This afternoon I took my two sons to the barber shop to get their haircut. The gentleman cutting my 14-year old’s hair kept up some friendly chatter. I heard him ask my son what kind of music he liked. “Hmm,” he said. “I like Spanish classical guitar.” The barber stopped his snipping mometarily.

“Spanish classical guitar? You mean, like, flamenco?”

“No, like Segovia,” came the response.

The barber was very surprised, but pleasantly so. “What else?” he prodded. “Mozart?”

“Yep,” said my son. “I also really like Beethoven and Bach.”

The barber looked around in silent amazement. It made me wonder what other boys had replied to such questions? You’d think my son was from Mars or something. The barber wasn’t snobby or anything, just extremely surprised at my young son’s seemingly mature tastes.

As a kid, I grew up liking what everyone else liked, mostly because, well, because everyone else liked it. I guess the peer pressure never really allowed me to be ME, you know what I mean? I have been trying to make sure my kids have the freedom to be themselves, not what is spoon-fed to them. It’s not easy! But it all got me to thinking. And I spent the rest of the afternoon musing on what fodder our kids are generally spoon-fed from an early age. I grew up with Captain Kangaroo and Howdy Doody and Mr. Rogers. They were corny shows, but they were witty and at least they didn’t treat children like stupid, silly idiots. I recently saw “The Ice Age” and some other “just for kids” movies with my children, and I have been appalled at the lame, insipid prattle being passed off as movies today. What’s happening? And what’s been influencing our young kids in this post-modern culture?

*BRITNEY*
(I tried to find a picture of her, but couldn’t find anything that wasn’t porn).

OK, Elmo is really cute but he’s about as smart as a box of rocks.

Hm. So I ask again, why does our modern culture treat kids like they are stupid idiots?

Mommies Home has a great article on getting kids to eat vegetables. Like her, some of my kids were pretty fussy eaters when they were young, but a few of them were not. At around age 11, all my kids ate just about anything set in front of them (sometimes under duress, lol). I just didn’t serve much else besides the ikky healthy stuff, and they learned that unless they ate what I gave them, they were going to go hungry. Now, they eat eggplant, zucchini, bean soup (which I hate), and they’ll even eat peas if I threaten loudly enough. But the key, I think, was giving the children no other choice. We rarely ever go to McDonald’s (maybe once a year or two), rarely eat out (maybe once or twice a year). We do eat take-out Chinese (more vegetables!) and we do eat pizza. But overall, I think the kids eat very, very well. And since we grow our own food in the summer, that’s basically all we eat– vegetables.

But the Mommies Home article made me think, espcecially when she asked:

But with the fast food culture, and many children fixed on chicken nuggets, hot dogs and mac and cheese, how do you get them to get to the recommended amount?

That’s it right there– the fast food culture.

If you are an Entrecarder like me, you no doubt have seen all those Asian blogs, where the bloggers are always talking about their food. And what kinds of foods are they always talking about? Rice, fruits, and vegetables! And what do American and Canadian bloggers blog about when they discuss food? Chocolate, diet soda, fast food, and diet pills. I think the difference between the two is very telling.

So the idea that children are fussy eaters because they are children is an illusion. Our culture has a lot of influence of our health, for better or for worse. And I think in our Western culture, it’s for the worse.

Our food industry is bankrolled by those who have more concern for their bottom dollar than public health. Just look at this propaganda piece made by the high-fructose corn syrup lobbyists.

What a disgusting ad, as if we are just a bunch of idiotic peons who don’t know what’s good for us. And to rebut the ad that says HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is fine “in moderation,” well that’s just an outright lie. We all know that no American gets HFCS in “moderation.” That poison is everywhere, and in everything. But they treat us as if we are tongue-tied idiots. Grr.

So no wonder kids are fussy, fat, and sick all the time. Really, we need to start growing our own food, don’t you think?