and this is my fault...how?

[MadMike]

Sorry Mike, it's not a "sometimes" job, it's an "optional" job.

Oh, right. Being a parent myself, I should have known that.

What was it that Homer Simpson once said?

"Having kids is easy! That practically raise themselves these days, with the internet and everything."

[Noelegy]

This is why Cookie Monster doesn't eat cookies anymore, because parents complained he was teaching kids bad habits. It's true, they blamed Sesame Street for making kids fat and now Cookie Monster eats vegetables.

I don't understand that. My generation grew up on Sesame Street, and I can tell you there was nowhere near the amount of childhood obesity that there is now. What's now considered average for a child was what we called "fat" when I was a kid, and what's "fat" now was virtually unheard of a quarter-century ago.

It's called "placing the blame everywhere but where it belongs."

Which is why "juvenile diabetes" is now an outdated term and they have to differentiate between type 1 and type 2 (used to be called "adult-onset diabetes"). Kids not even in their teens are being diagnosed with type 2. It's gotten to where I see a family out at Wal-Mart or the like and I think of them in terms of their diabetic status: either already diabetic or future diabetic. And it's just going to keep getting worse unless people take on some personal responsibility.

[MadMike]

I don't understand that. My generation grew up on Sesame Street, and I can tell you there was nowhere near the amount of childhood obesity that there is now.

I think a big part of the problem is kids just aren't going outside to play as much anymore. Hell, if I tried to sit around and just watch TV or play on the computer constantly, my mom would pretty much force me to go outside.

[Kara]

I don't understand that. My generation grew up on Sesame Street, and I can tell you there was nowhere near the amount of childhood obesity that there is now.

Of course, because it has nothing to do with what's wrong with kids these days. The morons responsible for all this grew up on the same things we did. My dad admitted to tying a towel around his neck and trying to fly off the roof of the house like superman, and hitting his brother in the head with a hammer like the 3 stooges.

So did 90% of the people whining and screaming that all these things are supposedly ruining today's youth. Maybe they just took one to many hammer blows to the head as kids themselves.

[evilhomer]

I think a big part of the problem is kids just aren't going outside to play as much anymore. Hell, if I tried to sit around and just watch TV or play on the computer constantly, my mom would pretty much force me to go outside.

And bingo was his name-o. Everyone wants to point the finger at junk food, yet right it off as mere coincidence that Nintendo, Playstation and X-box have grossed what... a hundred kazillion dollars over the past 10 years. Certainly junk food is a contributing factor, but I myself am living proof that you can live on junk food and be slim if you're active enough.

Cutting out junk food will only slow the process down if it doesn't come with a lifestyle change.

[Noelegy]

I think a big part of the problem is kids just aren't going outside to play as much anymore. Hell, if I tried to sit around and just watch TV or play on the computer constantly, my mom would pretty much force me to go outside.

Nail on the head! We were in Wal-Mart recently, and the TVs that they have mounted at the checkout were airing some sort of PSA about getting kids outside to play. I looked at my husband, who's the same age as me, and said, "When we were growing up, did kids have to be TOLD to go outside and play?"

[Noelegy]

Has that woman never experienced the bliss of warm, gooey confection? Just out of the oven, the chocolate drippy, with an ice cold glass of milk.... *happy sigh* Few things in life exceed that pleasure.

Maybe she has, and she follows the philosophy of "if it feels good, it must be bad for you." Maybe she just wants all the cookies for herself.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Oh, right. Being a parent myself, I should have known that.

What was it that Homer Simpson once said?

"Having kids is easy! That practically raise themselves these days, with the internet and everything."

Actually, kids were raising themselves before the internet. I know firsthand - and I don't think I did too bad a job.

[TwoScoopsSciath]

I hate that. At my god-daughter's preschool, they want kids bringing carrot sticks instead of cupcakes and such for birthdays. WTF? A kid having a cupcake or other snack once in awhile doesn't make them fat. Neither does fast food per se. What makes kids fat are the parents who put a twinkie in their mouth to shut them up or by them fast food all the time and turn the pantry at home into a sugery wonderland. There's nothing wrong with snacks, but people need to learn limits. It's called restraint, people.

This is why Cookie Monster doesn't eat cookies anymore, because parents complained he was teaching kids bad habits. It's true, they blamed Sesame Street for making kids fat and now Cookie Monster eats vegetables.

Childhood go boom.

[Sofar]

Our walls are orange. Combined with our spiffy stainless steel wainscotting and our stainless steel tabletops and counters, it makes our little burger joint pretty jazzy. One day, a woman comes in, walks up to the counter and demands to know why our walls are orange. I don't appreaciate being accosted in this manner at my place of employment, but I was stunned by the strange question. I said, "Wol, it makes the place look pretty jazzy, don't you think? Plus, the color orange makes people hungry. That goes over well for us."

Adding that last bit was the wrong thing to do, because she then said, "I [I]KNEW[I] it! I saw on T.V. that [I]fast food restaurants[I]* paint their walls yellow and orange so people will eat more! How dare you you're trying to make us fat!" She walked out at that point, yelling at my customers.

*Spoken with a particular flourish of distaste.

[Becks]

We were in Wal-Mart recently, and the TVs that they have mounted at the checkout were airing some sort of PSA about getting kids outside to play. I looked at my husband, who's the same age as me, and said, "When we were growing up, did kids have to be TOLD to go outside and play?"

But kids CAN'T go outside to play anymore, what with the playgrounds being downsized and replaced with PLASTIC (grrrrrr), no more empty lots--unless they're overtaken by the resident hobos, various child molesters...etc., etc., etc.

It's sad, really. People only a few years younger than my 27 years have had a rougher time of it. I remember going to my grandmother's house and being told to go to the park to play and come home before it got dark. Hell, at that time there weren't even SIDEWALKS on the way there.

[blas]

Becky, what's really sad is I am 7 years younger than you, and even back in the mid to late 90s it was just fine and dandy with my parents if I rode my bike to the playground or to friends' houses and went to the candy store alone........there really weren't peepers or a lot of crazy perverts back then and if there were....they weren't as blatantly obvious and no one ever tried to kidnap me or any of my friends.

My brother and I were forbidden by mom to watch more than an hour of TV at a time as kids. Dad really didn't care, but he's always been the more easy going, less whip cracking of a parent. All he cared was that we weren't making trouble.

[XCashier]

Adding that last bit was the wrong thing to do, because she then said, "I [I]KNEW[I] it! I saw on T.V. that [I]fast food restaurants[I]* paint their walls yellow and orange so people will eat more! How dare you you're trying to make us fat!"

"Actually, it's not the orange paint that makes customers eat more. It's the fact that we tie them to their chairs, point a gun at their heads and force-feed them hamburgers until they explode."

Some people just aren't satisfied until they have something to kvetch about, no matter how minor or inane. Pathetic.

[myswtghst]

Lord, I'm only 23 (almost 24!) and I was free to roam as a child. I had a bike and some rollerblades, and exploring the neighborhoods and climbing trees were my favorite past times.

Not to mention, my parents had us signed up for every sport offered, but didn't make us play more than one year if we didn't like it. I played soccer, softball, did gymnastics, dance in many forms, swam on a team, and figure skated, eventually competing and doing precision. It was just common practice that kids did sports of some sort.

And yes, I eat fast food, and yes, I'm not super skinny, but I know how much I can handle, and spend a good deal of time with the dog running it off.

Oy, I'm sad I was born just in time to witness the demise of personal responsibility.

[iradney]

When I was a kidlet, the house we lived in was right across the road from a huge park. My mom could actually see me through the window when I was playing - how awesome is that?
I could play till dusk and then come home for supper. I also used to walk to school by myself after I turned 10(it was a 10 minute walk away, didn't make sense to drive!), and to the cafe up the road. Of course, I wouldn't do that NOW. That's just asking for trouble...