Are Some Parents Taking 'Food Police' Role Too Far?
What's next? Busting people for eating potato chips in public?
Although no children were handcuffed, the idea of screening what others buy at the grocery store, even if the consumers are chubby children, unravels yet another thread of freedom in America's social fabric. Do we really want to live in a country where we tell people how to spend their money? It's one thing to covertly observe what your neighbor has in her grocery store cart, but another to remark she is buying too much junk food or ask the checker not to ring up offending items.
Apart from infringing on freedom, calling out junk food as "bad" could prove counterproductive. No matter how harmful candy and chips are for children's health, policing their use makes these snack foods more desirable. The New York Times reports one girl taunted the policing parents, while another boasted, "I bought everything!"
The black-and-white approach to food could backfire like the police operated D.A.R.E. program. The old drug and alcohol abuse prevention program was dubbed ineffective by many critics, citing numerous studies. When my children were young, I witnessed the effects of the well-intentioned program's extreme message one night at dinner with another couple, whose school age son was participating in the D.A.R.E. program at that time. When the waiter brought me a glass of wine, the boy looked at me in shock. "You drink wine?" he asked incredulously, as if I'd just been served a glass of cyanide.
Parents are right to be concerned about junk food. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the rate of childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. But rather than police the consumption of "bad" foods, parents could increase the cachet of "good" foods by sponsoring vegetable gardens at their children's school, for instance, or getting pop culture icons to eat fruits and vegetables in music videos and movies to make these foods seem cool instead of sensible.
Published by Nancy Tracy - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Nancy Tracy is a Yahoo! Featured Contributor for arts & entertainment. She enjoys writing about a variety of topics from psychology to politics to popular culture. Her article on "Transient Global Amnesia" w... View profile
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16 Comments
Post a CommentOh sheesh- these people should have stood in front of the fresh veggie and produce stand and happily purchased apples and such themselves, then handed them to the kids (loaded up with junk food) on their way out the door, with a smile. Telling kids they can't buy junk food and then trying to bully them out of doing so? Shame on these people! If I was a parent of any of these kids who were being harrassed, I would have caused quite a scene. I get the concept, and in small ways appreciate their efforts, but they went ALL wrong about it! (I like the D.A.R.E. reference, too) :)
Your ideas were great. Instead of policing these kids, we need to provide better role models.
Wow, seems a little invasive.
Parents should be concerned, but this doesn't seem to be the way to handle the problem. Thanks for the report.
excellent - thanks for sharing
Why does the image of the Seinfeld's "soup nazi" pop up in my mind when I read this? Great article Nancy. Points out the ineffectiveness of public shame in an age when there are few role models left to demonstrate who is not "without sin.
Your point about the food police is well-taken, Nancy, but, yes, society does have a right--to an extent--to tell us how we can spend our money. For example, we can't legally spend it on crack cocaine or kiddie porn. I'm OK with that.
When I taught, we used to have a speaker every year on the evils of drugs. One year, he warned us all about the dangers of smoking ping-pong balls. It was said that overnight, you couldn't find a ping-pong ball for sale in a fifty-mile radius.
It's just another step geared toward controlling any kind of freedoom; albeit one that make more sense than some others. It's not just food that is the enemy though. It is also lack of activity.
Great commentary. Parents can do the best possible choices at home for food, but children will still eat what they want when not at home.