N O.
A little background before I blog…..
This morning on 21 News this Morning we ran a National story from CBS news correspondent Bill Whitaker about the amount of commercials kids are being bombarded with that advertise junk food. According to the story, on average kids see about 40 hours of ads for foods that are full of fat, sugar, and salt on a yearly basis. In the story, they linked this advertising to America’s childhood obesity epidemic. The fact of the matter is that since 1980, the number of overweight youngsters in America has doubled.
For their part, the processed (or junk) food makers say that kids are heavier today because of a sedentary lifestyle, and some have volunteered to cut back on ads aimed at kids.
In the story, Harvard psychiatrist Susan Linn is one of a chorus of critics calling for the United States government to ban the advertising. Linn says, “I think it is essential that we stop advertising and marketing unhealthy foods to kids.”
While the story was airing, I led a rather lively off air discussion between Sherry, Shane and myself on this very topic of a link between junk food marketing and childhood obesity. All three of us have young children that watch children’s television and are the targets of all of this advertising. It’s not just the processed foods either; our kids are also blitzed with an endless array of marketing from the toy companies. Many of these ads come off as materialistic and give the impression that in order to be, “cool” you need to have the latest and greatest toy or gadget.
When the story finished airing and the three of us came back on the air, Sherry commented that we didn’t have enough time to express our personal opinions on the topic…. But then she looked at me and with a wink and added that it might not be such a bad thing that we didn’t have time for us to discuss the issue. I looked at Sherry and I said on the air, “You know what; I’ll blog about it on our CBS 21 Community website!”
I’m not here to deny that there are too many obese children in America. The amount of overweight children is also much greater than it was when I was growing up. All you have to do is just look around to see that it’s a fact.
But do you know how almost all of these youngsters got that way? THEIR PARENTS ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN.
My children are 6 and 4, and they watch Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network. I can tell you first hand that the marketing blitz on those channels is very effective. I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked, “Can we get that Daddy?” from one of my boys while they are taking in yet another television commercial during Spongebob Squarepants.
From the tone of this blog, I’ll bet you can guess what my answer is 99% of the time. A loud, emphatic, don’t you dare argue with me little man, NO.
Its two letters, N O. They form the word NO.
By now, my kids are almost trained not to even bother asking, because they know what the answer is going to be.
I offer no explanation for my decision, I don’t reason with my children, nor do I bargain with them.
I use a simple equation:
Me Parent : You Not
End of story.
To be fair, my children get plenty of junk food and toys. Halloween and Easter alone are enough to keep them in candy for months. Admittedly, my kids spend too much time watching television and playing Nintendo gamecube. Sometimes Daddy just needs a break, and I am 100% guilty of allowing the television to serve as a babysitter at times.
But I also make an effort to keep my kids active. I take them outside to play a lot. They ride their bikes and their scooters. I volunteer and get involved by making the time to coach their soccer and t-ball teams.
Junk food and candy is kept in cupboard that is high out of their reach and is only handed out as a “treat.” The day their pediatrician or dentist tells me that either one of them is having too many sweets will be the day that the junk completely disappears for a while.
What I don’t need is a ban on advertising, or a law that outlaws happy meals.
The day that more parents actually start giving a rip about how fat their kids are will be the day that we can stop being scolded as a society by bookwormy Harvard psychiatrists.
I’m not overly optimistic of that day ever coming. But for me, personally……
I DON’T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO RAISE MY CHILDREN!!!
I’ll do it myself, thank you very much.
