Cookie Monster is Not to Blame

My child is currently watching 'Super Why'.  This is a relatively new children's show as far as I'm aware and he likes it.  I am bitchy already and when I overheard some character on the show had lots their red basket with "lots of healthy snacks in it" I became irritated.

When I was a child, Cookie Monster ate cookies and I turned out fine.  I was not an obese child.  I'm a little bit of a chubby bunny now but this has nothing to do with Cookie Monster binging on cookies as it has to do with my sugar/carb/vodka/TV addictions.  None of which were fostered by Cookie Monster.  I was a skinny child.  My parents did not allow us Oreos, Kraft Dinner, any cereal except for Cornflakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios, Puffed Wheat and once in awhile we had Alpha-Bits.

They were not mean. We didn't have Oreos because my mom baked her ass off all of the time.  If I was eating cookies they were homemade.  And believe me, I ate cookies.  I snuck cookies like a motherf*cker.  I became the queen of stealth.  Macaroni & Cheese was also a homemade affair.  As was bread. Pancakes and french toast made from scratch.

Chips and pop were a treat once in awhile.  Not an everyday staple.

My point is, my parents made these decisions for us.  So even though Cookie Monster was on his way to Type 2 Diabetes my parents had the forethought not to let us eat only cookies.  I know, I'm as blown away as you are.

The kids watching Super Why or watching the new and improved Cookie Monster enjoy cookies as a "sometimes snack" have little choice as to what they are being fed.  What four year old is going to say: "No Thanks Mom, I'll pass on the cookies and enjoy some baby carrots instead.  The weird big headed kids on Super Why only eat healthy snacks and I want to be just like them." ?  This does not happen.

The kids who this kind of propaganda is geared towards have no choice in the matter.  They don't go grocery shopping.  It's not their choice to have juice in their bottle but they'll drink it.  And if you gave your child juice in a bottle, yes I'm judging you.  Just as your small child will be judged by every adult that gets a look at their rotted out front teeth.  Pop is even better.

Where has all the common sense gone?  I admit I lost a little of it myself.  My children seem to require more entertaining then I'm prepared to engage in.  Then I flashed back to my own childhood and being told, under no uncertain terms, to play outside.  And so I did, probably after whining, but I usually enjoyed myself.  It dawned on me, then, that I can make my kids go outside and play and not feel guilty about it.  Seems pretty simple but apparently I get caught up in more parental guilt than I'm aware.  Which is scary because I don't want to raise any assholes and that what happens when the Juniors of the world are entirely catered to and never made to do anything they don't want to do.

Yes, my children are allowed Oreos, on occasion (to be honest this is largely due to the fact that if we kept them in the house all of the time I would easily weigh 200 pounds).  Kraft Dinner on many occasions.  Chips and pop remain a sometimes treat.  I try to ensure vegetables are a part of their day, even if it's just some cut up cucumbers at supper.  I make some stuff from scratch but am nowhere the baker or cook my mother is.  We could do better, as a family, with our eating and continually try to do just that.  And not because Cookie Monster no longer eats cookies all of the time or because the weird big-headed kids on Super Why eat healthy snacks and the Wonder Pets prefer celery after saving the day. 

All of this wisdom shared it should be noted that the fair was in town this weekend and by the time we got home, I was the one with a stomachache after molesting a bag of cotton candy, enjoying a soft pretzel, a large lemonade, a medium Iced Tea, one dry rib (they were burnt) and a couple of mini donuts.

Those Super Why kids would be really disappointed but given my head is pretty much in proportion to my body (I have a big head, literally, hats are an issue) and theirs are not, I still win.