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Time for parents to bear the load

I succumbed this week and bought the kids Coco Rocks. They're like Coco Pops on steroids, without the pop. Little chocolatey nuggets that, we decided, looked a lot like kangaroo poo. Yes we'd seen them on television, probably during the hours of 3pm to 5pm, and yes, if we hadn't have seen the ad, no, we probably wouldn't have bought them.

But I'm going through a phase where there are no bad foods. Just some foods you shouldn't eat all the time. If my children are happy to eat Weet Bix or porridge or fruit and yogurt for breakfast 51 weeks a year surely seven days fuelled on nothing but chocolate sugar can't hurt them?

Which is why I'm a tad irritated about the whole idea of banning junk food ads during children's television viewing hours (what are those hours anyway, there are kids tuning into cartoons by 6am and watching Veronica Mars at midnight).

The Australian Communications and Media Authority outraged health experts last week when it rejected calls to tighten ads aimed at children. The Queensland and South Australian Governments are set to introduce their own bans, saying if the Federal Government doesn't do it soon, they will.

Perhaps this time Kevin Rudd has got it right. Surely if parents don't want their children eating "the wrong foods" they should stop buying them and stop serving them.

Maybe even think about turning the television off in the first place.

Yes, it's nice to blame other people for your own inadequacies. My thighs are the way they are because all the women in my father's family look this way. I've had to put my children into childcare because we both need to work to pay off the mortgage. If my husband helped around the house more I wouldn't be so cranky. But at the end of the day all these things are the way they are because you've made the choices you've made.

I think it's time parents started to accept more of the responsibility of raising their own children. Yes, I acknowledge that obesity is a major problem, costing the community an estimated $58 billion a year. But really how much influence do ads have?

Yes, too, I acknowledge the power of pestering. Leave the kids at home. Shop online. Go with a girlfriend after 10pm when the kids are asleep and you can gossip as you weave your way through the late night shelf packers.

There are ways around everything.

And it's not only poor eating habits. If you're unhappy with your child's education get involved with the school. Talk to the teacher. Talk to your child. If you don't like the way the soccer coach trains the kids, offer to help her out.

Stop blaming and start doing something to change the circumstance you don't like.

Greens Senator Bob Brown introduced the bill to ban ads into Parliament last week saying "it is plain common sense".

Yes it is when you think about it. We're all so caught up with educating children about what they should or shouldn't be doing. Perhaps it's time we started to think about doing the same thing for parents.

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Posted By: Karen Hardy on 10/09/2008 11:29:58 AM | Comments (5)

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What can I say - we have two kids, 11 adn 7, and we simply say no when we need to. We also get them up on the weekends to go to sport events, and music practice when it happens. And sometimes they go to their friends houses on the weekends. Most importantly, we talk to them about the media, and then help them with choices. We don't have all the answers, but we can still make decisions. And they are happy kids......who do occasionally get fed fast foods, but who also eat apples.

Posted by Wedge, 10/09/2008 1:19:37 PM

Using this argument, then, why is cigarette advertising illegal? After all, tobacco is a legal product, so how can you reconcile your objection to the banning of junk food advertising when I presume you support bans on cigarette ads? Tobacco use represents a serious health issue in the community, and one assumes that the rationale behind banning cigarette ads is to discourage use of the product. This policy has been broadly supported. Surely, if there are claims that this policy has resulted in a reduction in the uptake of cigarette smoking, the same can be argued for banning of junk food ads. There are moves afoot to limit alcohol advertising also, again using the argument that consumption represents a health (and social) problem. Junk food does represent a significant health issue in the community. If one agrees that bans on cigarette ads have been effective in reducing smoking, then one cannot possible argue against banning junk food ads, as the philosophy behind the policy is exactly the same as that behind bans on cigarette ads. It is unsustainable, in my view, to support one and not the other.

Posted by Karma, 11/09/2008 10:42:27 AM

I believe any substance that is legal should be able to advertise freely, whether it be junk food, alcohol or cigarettes. my father worked for the cigarette company philip morris when we were growing up and I spent my childhood surrounded by cigarette advertising, helping him make up displays, and the like. neither my sister nor i smoke, though both our parents did. I believe peer pressure is the main reason young people start smoking and drinking and again this comes back to educating parents and young people about making the right choices for themselves. If anything advertising has helped in the reduction of smoking - how could anyone smoke after viewing those disturbing ads that show what it can do to you.

Karen Hardy Motherload

Posted by Karen Hardy, 11/09/2008 11:53:00 AM

Such a sensible argument. FINALLY! Parents are responsible for what their kids eat (good and bad), what their kids watch (good and bad), and what their kids do (good and bad). Its time all parents took their responsibilities on board. My daughter eats a wide range of food, does a wide range of things and is the light of my life. My resonsiblility as a parent is to raise her to be a well rounded respectful person who makes sound reasoned choices based on the best information she/we have to hand. That includes choices about what she eats.

Posted by CathodeRayTube, 11/09/2008 1:04:01 PM

I think you take a selfish and irresponsible stance. Young children are unable to make judgments about the value of information the way most adults can and absorb advertisements as fact. Not everyone parents in a way that protects children from harm. We have a responsibility to look after all children, not just the ones in our home.

Posted by charlotte, 14/09/2008 11:09:02 AM

Karen Hardy escapes her life as wife and mother by masquerading as a journalist at The Canberra Times. In the office she can go to the toilet by herself and occassionally write something that might make someone smile.