[thechat] Jan 18 peace march

[Erika Meyer]

Martin wrote, then Adrian responded:

>>  I do *not* want him at age 16 months start to learn that McDonalds is
>>  the axiomatic place for children to go to.
>
>then educate him otherwise... if you think he'll be shielded from
>branding and marketing messages for any length of time, you're
>kidding yourself... it's your job as a parent to frame it properly
>and to guide his decisions...


<sarcasm>yes!!! Everyone loves free parenting advice!M</sarcasm>

this mirrors exactly my current battle with the minivan moms.  I am
Martin, Adrian is the minivan mom.  (You'd never have guessed, would
you?)

Adrian, some of us think schools should be one of the places where
children are taught BY EXAMPLE which is the strongest way that
children learn.

Basically, I guess it comes down to we have to tell our kids we are
living on the fringes of society because we don't think McDonalds is
appropriate nutrition and we don't think Coca Cola is a healthy
drink.  We really aren't so much on the fringes, it's just we haven't
been as heavily brainwashed as the mainstream.

McDonalds doesn't need to come into school to pry into a child's
brain.  It was the first "brand" Brook recognized, and she attended
vegetarian preschools.  We started having cross-branding discussions
when she was four and saw the disney stuff on McDonalds windows.

Kids want to be like their peers, they worship their teachers as well
as their parents.  I think the teachers and schools have a
responsibility to model appropriate and thoughtful behavior.  This
does not include lesson in how to become a bovine herd animal (and
eat them too!).  McDonalds-appreciation isn't the only lesson in
bovine behavior, it's just one of the more disgusting ones.

Those of you who think we're trying to keep our kids "pure" are
missing it.  (If I was like that she'd be at monessori or waldorf
school or homeschooled).  We just want to keep the schools a bit more
of a sanctuary than the street, than the TV way of thinking.

http://www.cokewatch.org/

I keep getting this image from Sunday school of Jesus throwing the
marketers out of the temple... or something like that.  School should
be a safe and healthy place, not a place where we sell-out our
children.  I know it happens but we can still fight it.  In some
places, parents have fought to the point that kids are actually being
fed healthy foods, locally grown stuff, even organic... it's rare but
the NY times recently had an article about these efforts.

Should we be selling the kids porn at school?  That might go over
well with middle school and high school.   I mean at some point there
are boundaries.  The fighting point is where do we set them and upon
what grounds.


Erika

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