Today, Emma and I are going grocery shopping. This is the highlight of today�s agenda.
But I don�t really mind doing it, even with the kiddies in tow. Thankfully, as parents, it�s one battlezone that we�ve managed to avoid. What parent enjoys public tantrums? And how many times have we seen little kids having meltdowns in the grocery store? This is rhetorical question, because the answer is �lots.� And they�re almost always in one of two areas. (1) At the checkout. This is natural, since the kid is probably sick of being trapped in the cart and having her cheeks pinched by well-meaning grannies and being denied the pleasure of belting someone with a fresh baguette. (2) In the cereal aisle. Why there�s all of this sugary goodness within arms reach! Rows upon rows, stacks and stacks of brightly coloured boxes with brightly coloured characters shouting their sugary joy from the heavens above. Buy me! I�m fun! This is good stuff! You want me! You KNOW YOU WANT ME! HEY KID!?!
Their secondary message: TELL, no, BEG YOUR PARENTS and INSIST THAT YOU WANT THIS CEREAL! C�mon c�mon c�mon c�mon!
I think our family�s success in the cereal aisle stems largely from the fact that we have never let our daughters watch commercial television. They�ve never seen Tony the Tiger or that toucan with the hypersensive sense of smell, the Silly Rabbit or any of those characters in action. They haven�t been told how grrrreat these cereals are, nor have they been given the impression they are supposed to want them. They don�t know what fun they�re supposedly missing. Yet.
A UK Consumer�s Association recently released a study of the �worst� kids cereals.
�Twenty-eight of the 100 cereals in the survey are marketed at children and the association found nine of these were 40 per cent sugar or more and 18 contained “a lot” of salt.�
Most of the brands are different than those that are sold here in Canada, but I�m willing to bet that we have our equivalents.
For those who don�t believe that advertising to children has any effect, or causes harm, why then would Kraft (one of the largest manufacturers of foodstuffs in the world) make a pledge to pull back its marketing to children under 12?
The big companies defend their actions, but I don�t consider it fair play. They are marketing to a group of consumers who have a limited capacity to understand. How can a kid possibly assess all the information that is thrown at them during a 30 second commercial? The message comes prepackaged, designed by a team of marketing people and screened for their effectiveness beforehand. Commercials are created in order to make products appear really attractive to their potential consumer – and then the message is repeated during their favourite television programs. Kids are being manipulated and they don�t, they can�t, really know it.
[Related article here: General Mills defends cereal ads aimed at children] Companies insist there�s no problem with advertising to children, and that there is no link between ads for their products and the kid�s desire for their product. Ok, if advertising isn�t the issue, why advertise at all?
Cereal manufacturers make lots of money. Their main target is the under-age consumer, even though children can�t buy the cereal themselves and they need their parents to do it. Some parents do so happily; others do it grudgingly to avoid a scene in the grocery store.
As I see it, advertisers need to take more responsibility.
My tip to all parents: if you don�t want sugary cereals in your home, and if you don�t want your kid to nag you about it every time you go to the store, don�t buy it. Not even once. And make your feelings clear about it to your spouse and to extended family members or anyone who would have an opportunity to serve it to your kids.
All that being said, we have not entirely denied our children the pleasure of Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops. We bring individual servings of the stuff with us when we go camping�which, as is admitted by all, is a time for self-indulgence and fun things to eat. We just don�t have it every day.
For some reason, there is a line I started to use awhile back that really works well with our girls. They know that there are some foods that make you grow, and others that don�t. These are ok to eat on the odd occasion, but they know that if they eat them all the time it will mess with their health. And they really really want to be as tall as their mummy.
In an unexpected turn of events, the girls both started to eat my organic hemp granola mixed with yogurt. (!) The three of us eat it almost every morning. It�s expensive stuff, but hey, I can�t say that I mind
