two toys - one being marketed towards boys and the other marketed towards girls. What surprises me, is that each time I order a Happy Meal for my daughters the cashier always asks me, "Is the toy for a boy or a girl?" So I always answer, "For a girl, but what are the toys?" The cashier provides me the choices, like Pokemon or Zoobles, and I then turn to my daughters and ask them which toy they would prefer. Once they have made their decisions, we order the toys they would like, which not surprisingly is not always the toy intended for the girls. Very recently, for example, all three of my daughters opted for Pokemon over Zoobles and previous to that they had opted for Spy Gear over Victorious. In this particular instance our McDonald's had run out of both Spy Gear and Victorious! All they had to offer were leftover Star Wars and Green Lantern toys. Here is a picture of my youngest one upon learning that there were no Spy Gear (or toys for boys) left.
In the end, my daughters chose Star Wars over Green Lantern and were very pleased with the BeyBlades they got! So much so that they went on to purchase some tornado style BeyBlades from a local toy store to add to their collection!
The way the McDonald's cashier poses the question makes it seem that girls should opt for the toy for a girl and the boys should opt for the toy for a boy. On one particular day I could actually see the shame in my eldest daughter for wanting the "toy for a boy". It was then that I made it abundantly clear to my daughters that the cashiers at McDonald's should not be asking if the toy is for a boy or a girl. The gender of the child receiving the toy is irrelevant. The question they should be asking is simply, "What toy would you like?"
Enjoying their Happy Meals
Close up of Sid the Sloth from Ice Age - the Happy Meal toy
(she could sure use Sid's two front teeth to better chew her food)
