Consuming Kids

       One important part of my job revolves around food. I plan the meals, buy the food, organize the food, cook and cleanup the food, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. As part of my job as a mom I wanted to learn about what to feed my family. I started looking at my daughters favorites foods, grilled cheese, hot dogs, french fries, fruit snacks, yogurt, mac n cheese and apple juice. She also likes fruit and milk. But most of her (old) diet and other kids I know, are very unhealthy. When you go to a restaurant most of the kids meals, are burgers, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets. Obviously these are not the best choices for our growing children.

     Another thing I have found fascinating is how companies market their sugary products to our kids. I took Lily to the supermarket the other day, something I try not to do. Of course I skipped the candy isle. But I did go down the cereal isle which was also very dangerous since my daughter saw all of her favorite cartoon characters on the sugary boxes of cereal, and then down the snack isle there was Scooby Doo fruit snacks, Dora, Mickey, princess you name it there was a fruit snack with her favorite character on it, and they were on the second shelf perfect eye level for a 3 foot tall kid! It was a battle to try and explain that we were not going to get any of these very fun looking treats! There were several other battles as my daughter saw more sugary foods with her favorite characters on them, I can definitely understand why parents would give in and buy them for their kids.Marketing companies want your children to ask for these treats and beg for them.This is brilliant marketing in action. It is tough as a parent to stay strong!

     Candy is candy and we all know that is a once in awhile treat, but it's the candy that pretends to be healthy that gets us. Like the "fruit" snack. But they claim to be made with real fruit juice?! Here are the ingredients; juice from concentrate, translation:sugars, corn syrup, sugar, dextrose, color, and flavor additives to make the snacks look and taste somehting like fruit. Kool-Aid, fruit drinks, and yogurts are the same way. Claim to be good for your kids but really are deserts. Check the sugar content in your kids cartoon yogurts! It's half sugar!

     Here is a excerpt from the book called What to Eat, "Marketing to children does more than make them want certain products; it is meant to change society. It aims to put kids in charge of decisions that you should be making. For this reason alone, marketing to children is worth opposing.".

Supermarket strategies for Kids
1. Dont take them with you to the supermarket if at all possible.
2. Dont buy foods with cartoon characters on them
3. Dont buy packaged cereal or foods that say "fun"
4. COUNT THE SUGARS! (a tablespoon is 15 grams)
5. Buy foods from the perimeter of the supermarket, stay out of the middle isles.
5. If you offer healthy foods, your children will have the chance to eat them. If you offer junk foods to your children, they will eat junk foods.

     You wouldn't know it from the advertisements but kids are supposed to eat like adults! Meats, vegetables, fruits, pastas, but for some reason we have been programed to think they need kid foods, filled with sugar and in the shape of some character. We all know that obesity in children has risen rapidly since the 1980s. I think finally we are realizing that we cant eat all the junk and have no consequences and we cant make junk an everyday part of our kids lives.