We definitely have a problem in our children's national obesity crisis. We all have a duty to be thoughtful about the lifestyle habits we are communicating to our kids, the food and messages we give them. But can a cheeseburger make a difference?
McDonald's has just had its hand slapped by the Advertising Standards Bureau for marketing to children - by giving vouchers for a small cheeseburger meal to winners of the McDonald's Team Spirit Awards. They were redeemable at franchises around the venue, at the University of Sunshine Coast Basketball Club.
Not only this - they are serial offenders, having been censured in July for giving away free small chips vouchers at a playground in Shepparton. You're warned, McDonald's - three strikes and you're out!
But seriously, these kids - playing basketball and exploring an adventure playground - are the kind we want to encourage. It's the ones who sit home in front of the telly that need to be policed.
I always worry about simplistic solutions to complex problems. You're not going to solve obesity by shooting the messenger, even if he carries chips.
I was pleased to see a report by La Trobe University, run in this paper on Tuesday, called "Beyond the Bubble Wrap". It examined school children's frequency of getting out and walking to and from school.
In typical fuddy-duddy fashion I can commence this by saying, "In my day, no kids were ever driven to school by their parents". Then with my own kids came a period were every morning was spent in a queue of cars dropping them off at the schoolyard gate. Perhaps by now things are a little more balanced.
At nine years old, says the report, 14 per cent of children make their own way to school. By the time they are 15 it has grown to 50 per cent. Of course a lot of kids live in schools too far away for a morning hike and a car or bus is a necessity.
The Bubble Wrap survey looked closely at why parents were so protective. As you would guess, there is a percentage who will always worry when their child is anywhere without them - 18 per cent worried if their child was out without an adult. But a higher number - 48 per cent - worried about "stranger danger". That the child might be approached by a stranger. Which I actually find very sad, that they must be taught to be suspicious of anyone they haven't met.
The irony is that children are approached by strangers all the time - on their computers. Games and applications are always accompanied by a simple questionnaire which drinks in the information the children are willing to give to the friendly face on the screen. Their likes and habits are picked up and used to advertise products which will appeal to them.
This of course is the kind of research that Google and Facebook rely on - that has gleaned them rewards of billions dollars and dominance of the advertising industry.
So the only time our children have to be themselves is on that quiet morning walk to school.
Encourage it.
