Blog entry 8: Final mid-term revision

Parents are responsible to control what their kids eat. I believe this because no child including myself has raised, clothed, or fed them self. The parents or guardians are the role models and are the ones that teach the child its eating habits. In general most parents, like mine, are knowledgeable about the negative health effects of eating fast food. In "Chapter 2: Your trusted friends" in Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser talks about the marketing and advertising strategies that manipulated children into nagging their parents for products. However the parents have total economic control. If you do not regulate what your child eats there certainly will be consequences down the line.

The parents being a role model in the child's life plays a large part of their eating habits and behaviors. They take care of their child until the age that they can do it themselves. They instill in the child the practices such as eating habits and eating behaviors that the child will use later in life. These behaviors are how much they eat when they eat and the portions they eat. The parents are the ones that promote what foods are healthy and foods are not healthy to eat.

Parents have more knowledge of what is good or bad to eat then their children. For starters they have been alive longer and had more experiences then the child. Through these experiences the parents are wiser and should know what is best for their children. Parents have more information about heart disease, diabetes, and obesity that is directly linked to eating poorly and unhealthy fast foods. A good example is my parents would tell me how bad McDonalds is every time I asked for it and would not let me have it.

  In "Chapter 2: Your trusted Friends" in Fast Food Nation the author Eric Schlosser talks about American companies directing their marketing towards children. Stating the bulk of advertising to children has an immediate goal. It is giving them a specific reason to ask for these products. These companies spend millions each year marketing products to children. However the parents have the economic control over what they buy for their child and the ultimate say at the end of the day. A lot of parents work and sometimes don't have time to cook dinner but there are a lot of healthy alternatives to fast food. They choose how they are going to spend the money, for either a healthy meal or a McDonalds happy meal.

In conclusion when I think about the fast food industry and all their marketing and selling tactics it is really the parents responsibility for what their kids eat. The parents are the role models and show their child its eating habits and behaviors. The parents have more knowledge about the food they eat, and are the ones that have the economic control on what to spend their money on. These fast food companies are not holding a gun to your head saying "eat it, or else!” It is ultimately up to the consumer or for this matter the consumer’s parents.