A man is suing a court-appointed psychologist who deemed him an unfit parent after he refused to take his kid to the Holy Grail of the American obesity epidemic: McDonald’s. Of all of the reasons to potentially lose visitation rights with your kid, this has to be the cheesiest. Actually, make mine a double cheesiest.
As The New York Post reports, “Attorney David Schorr slapped a court-appointed shrink with a defamation lawsuit for telling the judge deciding a custody battle with his estranged wife that he was an unfit parent — for refusing to take his son to the fast food joint for dinner.” This is America, after all: If there’s one freedom no one can take away, it’s a four-year-old’s right to eat a 3,000-calorie meal.
The not-so-Happy Meal began when Schorr wanted to take his kid to a restaurant called Corner Cafe for dinner. “But the boy threw a temper tantrum and demanded McDonald’s. So he gave his son an ultimatum: dinner anywhere other than McDonald’s — or no dinner,” according to the New York Post. The child chose no dinner.
Unfortunately, court psychologist Mary Schiller had a problem with this. Because as any good psychologist knows, if there’s one way to reinforce good behavior in a child, it’s to give him whatever he wants as long as he screams about it.
After the incident, the mother immediately took the child to McDonald’s. It’s the oldest trick in the book: if Dad says no, just ask Mom.
Perhaps it’s a sad testimony to how much McDonald’s is ingrained in a 4-year-old’s perception of the world. If nothing else, at least McDonald’s marketing team deserves a raise. Congratulations for making it unacceptable for people to refuse to give greasy, corporate fast food to kids.
Now quick, someone call Child Protective Services! The neighbor’s kid was just refused a second helping of mashed potatoes at KFC!
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