The concern about childhood obesity is well intended. Everyone is scrambling to identify the ONE culprit. Fast food? Video games? Laziness?
I think there are many!
Kids cannot run around in their yards and neighborhoods like they used to. “Stranger Danger” is just too real!
We need to be creative with healthy food choices when the kids are little. Don’t forget the old adage ,”If at first you don’t succeed, try,try again!” Keep offering healthy foods even after the kids place them on the “Yucky”List. My son’s favorite vegetable is broccoli. To this day, he remembers that I got him to try broccoli by telling him he was a Giant and they were trees that he could gobble up.
The one thing that many may not have considered is the food oriented culture and the emphasis placed on food in the home. I noticed when my school aged kids come for a summer visit, their first question is,”What’s for lunch?” . I wish this was motivated by my cooking excellence but how can you ruin chicken nuggets ,french fries,green beans and pears?
Even my grown daughter surprises me when we pack for camp. She dwells upon the meals that need planning. I usually think of activities first. Full disclosure insists that I reveal that I am chubby. My food choices aren’t always what they should be, and chubbiness can be by-product of doing family day care. The babies keep you sitting a lot. As for me, I grab and go for lunch then eat another one for the “sit down”pleasure. Many young mothers can relate to that bad habit!
My father is from an Italian mother. The rumors about THAT culture and food, are right on target. Dad visits me many mornings a week. (He’s retired and loves to”bop” around our small city.) By the time his five-minute chat ends,I’m HUNGRY! The topics he chooses are almost exclusively about food! If I ask about his bowling team,I am rewarded with the menu for their upcoming banquet. Asking why he’s out and about extra early is answered by the need for an ingredient for the soup he’s going to prepare. Then, I am treated to a description of the smells and textures.
Maybe young families could “nip” their food fetish in its infancy by just realizing they exist.
Hope you found this helpful. At the very least,it is food for thought 🙂 .
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