There is a misnomer that children today eat worse today than than ever before. This is not my experience.
For starters, in my day it was unheard of for children to be drinking water of their own volition. It was always juice or soft drink. Water was for post sport hydration only. Children today happily drink water. My students are forever filling up their drink bottles. In my day drink bottles were for fitting on your bicycles for long rides in the summer time.
I only seldomly ate vegetables on their own. My vegies needed to be cooked, flavoured and magically reinvented before I would eat them. The thought of opening my lunch box and finding a container full of celery sticks was not something I wished to contemplate. Children today are only too happy to snack on carrot sticks and apple pieces. If you put a fruit and vegetable tray in front of 10-years-olds, you’d better have another tray in reserve. They would finish the contents in no time.
The key difference between then and know is exercise. I played on the street with my neighbours after school. My parents didn’t need to supervise. In those days kids were allowed to play outside without it being seen as dangerous or an example of poor parenting.
School cafeteria regulations and lunch policies can be extremely inflexible on our children. Sometimes I look at the example of our generation and wonder if we are not a bunch of hypocrites. Whilst teachers and office workers leave the premises to get a fast food option for lunch, children are left to eat food our generation would of refused to eat.
Whilst our kids are making the progress, many of us continue to indulge. Take this silly article for example:
Could you consume a giant burger comprising three beef patties, six bacon rashers, six slices of cheese and pulled pork in just 10 minutes?
This is exactly what one restaurant in London is challenging its diners to do.
At eight inches high, this gigantic burger is a real contender for the title of the UK’s tallest burger.
Weighing in with a gut-busting 3,000 calories – more than an entire daily intake of calories for a man – the burger is being sold as part of an eating challenge at the at the Red Dog Saloon in Hoxton.
To take part in the challenge, contestants in the Devastator Burge Challenge must eat the entire burger, with accompanying fries and milkshake in under ten minutes.
Those who manage to defeat the burger earn their photo on the wall of fame behind the restaurant’s bar area.
Not surprisingly, the challenge has taken down many of those who dare to take it on – just 5 per cent of people who attempted it have succeeded. Incredibly, one challenger managed to complete the entire meal in just six minutes.
There is no doubt that our children could improve their diet choices and become a lot more active. But considering the role-models we have out there, our kids are doing far better than the media has us believe.
Click on the link to read my post on A Long School Day With No Time to Eat
Click on the link to read my post on 6 Strategies for Promoting Healthy Food to Kids.
Click on the link to read 5 Ways to Get Kids Active
Click on the link to read Food Giants Marketing Unhealthy Kids Foods as Healthy
Click on the link to read Good Heavens! It’s the Lunch Box Police!
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