About Puppy Monster

As a father, there were three things that I would bond with my son over.

The first was McDonald’s. We went to McDonald’s once a weekend so that he could have the Chicken McNugget Happy Meal with the toy, eat in the train, and play in the playground. We also went to McDonald’s to celebrate special occasions, such as graduations or good grades. It made him smile to go, and that was what mattered.

The second thing that we would bond over was the movies. Every other weekend was a movie weekend. We would go to the afternoon matinée, he would get the kid’s combo meal with popcorn, skittles, and a soda. We always made the previews, where I would gauge his reaction to see what other movies he might want to see. We would laugh and joke with each other throughout the movie, and he would be the envy of his brothers and sisters because he saw all the new movies before they did. It gave him, in an odd way, a level of status on par with the older ones.

The third thing that we would bond over was breakfast. It didn’t matter whether breakfast was french toast from grandma’s grill, a bowl of cereal from the bookcase of boxes, or a chocolate frosted donut from Dunkin’ Donuts… we ate breakfast together. Mornings after I had worked late or into the early hours, he would wait to wake me up before eating breakfast. Of course, he would only wait so long until he would be yelling in my ear, “Daddy get up!”

So with two of the things we bonded over being breakfast food and movies… Cereal Wednesday was a natural thing for us to do together…

Cereal Wednesday: Kelloggs Shrek Cereal, 4.04.2007

Cereal Wednesday: General Mills Kix Cereal, 5.23.2007

On June 21, 2007 my son and I ate at McDonald’s to celebrate his graduation from Kindergarten for the last time. Later that day he was involved in an accident that took his smiling face from this world and into the next. Needless to say… I miss him greatly…

The Secret Cereal Wednesday: General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 4.25.2007

Some people wonder why I am passionate about Saving the Cereal… some people criticize me for it… and some people wonder why I continue doing this at all. Well, I keep doing it because it was something we shared… and in a way I feel as if he’s still with me for it.

I’m passionate about Saving the Cereal simply because the characters that they are trying to get rid of have enriched not only his life, but my own as well. There’s something to be said for a green ogre that can bring a smile to a child’s face as opposed to traditional fear. If it brings a smile… if it brings happiness… can it really be as evil as they say?

Finally, to those who criticize me for it… your e-mails have not gone unnoticed. However, allow me to place YOU on notice. If you are a parent, stop worrying about what corporations are doing, stop trying to shelter your child from the world, stop trying to alter the fabric of reality, and just enjoy being with them. Your children should be your concern… and you should never consider them asking for a certain cereal or food as “pestering”… it is something that may give them only 60 seconds of happiness… but is that necessarily a bad thing?

Live, and let live… and if others choose it to be a life with Toucan Sam, Shrek, or Snap, Crackle, and Pop… then allow them to do so just as you would like the ability to choose not to.

For the smiles and happiness it brought to my son’s life… it was a choice I was happy to have.