In a previous post, I mentioned being all for the healthy kids initiatives being launched into schools. However, I also think that sometimes good intentions can turn into scaring parents.
Take this new ad from Birdseye, for example, that I found on Adrants. The ad documents a child growing in waist size each year instead of height. Their point is taken and in the fine print they let you know what they have been doing to make their microwavable dinners more “healthy.”
Instead of more positive ads, like showing healthy kids exercising or eating healthy as a model for children to mimic, it seems to becoming more the trend to scare parents into getting their kids “healthy.”
Another example? Would be my youngest son. He is 2 years old, but 35lbs and wearing size 3 and 4T. The boy came into this world at 8.8lbs and since then his pediatricians have been warning me that he is on the path to obesity. In fact, they laid into me at his last visit that I was harming my child by letting him pack on the pounds. One would think a 35lb two-year-old is downright scary, almost paving my way to be on Maury Povich crying about my obese child. However, if I then told you that my husband is 6’5” and my son is also taller than most 2 year olds, would that change your mind? If you knew that he sprouted 3 inches in the last 12 months alone, would you then see that this child is not at all obese, he is just a boy on his way to growing into the shoes of his father?
I understand the Pediatrician’s urge to want to warn me, but I also know just how active my son is; from sun up to sun down, running and chasing his brothers doing their “exercising.”
While shocking parents about this epidemic may motivate some, for those of us well in control of our kid’s eating and exercise habits, it can feel a bit pushy.
What do you think of the new Birdseye ad?
Posted by Shannon Nelson on November 1, 2006 11:30 AM
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