Do You Know What Your Kids Are Eating?

I just read an article from the Wall Street Journal online that I find particularly disturbing. The title is Stimulus Plan for Candy: Pack It Full of Caffeine, by Katy McLaughlin. Before plunging into the article let me share an insight about energy drinks.

Our program has three after school components, high school, middle school, and elementary. On those days when I gather with our high school kids - especially the boys - I am reminded of how much they crave caffeinated energy drinks. Granted, they have sat in school for 6+ hours and they need to get out and be active, and let me assure you, this group in particular is active. Yet, the way the clamor to the energy drink section at the local convenient store is shocking. I have never been a real fan of energy drinks, especially when used merely for a recreational energy boost - my way of saying "getting an energy high." Before stopping off for snacks the general discussion is fairly excitable, but in a controlled, letting off some steam way. Once these drinks are ingested the level of interaction often becomes manic. The affect is much like a roller-coaster suddenly skipping off it's track while maintaining it's speed and momentum. Before the direction was predictable, now the only certainty is that someone is going to slam full speed into something or someone else.

Now we have the advent of caffeinated candy! I don't know about you but this sounds like the worst idea since WKRP in Cincinnati decided to drop live turkeys out of a helicopter. The article begins this way,

The candy industry is rolling out new sweets packed with more than just sugar.

Buzz-inducing candy, spiked with caffeine and, often, vitamins, are the low-growth, $29 billion U.S. candy, gum and chocolate industry's answer to surging competition from energy drinks. And just like those beverages, the caffeine-infused candy often sports a controversial name that critics say evokes illegal drugs.

Boy, that's just what I want my children and the youth in our town to get a hold of, candy with names like "Crackheads" which contains 120 milligrams of caffeine (about = to an 8 oz. cup of coffee) and has the added bonus of allowing our kids to talk like they're drug addicts.

The article points out that candy companies and energy drink makers are going to great lengths to associate their product with street drugs. Recently, Redux Beverages re-introduced their product Cocaine Energy Drink. Originally pulled from the market because the FDA had problems with the drink being offered as an alternative to cocaine, the company has since brought it back using the same name.

Redux founder Jamey Kirby says in the article that in the saturated energy-drink market, it takes unique marketing to stand out. "Everyone from 15- to 60-year-olds who has a bit of a sense of humor thinks it is funny," he says. I have a great sense of humor (or else I couldn't work with teens and children) but I have to admit that I fail to see the humor that Kirby says everyone else gets. Somebody help me here.

My wife and I are at present thoroughly evaluating our diet and the kinds of foods we place before our children. What I am learning is that it is very difficult to eat healthy in our society without serious diligence. And what is available is almost cost prohibitive to someone without an NBA salary.

My aim with this article is not to try and sell you on the virtue of a sugar-free, non-empty calorie diet. What I am trying to do is implore our parents and children to talk; engage in a constructive dialogue about everything - even something as innocuous as candy and beverage choices. Do not settle for allowing your child to say, "my day was cool, or okay." Explore with him or her why they said what they did. This is not going to be new advice for many people, but I am not willing assume that it is advice that's heeded. We live in a time when the line between what is acceptable, permissible, profane, and illegal is blurring rapidly and somebody is going to have these conversations with your children, and my prayer is that it will be the parents.

Use every opportunity to talk about... stuff. If there is one benefit to spending so much time in a car it's that you have time to talk. Ask your child to unplug from his Ipod and tell you what he thinks about... I'll let you fill in the blank. However, don't assume she isn't interested or aware of what's going on in your community. If you've read the morning paper ask her opinion about something. My guess is that you might be blown away by her prescience on a given topic. Simply asking shows you care about what she thinks.

Why not ask him what he thinks about adding caffeine to candy bars? Personally, I think this is a great topic for discussion. I for one will not accept that one of my children chooses to eat Crackheads followed by a Cocaine Energy Drink chaser without some serious dialogue. Of course, I'll have to wait until he or she falls off the ceiling first.

Shalom,
Graham