Eco Child’s Play

This post reflects on the fourth week of my seven-part “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” curriculum, a fantastic discussion group by the Northwest Earth Institute.

So far, our Healthy Children, Healthy Planet discussion group has tackled family dinners, consumer-free holidays, the over-programming of children’s activities, advertisements, and whether parents deserve a Bill of Rights, and what kind of moments can be used to pass down values. This week, the conversation turns to everyone’s favorite enemy: junk food.

Ah, junk food. It’s true what they say: we have become a junk food nation. We are a nation of processed food, of food in boxes, of omnipresent vending machines, of gas stations that stop selling gas, because the real money is in snacks.

• » See also: Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 Activities to Teach Your Child How to Live Green
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You guys are smart, right? You don’t need me to tell you that some artificial food additives appear to cause hyperactivity in kids. Or that a sugar-filled diet is linked with asthma. Or that junk food causes learning disabilities and behavior problems. Or that it increases the risk of diabetes. Or that it rots their teeth. Never mind that, oh yeah, it makes them overweight; since I was a kid, for example, the number of overweight kids has doubled. Thanks to these factors, this generation of children is the first in all of American history to have a lower life expectancy than their parents — a dubious honor if I’ve ever heard one.

What struck me as we talked about the issues, though, is how alone we have all felt in tackling them. For many of us, it literally feels like Lone Parent vs. The Rest of the World, because junk food is just so ubiquitous. First graders do math with skittles. Kindergarteners are given M&Ms as rewards. Well-meaning other parents bring in cupcakes for no reason. And have you noticed that every single holiday — not just Halloween and Easter, but holidays like St. Patty’s Day and Thanksgiving — all have candy attached to them.

Meanwhile, all of us — every single one of us — has felt like that parent. The crazy parent, the unreasonable, hysterical one. The Food Freak. Because, you know, we think that an apple is an appropriate snack.

Which is one of the reasons that this discussion group has been so great. Because we can look around, see other people who look normal, who seem smart, and we can say, “Oh, you mean this bothers you, too?” And then we start jumping up and down, screaming like a couple of 13-year-old girls, because suddenly we don’t feel quite so alone. Now, for the first time, we can point another parent who offers grapes before an Oreo, or who bothers to wonder “is trans-fat laden cookie dough an appropriate fundraiser for the school?”

Now, it’s a Handful of Us vs. The Rest of the World. It’s not just me. It’s me and a room full of friends. A small room, admittedly, but a room nonetheless. We’re short of an army, but I feel a little less like I’m shouting into the wind. For that alone, it’s worth it.

Related posts:
Healthy Children, Healthy Planet Week One

Consumerism vs. Family Ritual: Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 2

Do Ads Hurt Families? (And If So, What to Do?): Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 3

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