October 23, 2006
Stick it to those who would meddle in our everyday affairs!
From: [Person A]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 7:05 AM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
Online poll: http://www.ctv.ca/canadaam
Should all schools ban junk food?
Yes
No
How will kids ever learn to make the right decisions on healthy eating if they never make a decision in school until they are adults?!?!? While I support the promotion of healthy options, I think it's silly and excessive to ban "junk food."
-[person A]
*************
From: [Person B]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 18, 2006 3:45:52 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
At the same time, how can you expect children or teenagers to be responsible enough to make such decisions? That's like giving children the right to make the decision to drop out of school if they should so choose. They can't be trusted to make the right decisions yet. Ban the junk food.
*************
From: [Person A]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 4:05 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
--- In cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com, "[person B]" wrote:
>>At the same time, how can you expect children or teenagers to be responsible enough to make such decisions?
We do something that has become almost unheard of in schools - hang on to your hat - we TEACH them. If you don't think they're responsible enough to learn how to eat properly, then we may have good arguments for banning access to junk food everywhere always, for mandating that kids must always be driven to school, or supervised for every single second of the day, etc.
-[person A]
************
From: [Person B]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 18, 2006 4:49:50 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
I just don't trust a kid to make the right nutritional choices on their own. When I look around, as well as at the statistics, I see rising obesity rates in all demographic groups, but ESPECIALLY amongst children. Don't you think that by giving them access to only healthy foods we will teach them to eat healthier in general? I agree that we should also be teaching them about eating healthy, but we should also be removing access to junk food in schools as well. It's in their best interest as well as in the interest of society. This problem is approaching the crisis point. Go to a school and look around.
*************
From: [Person C]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 19, 2006 8:48:45 AM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
When I read your first post, I consoled myself by hoping that you were joking, but since you clearly aren't...
I actually do go to schools and look around once a week, since I spend my Fridays volunteering in high schools. Do you know what I see? I see overweight kids, yeah, but I also see athletic kids, average-sized kids and borderline anorexic kids (who could stand to eat a couple bags of chips, quite frankly). It's pretty representative of the population, if you ask me.
The only way to ensure that kids are going to be healthy is to have parents - let me emphasize this - parents - teaching them from a young age what constitutes a healthy diet, and exposing them to as many different kinds of food as possible, and to teach them about proper portioning (which, in my opinion, is a much bigger cause of obesity than the presence of junk food in diets), and encouraging them to get out and exercise rather than just sitting in front of a TV or computer all night (although sometimes doing that is cool, too).
Of course kids can't be trusted to make good nutritional choices - that's why they're kids. But they're going to find a way to make bad choices (on just about everything, not just food), no matter what anyone tells them, be it the government, their teachers, or parents - that is why they're kids. And of course they're not always going to make the right choices, but hey, neither do adults.
Bad choices are how we learn. People are going to make them sooner rather than later, and the whole point of being a kid is about getting the big ones out of the way.
- [person C]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 7:05 AM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
Online poll: http://www.ctv.ca/canadaam
Should all schools ban junk food?
Yes
No
How will kids ever learn to make the right decisions on healthy eating if they never make a decision in school until they are adults?!?!? While I support the promotion of healthy options, I think it's silly and excessive to ban "junk food."
-[person A]
*************
From: [Person B]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 18, 2006 3:45:52 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
At the same time, how can you expect children or teenagers to be responsible enough to make such decisions? That's like giving children the right to make the decision to drop out of school if they should so choose. They can't be trusted to make the right decisions yet. Ban the junk food.
*************
From: [Person A]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 4:05 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
--- In cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com, "[person B]" wrote:
>>At the same time, how can you expect children or teenagers to be responsible enough to make such decisions?
We do something that has become almost unheard of in schools - hang on to your hat - we TEACH them. If you don't think they're responsible enough to learn how to eat properly, then we may have good arguments for banning access to junk food everywhere always, for mandating that kids must always be driven to school, or supervised for every single second of the day, etc.
-[person A]
************
From: [Person B]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 18, 2006 4:49:50 PM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
I just don't trust a kid to make the right nutritional choices on their own. When I look around, as well as at the statistics, I see rising obesity rates in all demographic groups, but ESPECIALLY amongst children. Don't you think that by giving them access to only healthy foods we will teach them to eat healthier in general? I agree that we should also be teaching them about eating healthy, but we should also be removing access to junk food in schools as well. It's in their best interest as well as in the interest of society. This problem is approaching the crisis point. Go to a school and look around.
*************
From: [Person C]
Reply-To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: October 19, 2006 8:48:45 AM
To: cyf-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: (cyf-talk) Capitalists, Libertarians, & fellow junk food junkies unite!
When I read your first post, I consoled myself by hoping that you were joking, but since you clearly aren't...
I actually do go to schools and look around once a week, since I spend my Fridays volunteering in high schools. Do you know what I see? I see overweight kids, yeah, but I also see athletic kids, average-sized kids and borderline anorexic kids (who could stand to eat a couple bags of chips, quite frankly). It's pretty representative of the population, if you ask me.
The only way to ensure that kids are going to be healthy is to have parents - let me emphasize this - parents - teaching them from a young age what constitutes a healthy diet, and exposing them to as many different kinds of food as possible, and to teach them about proper portioning (which, in my opinion, is a much bigger cause of obesity than the presence of junk food in diets), and encouraging them to get out and exercise rather than just sitting in front of a TV or computer all night (although sometimes doing that is cool, too).
Of course kids can't be trusted to make good nutritional choices - that's why they're kids. But they're going to find a way to make bad choices (on just about everything, not just food), no matter what anyone tells them, be it the government, their teachers, or parents - that is why they're kids. And of course they're not always going to make the right choices, but hey, neither do adults.
Bad choices are how we learn. People are going to make them sooner rather than later, and the whole point of being a kid is about getting the big ones out of the way.
- [person C]
