McDonald's, for good or for bad, serves a very important purpose. Yeah, the food is horrible for a person. I never eat (ok maybe French fries occasionally... no one makes a fry like they do), but for people with very little money: they can eat there. In my very early adulthood a lot of my friends could ONLY afford dollar menu items from places like McDonald's and Taco Bell. I try to educate my child about food and nutrition. He's little so sometimes we'll do McDonald's. Kids like that junk, but we treat it as a treat and not as normal food. As for sodas, parents shouldn't be letting little kids drink them. Unfortunately, a lot of parents do. It wouldn't be a bad idea for milk/juice/water to be options for happy meals. Kids can still get a soda, but it could be extra (which would make parents less likely to give kids soda). I'm torn here between we need freedom and we have an epidemic of obesity in this country.