I was going to wrap this moral question into an anonymous thing but decided to fess up and (a) acknowledge that this was my moral dilemma and (b) admit my child eats McDonald’s and (c) disclose that I sometimes bribe him.

At a recent photo shoot I promised my son that if he was good and did what mommy asked him to do (and wore what mommy asked him to wear), he could have McDonald’s for dinner. So after a scary drive home on an insanely snowy day, he fell asleep in the car minutes before I pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot (with no drive through). Here were my choices:

1. Wake up grumpy pants from that just-fell-into-a-late-afternoon-nap sleep and haul his butt into the restaurant to order take-out.
2. Shake him slightly awake to inform him that mommy is running in to get the food and remind him not to open the locked doors.
3. Abort mission and deal with dire consequences later.
4. Slip and slide to another McDonalds in the ‘burbs that has a drive through.

I picked number 2, though I don’t feel good confessing this and I may not do it again. What would you do?

–Jen, Canadian Family‘s Editor-in-Chief