Selling Unhealthy Food to Kids

Full disclosure: I have two boxes of Scooby Doo-themed Gogurt in my fridge right now. Actually, make that one-and-a-half boxes. The boys hit those pretty hard today.

According to a new study, it's quite possible that my boys chose that yogurt because Scooby Doo was on the box. Knowing my boys, I absolutely concur. They're good, price-conscious shoppers, but given the choice to choose their own yogurt, they choose the Scooby Doo version over tubs of Dannon every time. And if you read the small print on the side of those Gogurt boxes, you know that the wildly colored product inside is not exactly a health food, despite yogurt's healthy reputation.

My boys' ability to be swayed by cartoon packaging is, unfortunately, all too common and entirely known to marketers. It's also having a detrimental effect on our children's health. According to a Pediatrics study published online June 21, boys and girls ages four to six said food tasted better when it came from a cartoon-enhanced package. Is it any wonder our children are selecting Trix yogurt and SpongeBob Cheez-Its?

Some, including study author Christina Roberto, are drawing parallels between Joe Camel of the past and snack cartoons of the present. I think they've got a valid point.

I've expressed my concerns about McDonald's marketing tactics before. And while I'm not entirely sure about the tactics, I don't disagree with the sentiment behind the Center for Science in the Public Interest's threat to sue McDonald's if the fast food purveyor does not remove toys from all future Happy Meals. Let's face it: If not for those toys, my kids would have chosen Happy Meals far less often. Often, my kids ordered Happy Meals solely because they wanted the toy. And while McDonald's rightly claims to offer healthy choices, my kids, like most, are well aware that Happy Meals come with fries or apple slices -- and that fries are the preferable choice.

Yes, I could put my foot down. I could insist on apple slices. I could boycott McDonald's and I refuse to buy any food branded with a cartoon character. But that doesn't change the fact that there's something inherently wrong with a bunch of marketers strategizing ways to attract kids to unhealthy goods.

That's my opinion. What's yours?

Life with Boys

Am I the only boy-mom who doesn't swoon at the sight of little girls clothes?

I know quite a few moms of boys who wish they'd had a daughter -- not because they yearn for the mother-daughter bond but because they dreamed of dressing a little girl in cute frilly dresses. Like this mom.

When I walk through a mall, though, and see the clothing options available to today's young girls, I'm GLAD I have sons! My sons can get away with a Tshirt and jeans for almost every occasion, and I never, ever have to worry about the length of their skirts or clothing that has "Eye Candy" emblazoned across the butt. My boys are so clueless about clothing that I can place hand-me down clothes in their drawer and the boys will wear some of those hand-me downs, oh, 5 times before looking down one day and asking, "Where'd I get this shirt?"

But let's revisit the girl-clothing-swoooning mama up above. I might not share her fetish for all things pink, but I can definitely relate to her life. I haven't given my boys my wooden dollhouse, but I can totally picture my boys destroying one in less than 10 minutes. And when she talks about her son, who still calls all women "Mama" but correctly identifies cars, trucks and trains, my heart sings with recognition.

As a women, I will never quite understand my sons' predisposition toward guns and trucks and farts. As a mom, though, I'm having a great time exploring their world.

Creativity at Work

Ever notice how a boy's best "toy" is his imagination? Leave a boy alone with time, materials and space, and he'll find something to do. (Maybe after complaining he's bored for a half hour or so, but eventually, he'll find something to do!)

One of our two red wagons gave out a few weeks ago. After being left out in a rain, oh, 100 times too many, the wooden bottom finally gave way. Boy #2 removed the bottom and replaced it with a piece of plywood to make a racer.

That was a pretty cool invention, but nowhere near as cool as what he and his friend dreamed up today. Today, they realized that most of the original base was salvageable, the only the bottom piece was affected. So they tore out the bottom and replaced it with a different piece of wood, leaving the slightly built-up side pieces intact. They also added a spoiler on the back because, well, they're boys.

They worked for hours. They used hammers, nails, wood stain (to color the spoiler), drills (with adult supervision), nuts and bolts. And they are 100% completely satisfied with their creation. In the words of Boy #2, "Today was the best Thursday ever!"

I wanted to include pics, I really did. But my camera ran out of batteries just as I was getting ready to download -- and there are no more AA batteries in the house. That'll happen in a house of boys!

Pics -- and reflection -- to come later.

Snapshot Sunday: Playdough and Trucks

Snapshot Sunday: Organization

For some reason, Boy #4 likes to line his machines up just so. I currently have a line of machines in my bedroom. He has a line of machines along the rug in his room. And his "outside machines" are lined up in the snow. :)

So THIS Is Why my Toy Room is Filled with Tonka Trucks!

I started down the Path of Parenthood with few, if any, toys. We got a stuffed Tigger for our oldest son's birth, but that was about it. Twelve years and four boys later, our toy room is a stereotypical boy haven.

In one corner, Tonka trucks and farm toys. In another, wooden blocks and Lincoln logs. Matchbox cars litter the floor and toy guns peek out from the toy box. Random dinosaurs, poker chips and action figures -- not to mention light sabers and train tracks -- complete the look.

I did not intend to have this many boy toys. And, to be fair, my boys have played with some "girly" toys as well. They loved Care Bears. They liked the Winx club. We even have dolls and a plastic babycare center.

Overwhelmingly, though, their toys scream, "male!" Is it because I unconsciously push my boys toward boy toys, or because of their own innate preferences?

A new study suggests that hormones are to blame. Researchers measured testosterone and estrogen levels of three- to four-month-old babies; they also used eye-tracking software to guage the babies' level of interest in a doll vs. a ball. The results indicate that babies with higher testosterone levels prefer the ball.

What do you think? Do you think boys show a natural inclination toward "boy toys?"

Gun Play and Boys: Yay or Nay?

After I wrote about the contents of our toyroom, another boy mama wrote in with a question:

OMG! My son just (to my horror!) discovered ... guns! It's a total fixation since we were visiting another pal of mine with an older boy. I'm hoping it passes. I'm a big fan of gun control ... even the toys ones. Any advice for steering a 3 yr old away from the firearms?

She reminds me of me eight short (or is that long?) years ago.

Our oldest son was three, and up to that point, we'd sheltered him from toy guns. I grew up in a no-toy-gun household, even though I had four brothers; our squirt guns were animals or empty syrup bottles, never miniature guns. My husband was a former Marine (and an excellent shot), but I saw no need for my son to PLAY with something meant to cause death and destruction.

Then we moved into our house. The house came with excellent neighbors, but with the neighbors came toy guns. My son loved them -- the neighbors AND the guns.)

What was I to do? If I banned toy guns all together, my son would be left out of most neighborhood games. (Did I mention the high boy population in my neighborhood?) And even if I banned them, the damage was done: he'd seen the guns and he wanted one.

My husband -- a former boy himself -- advised me to not make it a big deal. Make it big deal, he said, and you'll only make things worse.

So I nervously watched while my innocent child played guns. I drafted an essay about his fascination with guns, and breathed a sigh of relief a few days later when I wrapped it up: After days of intense interest, the plastic gun lay forgotten next to the toy box while my son once again watched Elmo.

If only I was to be so lucky.

That same son is now 11, and his favorite channel on TV is the Military Channel. Guns are no longer his weapon of choice; he'd much rather wield a light saber when saving the world. He does, however, have a BB gun and pellet gun and enjoys shooting targets in the garage.

So no -- I don't have any advice for steering a three-year-old away from guns. I do have some reassuring words, though. A fascination with guns does not mean your son is going to turn into a crazed homicidal maniac. It doesn't mean that your son is someday going to shoot up his school. It doesn't even mean he'll become a hunter.

Lest you think I'm making this up, the research backs me up on this one:

• Gun play helps boys learn the difference between real violence and fantasy violence. So says a study published in the American Journal of Play. Boys, as we've discussed before, are biologically prone to aggression. Pretend gun play gives them a chance to experiment with aggression and power without actually hurting anyone. It also gives them the chance to play the hero.



• Playing with guns helps boys develop a sense of their masculinity. I know -- I'm doubtful about this one too. But the author of the same study suggests that "boys' play with guns is in, part, an important test or proof of their masculinity."



• Gun play helps boys process real violence. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, co-author of, Who's Calling the Shots?: How to Respond Effectively to Children's Fascination with War Play and War Toys, says,"If parents 'ban' gun play, they run the risk of cutting off a valuable vehicle children need for processing the violence [because] kids use their play to make meaning of what they have expereienced in life, and in this case, of the violence they have seen." (Which can include everything from cartoons to TV shows, video games and books.)

What do you think? Do you think playing with guns inspires violence? What's the gun control policy at your house?

Creation

"The opposite of war isn't peace; it's creation."
-- La Vie Boheme, from the musical Rent

Yesterday my husband ran over a remote for a remote-controlled car. The case was cracked open just enough that the boys could see the chip inside -- and they were inspired.

"I think I could build an RC car with that," Son #2 told me.

(Apparently, they overestimate my husband's electrical abilities by just a little.)

Today, the remote was gone, but Son #3 correctly surmised that without a remote, the car is just a car. He asked if we could take it apart.

We've taken things apart before and had a ball. Last fall, we had a collection of broken things we dissected: an old popcorn popper, a hand-held vaccuum and a vaporizer. We'd been reading about motors, so it was fascinating for the boys to discover the mini-motors inside. And of course, they relish the chance to smash apart just about anything.

In the current issue of Home Education Magazine, Nancy Walters has a great article called "Nurturing Destructive Tendencies." Walters did a similar activity with her homeschool group, unloading a bunch of broken appliances and setting the kids loose with screwdrivers and other tools.

But while boys enjoy destruction for destruction's sake (c'mon -- it IS kind of cool to see how things fly apart when you whack them with a hammer!), the true learning I saw this morning involved CREATION.

Sons #2 and 3 hunched over the pile of parts, eyes alert, looking for anything they might use to make something else. Son #3 was rescuing the seats and wheels, to use to craft another car. Son #2 ran off and got the motor he'd saved from the vaporizer.

The motor didn't work while in the vaporizer; years of mineral build up prevented it from turning freely. Once we had it apart, though, we discovered that it still worked.

So today, Son #2 rummaged through the pile of plastic parts, combined pieces from the RC car with the vaporizer motor and experimented with lift and flight. He managed to attach a blade to the top of the motor that, he said, was almost powerful enough to lift it into the air.

This was the child who spent yesterday moping around the house, moaning that "there's nothing to do." Today, with a pile of junk in front of him, his eyes were glowing with curiosity and connection.

The car, BTW, was one that Son #3 received as a Christmas present. Not even six months ago.

I suppose I could have yelled at him. I suppose I could have chastised him for being careless with his toys. But here's the thing: it was his toy, given as a gift. What he decides to do with it from there (aside for hurting others or destroying their possessions) is really up to him.

Besides, the fun we had with it today was worth way more than the original $12 pricetag.

Not as Smart as Cats

My husband and boys purchased a cheap red laser pointer this weekend. It was advertised as "fun for pets," and they imagined the cats going crazy over it. "It'll be good exercise for the cats," they told me.

Except that our cats, apparently, did not get that memo. Our cats were -- how to put this politely? -- less than interested. They glanced at the red dot and simply went about their business.

My boys, on the other hand, consider this laser pointer to be the best toy ever made. While the cats lie contentedly beneath the wood stove, Son #2 is flashing the pointer all over the house while Son #1 (the 11-yr-old) pounces all over it.

This game has been going on for 24 hours.

Someone, it seems, is getting exercise, but it's not the cats!

The Rice Box

This, my friends, is our rice box. It's the newest addition to our playtime stash and a huge hit with the boys, especially Boy #4, my tractor-and-truck-loving 3-yr-old.

As you can see, it's pretty simple: just a big plastic container filled with rice. In this case, 20 lbs. of rice. (At least that's what it was initially. I'm willing to bet we're down to 18 lbs. or so at present!)

I won't pretend it was my idea. I got the idea when Boy #4 visited a friend a week or so ago came home all excited about their "rice box." The friend's Mom explained the concept to me, and since we were headed to the grocery store anyway, I figured, why not?

Within minutes of coming home, I'd dumped the rice into the container (which we already had), and a few seconds after that, all the boys descended on it. Everyone, from the oldest to the youngest, enjoys playing with it.

Yes, it's messy. But it's also easy to clean up, and for the fun they've had with it, totally worth it. Cheap, easy, multi-sensory and imaginative -- my kind of plaything!

Classic Toys

We exchanged toys today.

To prevent boredom (or at least keep it at bay), the bulk of the toys are stored in the basement while a select bunch are in active rotation upstairs. Every few months or so, we put some of the "old," now-boring toys in the basement and bring up some even-older but now-exciting toys.

To paraphrase Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings, today was that day.

Down went the plastic kitchen, the dinosaurs and the blocks. Up came the Lincoln logs, Bob the Builder machines and some random cars. In 15 minutes or so, we'd managed to perform a mini-toy overhaul.

The beauty of the toy-switch, of course, is that the boys are then happily engaged for at least half an hour. And sure enough, just before noon, I looked around the house and saw: Boy #4, above, playing with playdough and Bob the Builder. Boy #3, playing with Legos. Boy #2 was building an elaborate fort the Lincoln logs, and Boy #1 was exploring on the computer in Civilization.

And it hit me: those are all classic toys. Playdough. Lincoln Logs. Legos. Even Civilization, one of Sid Meier's famous games, is considered a classic in the world of computer gaming.

What other toys would you consider classic boy toys?

Simple Things

Today, my boys' favorite toys are yarn, clay and plastic cups.

They have spent hours wrapping each other in yarn and creating intricate "spider-webs" all around the house. The sounds of their laughter tickle my heart as I see the joy they've unleashed with their imaginations. Simple thread -- yet to my boys, it's all the need for active and creative play.

Same thing with the clay and plastic cups. I came downstairs after my shower to the sound of something crashing into the cups and cups cascading to the floor. The game? Bowling. My eight-year-old and five-year-old had gathered a bunch of our plastic cups and arranged them on the dining room table, bowling-pin style. Then, using the clay they'd been messing with all morning (previously, the clay had been a "snowman"), they crafted a "bowling ball." And again, with their imaginations, created an indoor bowling alley far cheaper than those they coveted in a Christmas catalogs.

Boxes are another long-time favorite. Boxes have been everything from snowmobiles to forts to rocket ships. (I will never forget my then-three-year-old's disappointment when his "rocket' failed to launch after his 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 countdown.)

Of course, my sons take part in more technological pleasures as well. They LOVE playing Command and Conquer on the computer and spend hours playing Star Wars Legos on their Wii. But sometimes, the simple things are best.