I saw a video on YouTube last week. I watched it once. Then again. Then again. I’m officially addicted to it. It’s a digital re-mix of Mr. Rogers. You remember his PBS show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood? Well, John D. Boswell of Symphony of Science took some of the most profound things that Mr. Rogers ever had to teach us and set it all to music, then arranged it in a beautiful video for PBS Digital Solutions.
Teaching Teens About Real Food
Thankfully, I discovered the world of Real Food when my youngest was an infant. Translation: it’s pretty easy to get my kids to eat Real Food. They don’t put up a fight when I serve them salads, seafood, or liver. Oh sure, they still beg me to take them to McDonald’s or get them doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, but at least they’ll also eat what I cook. But what do you do when you started eating Real Food after your kids already developed a picky, junk-food loving palate?
I watched an absolutely hilarious video posted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop this morning, and it brought this question to the forefront of my mind.
Candy From Strangers
A few days ago I was standing in line at the post office, just behind a young mother and her daughter. The little girl looked to be about 2 years old – she was still speaking that language that only a mom can understand. She was a chubby little blonde child, wearing a tee shirt that promoted Coca Cola. As I watched her, she was happily smearing a chocolate bar all over her face.
It was 9 o’clock in the morning, by the way. So, I’m not sure whether this little girl was eating her breakfast or a mid-morning snack. As she alternately licked her candy bar and babbled at her mother, I realized that this was a child who already knows how to plan ahead to her next meal; the one word coming out of her chocolate-coated mouth that I could understand clearly was ‘McDonald’s.’
The food industry spends billions of dollars each year on child seduction, with carefully-conceived advertising directed specifically at children.
Real Foodies of the Future
If you’re a parent, you’re trying to raise your kids to love Real Food — food that’s nourishing, traditional, & sustainably raised or grown. You want them to know the joy of digging in a garden, planting seeds, and harvesting fresh veggies & fruits. You want them to chirp at chickens, prefer your homemade meals over fast food, and more.
As a parent, I rejoiced when I read the recent post up at Civil Eats about Kids Radically Changing the Food System. Read this article. Then — no matter what — NEVER let your child feel like they’re too young to make a difference!
It’s the Junk Food Commercials
Remember all those studies that show a direct correlation between the number of hours kids watch TV and their weight? The conclusions of these studies all warn that too much television leads to an all too sedentary life, which leads to obesity.
Well. Today a study was released which concluded that it’s not the hours of TV, but the number of junk food commercials! Oh, those savvy junk food marketers. Did you know that by the time a child is 5 years old, they have seen an average of more than 4,000 television commercials for food annually? During Saturday morning cartoons, children see an average of one food ad every five minutes! And up to 95 percent of those ads are for junk foods.
Marketing Food to Your Kids
Pernicious ads saturate children’s media. Yes, they’re advertising toys (truly a bane to any parent’s existence). But they’re also spending billions of dollars advertising industrial waste products which have been repackaged in colorful containers and marketed as food. Yesterday, the FTC released a report from hearing on marketing food to kids, and my reaction is mixed.
There Is No Love In That Food
“Even though the food is bad, I really like McDonald’s,” my son explained.
“Why is that, son?” my husband asked. He expected to hear something about indoor play places or ice cream. Instead, my soon-to-be five year old continued, “Well, I think it’s special.”
“But they’re not special,” I interrupted. “Every McDonald’s is exactly the same. They all look the same, make the same foods. There is nothing special or unique about them.”
How To Cure A Sugar-Fiend
Have you ever tried to get a child to eat healthy foods, only to have them opt out of eating altogether? The plate gets pushed aside. The tasty smoothies get poured down the drain. Someone stubbornly refuses to eat.
Raising Kids to Enjoy Real Food
Thankfully, my children are young. I haven’t yet had to fight them over food because they’ll gladly eat just about anything I put in front of them. And, thanks to clever, nifty, and fun ideas in cookbooks like Raw Recipes for Kids, my kids are happy eating Real Food. I don’t know how much longer…