Nutrition conscious kids
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 9:48PM Conversation overheard today between Jr. and Periyappa ...
P : What did you eat ?
Jr. : two servings of Idli
P : You ate Idlis! Wow.. What did you say before the Idli part ?
Jr. : I said two SERVINGS of Idli
P : !!!!
Me : One Idli is one serving. Don't you read the nutrition label on the Idli!
she used to say "I ate two Idli's".
When four year olds talk of Servings and Calories it means two things.
1. The daycares are obsessed with reducing obeisity in kids (which along with childhood diabetes, has apparently reached epidemic proportions in the USA, thanks to all the French fries, burgers, sugary sodas, etc. that are part of lunch menu's across the country!). So the daycares, solve the problem by teaching awareness to kids by telling them that they should watch calories and servings! The menu still stays the same, and the message is sent loud and clear : "Drink Coke. Just make sure it is caffeine free diet coke"!
2. They are watching too much TV or have started to put the alphabets together and read words on their own. In the absence of good reading material in the van, they start reading labels at the back of cookies, candy boxes, goldfish crackers etc. and before you know it become nutrition experts who know words like Fat, Sugar, Calories etc. This could lead to more trick questions from the kids like "Will I get fat if I eat this ?", "What does Sodium mean ?" etc. for which we may not have readymade answers.
We are better off teaching them nutrition at home, earlier the better!
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