4 ms·

The comments by the parents to their children made me cringe. It's hard to read this and come away from it feeling that the problem is anything more than willf

The comments by the parents to their children made me cringe. It's hard to read this and come away from it feeling that the problem is anything more than willfully ignorant parents (healthy eating information isn't hard to come by), indolently wallowing in their lack of self-awareness and inconsistencies. In other words, normal people.

shaftoe 11y ago
The spaghettios and burritos comment rang true, however. Particularly for families with both parents working. I get how some people derive great pleasure from making a meal from scratch, but for people in a great hurry, it's one of many checkboxes. And time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time.
- bobloblaw02 11y ago
  > And time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time. Invite your kids into the kitchen. Teach them how to cook. Cooking can be some of the best quality family time if you make it a priority.
  - shaftoe 11y ago
    Totally agreed, but the fish sticks come out because dinner has to happen every single day, no matter what else has come up. As an example, I take my kids camping a few times a year. I show them all kinds of things, like how to stake a tent, how to make a fire safely, etc. If we had to do these things every single day just to cook and go to sleep, I suspect it would quickly devolve into running through the chores as quickly as possible while they stand to the side and poke at ant mounds with sticks. We do make healthy quality meals and involve the kids with what we're doing, but this is certainly not an every night thing. Often, it's much easier to simply find a way to solve the problem and move on.
    - moron4hire 11y ago
      If you had to do these things every day, you'd get better at them and the kids would get good enough at them that they could do some things without your direct supervision all the time and you'd get used to them that they wouldn't be a significant distraction from your day.
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  > time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time Teaching one's offspring what is and is not good to eat is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental task associated with raising young. It predates humanity by millions of years. If that is not "quality family time", I can't fathom what is.
- pbreit 11y ago
  It's frequently higher quality time than what is invariably the alternative.
archimedespi 11y ago
> It's hard to read this and come away from it feeling that the problem is anything more than willfully ignorant parents (healthy eating information isn't hard to come by), indolently wallowing in their lack of self-awareness and inconsistencies. > In other words, normal people. As much as this looks like a rude thing to say, (and it kind of is), it's really quite true and I've experienced similar things with various parents I've seen (thankfully not mine).
- hugh4 11y ago
  Isn't this whole thing just another case of the upper middle class sneering at the lower middle class for not being as educated, sophisticated and clever as we are? This time through the lens of dinner?
  - detaro 11y ago
    Where do you get that from? I don't really see that in the article. (And I bet many "upper middle class" families aren't exactly great about proper dinner together as well.)
  - archimedespi 11y ago
    Not really. I'm actually talking about upper middle class families in my comment, and it's more about how good food/eating education isn't available to lots of children because their parents have no idea about it, regardless of class.
  - WalterSear 11y ago
    It doesn't matter if your terrible diet came from Wholefoods or Walmart, whether it's organic or conventionally grown. There's a vast amount of lip service paid to to almost anything in the personal milieu that that involves the slightest forebearance, forethought or effort.

shaftoe 11y ago

The spaghettios and burritos comment rang true, however. Particularly for families with both parents working. I get how some people derive great pleasure from making a meal from scratch, but for people in a great hurry, it's one of many checkboxes. And time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time.

bobloblaw02 11y ago
> And time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time. Invite your kids into the kitchen. Teach them how to cook. Cooking can be some of the best quality family time if you make it a priority.
- shaftoe 11y ago
  Totally agreed, but the fish sticks come out because dinner has to happen every single day, no matter what else has come up. As an example, I take my kids camping a few times a year. I show them all kinds of things, like how to stake a tent, how to make a fire safely, etc. If we had to do these things every single day just to cook and go to sleep, I suspect it would quickly devolve into running through the chores as quickly as possible while they stand to the side and poke at ant mounds with sticks. We do make healthy quality meals and involve the kids with what we're doing, but this is certainly not an every night thing. Often, it's much easier to simply find a way to solve the problem and move on.
  - moron4hire 11y ago
    If you had to do these things every day, you'd get better at them and the kids would get good enough at them that they could do some things without your direct supervision all the time and you'd get used to them that they wouldn't be a significant distraction from your day.
fredkbloggs 11y ago
> time spent stirring a pot or slicing vegetables is hardly quality family time Teaching one's offspring what is and is not good to eat is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental task associated with raising young. It predates humanity by millions of years. If that is not "quality family time", I can't fathom what is.
pbreit 11y ago
It's frequently higher quality time than what is invariably the alternative.

archimedespi 11y ago

> It's hard to read this and come away from it feeling that the problem is anything more than willfully ignorant parents (healthy eating information isn't hard to come by), indolently wallowing in their lack of self-awareness and inconsistencies. > In other words, normal people. As much as this looks like a rude thing to say, (and it kind of is), it's really quite true and I've experienced similar things with various parents I've seen (thankfully not mine).

hugh4 11y ago
Isn't this whole thing just another case of the upper middle class sneering at the lower middle class for not being as educated, sophisticated and clever as we are? This time through the lens of dinner?
- detaro 11y ago
  Where do you get that from? I don't really see that in the article. (And I bet many "upper middle class" families aren't exactly great about proper dinner together as well.)
- archimedespi 11y ago
  Not really. I'm actually talking about upper middle class families in my comment, and it's more about how good food/eating education isn't available to lots of children because their parents have no idea about it, regardless of class.
- WalterSear 11y ago
  It doesn't matter if your terrible diet came from Wholefoods or Walmart, whether it's organic or conventionally grown. There's a vast amount of lip service paid to to almost anything in the personal milieu that that involves the slightest forebearance, forethought or effort.