I have long been a fan of an amazing and wonderful organization called the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. It seems that every time there is positive movement in the kids’ entertainment world (such as Disney’s admission that Baby Einstein is not educational), the CCFC is behind it.
Their latest missive to their supporters is about Food Day, something I hadn’t heard of before. It sounds like a great idea that many parents could learn from. From CCFC:
CCFC is proud to be a supporter of the first annual Food Day! We hope you’ll join us today in celebrating the power and possibility of food as we work to create a healthy food culture. Here are four great ways to get involved:
1. From potlucks to film screenings to special farmers’ markets, there are thousands of Food Day events around the country today. Visit foodday.org to find an event near you.
2. Cook with your kids! Check out these great Food Day recipes: http://foodday.org/why-eat-real/recipes.php
3. Take a stand for children. Join our friends at Corporate Accountability International in telling McDonald’s to stop junk food marketing to kids.
4. Tell Congress to support the Eat Real Agenda, a six-point plan to fix America’s broken food system including ending junk food marketing to children. You can read the entire agenda and send a message to Congress by visiting Moms Rising’s website.
I wish we didn’t have to have a “food day” in this country. Wouldn’t it be great if people just understood how to eat? If parents taught their kids healthy eating habits that they’d learned from their parents? Unfortunately, somewhere along the way our culture lost this essential parent-to-child transmission. There are kids out there being raised by people who never ate home-cooked meals, and who have no idea that their health problems stem directly from the “food products” that were marketed to them in lieu of real, wholesome cooking.
It’s time our country fixed this problem. We’ve fixed plenty of other problems, so it seems like this one, which is really only about fifty years in the making, should be pretty easy to undo.
The problem is, the money is on the other side. And in this country, money is speech. Money is power. Money is why when you’re in the grocery store trying to buy real ingredients to make into real food, all your kids notice is Spongebob on the salty, fatty, nutrition-free product on the next shelf.
All parents owe a debt to people who spend their lives yelling at people who have no interest in listening to their message, except when it comes pre-lubricated with campaign donations. Every day is Food Day in my house, and it may be in yours as well. But pass this on, in case this information can change the lives of other children in your community.
