spearheading the suit backed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), aimed at stopping the fast-food giant's use of toys in marketing aimed directly at small children. A mother-of-two from California launched a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's, claiming the toys given out with Happy Meals unfairly lure kids into eating unhealthy food.

The CSPI says such marketing illegally exploits children. Parham says the main reason her six-year-old daughter, Maya, asks to go to McDonald's is to get toys based on Barbie, i-Carly, Shrek, or Strawberry Shortcake.

"I am concerned about the health of my children and feel that McDonald's should be a very limited part of their diet and their childhood experience," said Parham, from Sacramento. "But as other busy, working moms and dads know, we have to say 'no' to our young children so many times, and McDonald's makes that so much harder to do.

"I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids? heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat." read more