C is for cookie.
That's about as basic as it ever gets. However, the Cookie Monster of Sesame Street now has to learn that C is for cookie -- sometimes.
The creative crew behind the world famous show is launching a Healthy Habits For Life initiative, and other characters are taking part, too. Show producers said with the rise in childhood obesity, Sesame Street is focusing on teaching children about healthy foods and physical activity.
Cookie Monster gets a new song, Big Bird and Elmo start exercising and we get talking vegetables on the show.
Forget, for the moment, that I'm not very comfortable with talking vegetables. How is that going to get children to eat them if they see them talking to the kids?
Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity -- or vegetable-ity!
Some critics are already jumping on Sesame Street for doing the parenting for the adults. If childhood obesity is such a problem, how is a kid show going to be the catalyst to correct the behavior?
I'm not sure that teaching children about good food and getting out to play is such a bad thing. As a matter of fact, what's wrong with a little positive reinforcement from television to a message that parents should be delivering anyway?
I don't have children, so I may be out of line here. But I see overweight children with overweight parents and I wonder if we adults realize what a powerful influence we have over our offspring.
Television should never replace life lessons. Adults, parents and non-parents alike, can make all the difference in every child's life.
But please, give the Cookie Monster his cookies. After all, Green Bean Monster doesn't sound as fun.
So, I'm driving along late one night and for some reason, dark poetry leaps into my head. For the want of a keyboard! However, I do get most of it down, but I don't think you guys would appreciate it -- or even expect it out of me. Then I started wondering what you did want from Touch 'Em All -- comedy, political seriousness, random thoughts of unconsciousness? Maybe you do want poetry. Heck, sometimes I don't even know what I'm going to write until I sit down at the keyboard. That's part of the fun for me -- what is fun for you? "Beealzebub has a devil put aside for me."
Touch 'em all with me, whether you agree with me or criticize me. I like the way you think! Tell me your opinion. Write to me or add a comment below and tell me what you think or if you want to join the ever-growing e-mail list to have my column delivered right to your inbox.
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7 comments:
I saw Elmo on the "Today Show" last week and I've been telling everyone I meet about "Cookie is a Sometime Food" ever since. That just cracked me up! I don't think my neighbor's 6-year-old daughter has an enormous gut because of Cookie Monster. It might, however, have something to do with her mother insisting she finish both of her hotdogs for dinner last night. I didn't notice any vegetables on her plate, talking or otherwise.
Actually I agree, I don't think children are getting fatter because of Cookie Monster either. I read an article in Parent and Child Magazine that states that studies have shown that preschool children eat fast food at least two or three times a week on average for dinner these days. And who is buying all this garbage for them to eat??? Certainly not the "Cookie Monster". More like "The tired working parent monster" who finds it easier to buy a cheeseburger for their children then take the 30 seconds to steam some peas in the microwave.
Gee, do I sound bitter? Sorry, long day.
Bitter? No. A tired parent? Perhaps. But that article hits it right on the head. I know what I hope to do as a parent, but until I get in that game, it may all just be an illusion.
I know how my mother raised me, and I will probably do the same for my kids(when I have them!). We did not eat out often at all. That was a treat for good grades. I was sent outside to play. That is important to remember. When we were growing up we did not have computers, DVD's and all these new game systems. Most of us did not have Cable! I can remember having to get up to change the channel! LOL! It seems the problem is not just with what we are eating, but the fact we don't move - or play!
And here, I thought Cookie Monster was another victim of the Low Carb movement.
I completely agree with you. I am a new mother, but I won't blame having an overweight child on sesame street. To do that, I'd have to blame every TV show being broadcast.
I do have to admit some guilt to the whole eating out thing (for me personally - haven't encountered it yet since my baby was born). As it is I work 9 hours a day and when you tack on the commute, (Mt. Airy to Greenbelt) my work day becomes 12-13 hours depending on the traffic. I'm bushed when I get home. However, both DH and I try to cook on weekends and freeze things to throw in the microwave to eat most nights to minimize the impulse to eat junk.
I think we make children grow up too fast these days. I think we should encourage more exercise but I don't think children should not be allowed to eat sweets. Moderation in every thing is the key. I miss parts of my childhood and hope today's children will have something good to remember of theirs.
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