Supersized fast-food fury?

This week McDonald's was found in breach of industry standards over a website which was seen to be marketing to children. Personally I do not mind most of the marketing they do. The marketing person inside of me finds it interesting, the charity worker inside of me worries a little about those who are weak to these messages, but in the end, I truly believe that it is up to the parents to teach their kids about what they eat and why they eat it, because those lessons will be with them for life.

The SMH reported:

The Advertising Standards Bureau upheld the Cancer Council's complaint about the Happy Meal website, finding that it had breached several clauses of the voluntary code for advertising to children, including promoting unhealthy food choices by using characters and online interactive games aimed at children.

You can read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/maccas-website-breached-ad-rules-20120708-21pjv.html#ixzz207DA9QXB

Even having worked for charities targeting this behaviour in the past, I have started to rethink why this causes so much passion from so many. I am struggling to understand how cute characters on a game, on a website are encouraging children to eat bad food. I do understand pester power. I have studied it at university and I most certainly have seen the impact of it on marketing campaigns I have worked on.  

I also have a 6 yr. old and a 3 yr. old. So far, I control what goes into my children’s mouths – to a large degree. They love having McDonald’s. They have probably had it 3 times in the last year, and their meals are chosen by me (apple bag, no chips, water instead of soft drinks). I know exactly what it does to their little bodies overnight too. My 3 year old has type 1 diabetes; I test her blood glucose every few hours during the night. On a McDonald’s night she usually needs extra insulin and her levels continue to get higher and higher overnight. McDonald’s is a treat and my kids understand this.

I would like to eat bad food every day. I love chocolate. I love ice-cream.  I know what happens if I eat too much – and it is not just about gaining weight. I don’t think as clearly, I get tired and generally my health suffers. Over the past few years I have discussed the impact of our diet with my children. Mostly, they don’t nag me for “sometimes” foods. 

So would it be easier for parents if there were no lollies and foods targeting kids? I guess so. There would be fewer arguments and maybe less children eating as many “sometimes” foods. But what happens when the kids are old enough to buy their own food? What happens when they get to make their own choices? Clearly the concern is that we have an obesity epidemic growing in Australia with unhealthy parents unable to educate their children, which is leading to overweight or unhealthy children.

This week is National Diabetes Week. This week the focus is all about type 2 diabetes and how to prevent it. Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable through diet and exercise; unlike type 1 diabetes which is an auto-immune disease (and cannot be prevented). I think we need to start teaching our children from a very young age about good food choices. I think we need to help them understand why good foods can make them feel good for longer and why “sometimes” food, whilst yummy, are only for just that – for sometimes. I believe that the challenge for us is how we get parents to understand food labels – not just fast food, but all food. We need to understand the impact of the ingredients of what we eat and what it means to our bodies. The healthy canteens campaigns for schools within Australia are a great start.

What do you think? Would it be easier to just ban junk food advertising of all kids and remove cartoon packaging and kids’ toys with purchases? What else can we do to help parents?

Monkey See, Monkey Do

This morning my darling daughter (DD) walked up to me and said “Mum, I need to put on something else”. This in itself would not be a huge issue... except my daughter is two and that this is a daily occurrence.

‘So she has a strong sense of being’, I hear you thinking.

That is quite possibly true as well, however I am scared that she has seen me do the dress-around each morning for so long that she thinks that it is normal to get dressed, wander around for 30mins and then decide that no, this is not the outfit that I will be wearing today. Is it just me? I don’t think it is, but maybe others are better at hiding it from their children.

This of course had me wondering what else she is watching quietly, storing away and going to create a disorder of sorts at some point. Well, ok, a disorder is definitely an exaggeration but you know what I mean. Diet and weight is one thing that has always been a concern for me for both of my children. From birth I was conscious of the importance of what they were fed and of healthy growth. Even trying to do the right thing by what goes in their mouths, there seems to be minefields to walk through. How do you explain the impact of eating too much to a small child? How do you discourage eating something that tastes great? (And why is mummy allowed a chocolate and DD or DS not – and mummy has swum for an hour this morning and done an RPM class really does not cut it with two and five year olds – and yes I know, I simply should not do it around them).

And now that my DD has diabetes, I am even more conscious that her weight will be an issue throughout life – as for everyone, people will judge her because of her weight, but because of her diabetes and the ignorance about the cause, people will judge her more harshly if she is ever even slightly overweight. (Unless of course there is a huge change in focus of the current type 2 diabetes “education” campaigns – but that is another long story).

So almost every day, I talk with my kids about good foods and bad food, get into arguments when they want chocolate, try really hard to not say, “they will make you fat”. But, I am only human, so do slip up (well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it). I also try to add that your brain won’t grow properly...

I try really hard to ensure that when we eat chocolate or ice cream, it is for special occasions. A birthday party, because we climbed Mt Coolum or walked the return trip of Buderim Forest Park. But I know the example I set is more important than what I say or even what I let them do. Do they understand that I get up before 5am most mornings to exercise? And even if they do, what does this mean to them.

So what am I worrying about? I guess what most parents worry about... am I doing a good job? Am I doing the best job I can do.

I just have to have the self belief - yes I am! And when I look at my two happy, healthy kids having fun together, it makes it easy to believe.