Dear @BowlCanada, Selling Chocolate Should Not Be A Prerequisite For A Child To Play In Your Leagues

This is not the first time someone has shared the story of a kids' sports league that requires junk food fundraising, but it may be the first time that the league's program coordinator explicitly stated that the child of a parent willing to pay a bit more instead of being stuck selling $50 of chocolate wouldn't be welcome.

I've said it before and will say it again, our food culture is broken and junk food fundraising is just one small aspect of that, and when you question social norms, no matter how broken they might be, don't be surprised when you get pushback. But damn, it's depressing.

Here is the redacted email exchange I was forwarded

Parent:

Hello,

My kids’ dad signed our child up for bowling and is telling me I have to sell half of these chocolates.

I asked for information and the lane said that Bowl Canada mandates this.

So I have a few things to ask.

I’ve noticed that General Mills is a sponsor. Do they make the chocolates and are they the party that is behind this arrangement?

Why chocolate when we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic? Especially for an organization encouraging health? There are all sorts of fundraisers. If given the chance I would gladly purchase fresh vegetables through Peak of the Market, for example.

Also, why not give parents the option of giving a donation for tax deductible purposes rather than making them buy a bunch of poor quality chocolate that is probably connected to child labour? You’d still cover the costs you are hoping for.

Bowl Canada Program Coordinator

Dear [Redacted],

We are happy to hear that your child will be registering for bowling this season! Yes, Youth Bowl Canada has one official fundraiser each year and our tried and true method of raising funds, to help keep costs down for families, is the sale of chocolates.

Every two years, Youth Bowl Canada considers proposals from many companies offering an array of products, with various levels of monetary return which benefits all levels of bowling in Canada. Chocolate companies can repeatedly offered the best deal to not only bowling, but to schools, community clubs, etc.

General Mills was a sponsor of Bowl Canada last year, however it was simply a free game of bowling offer on select food products in stores. They have not wished to quote on our fundraisers in the past.

I hope I have addressed your concerns. Please feel free to reply should you have any further questions.

Parent

Hi [Redacted].

Thanks for your quick response. My understanding is, then, that these chocolate sales are mandatory if we want our kids in bowling. Is that correct?

If not correct, if this fundraiser is optional, no big deal; I don’t have to take part in something I find morally objectionable in order for my kid to have this opportunity.

If correct, that you require these chocolate sales, I would urge Bowl Canada to reconsider this policy, for 3 reasons.

1. It is objectionable to force fundraising on families. Some people are very good at this kind of stuff. Others have anxiety or lack the connections to have people to sell to. Sometimes the families least able to support a fundraiser are the ones whose kids most need this kind of programming.

2. This does not support physical health. As I mentioned, obesity is a major issue in society. I can appreciate that you are looking for good money makers but I think non-profits should be mindful of other considerations.

3. Why not give parents the option of something else? I am not going to sell these chocolates. If I end up buying half from my kids’ dad I will end up with chocolate I don’t want in my house and maybe end up throwing it out. I will have spent what? $50 on chocolate so Bowl Canada can get $20? I’d much rather just give you the $20 profit you are looking for. Why not just give me that option rather than making me spend more money than is necessary?

4. Chocolate is ethically problematic. Most chocolate manufacturers have child labour and harsh conditions as part of the production process. This is wrong and I believe what we support with our money should not hurt other people.

So I find myself between a rock and a hard place: I love my kid in bowling, it has been great for him. But I don’t think it’s right to force me to take part in something I find morally objectionable.

Please reconsider your policy.

Bowl Canada Program Coordinator

Hi [Redacted].

Yes, chocolate sales are required for the YBC program to participate in all YBC programs and events.

I will, however forward your concerns on to those that review YBC policies for future consideration.

Regards

Ugh.

You'll Never Guess Why My 11 Year Old Daughter And Her Friend Are Excited For Their School's Track And Field Day

It's not for the track and field.

It's for the junk food.

In my daughter and her friend's case, they're specifically excited about the sport drinks the school sells the kids at the event (they also sell them Freezies, chips and popcorn).

You see neither have ever tried one.

Honestly, it's not because my wife and I are dietary ogres who deny our kids any taste of sugar sweetened beverages, but clearly we don't have sport drinks at our house because if we're going to give our kids candy, we're going to give them candy way better than sport drinks, and without sport drinks' undeserved health halo.

And it's a health halo that my daughter's elementary school is helping to solidify given that according to my her, last year's track and field day saw the school bringing all sorts of different brands and flavours of sport drinks to the meet.

A meet where by the way, if you ran every single event you'll have run a grand total of 3km, done a long jump, and thrown a shot put.

Not a single kid on that field would benefit from or need a sport drink, yet plenty will further internalize the notion that exercise requires or deserves them.

Schools shouldn't be in the business of peddling junk food to children, and instead should be taking advantage of events like Track and Field Day to teach them that sport drinks are just liquid candy, bad candy at that.

Kindergartners Don't Need "Fun Snack" Days

Received this from a long time reader.

It was the note sent home with her first Kindergartner from his school. Apparently mini-donuts are this month's "Fun Snack".

Next month's Fun Snacks, my reader was told, will be from A&W.

The question that leaps to my mind is, "Why?"

Why do 5 year olds need "Fun Snack" days at school?

I mean if schools wanted to provide 5 year olds with a special snack day, why not something like, "Funky Snacks", where once a month kids try foods and flavours specific to different ethnic backgrounds (ideally foods reflecting their class' different cultural backgrounds)? Given it doesn't take much to get a 5 year old excited, this might be a great way to expand their horizons and taste buds.

But why a food based day at all?

Why not a monthly "Fun Reading Day", "Fun Dress Up Day", or "Fun Singing Day"? Or how about "Fun Extra Recess Day", or "Fun Fitness Day"?

Why don't more people question the wisdom of teaching 5 year olds that fun is found in a mini-donut, or A&W fries?

Why are so many schools and teachers seemingly incapable of (or unwilling to) finding creative ways to entertain and reward their students?

The answer?

No one's paying attention.

Fun Snack Days for Kindergartners are our new normal.

We're all frogs in a steaming pot of junk food that has taken roughly the past 60 years to reach a rolling boil.

Unbelievable Grade One Snack List Highlights Unhealthy Social Norms

Thanks to nutritional biochemist Dr. Dylan MacKay (following him on Twitter is well worth it) for sharing the handout his 6 year old daughter's school sent home to parents to provide them with examples of peanut free snacks that their kids could bring.

The list is unbelievable. In part it's difficult to believe that a school would suggest these options, but more, it's difficult to believe that whoever put this together didn't take a minute to pause and consider what they were writing.

That they didn't doesn't speak to their lack of intellect, competence, or caring, but rather speaks to just how normal it has become to rely on ultra-processed junk to feed our children. Plainly put, people tend not to question or scrutinize social norms.

Here's the list transcribed

Cookies and Crackers

Dare: Wagon wheels, Bear paws, Vinta crackers, Grissol breads
Christie: If no peanut/nut warning on pkg then safe. Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Animal Crackers, Ritz, Stoned Wheat Thins, Triscuit, Premium Plus
Peek Freans: Shortbread, Creme-Filled, Digestive Cookies
Kellogg's: Rice Krispie squares (except for peanut type), Nutri-grain bars, Pop Tarts, Special K bars
President's Choice: Various cookies and crackers, Granola bars, Rice Crispie squares, animal crackers, fruit snacks
Pepperidge Farms: Goldfish crackers (various flavors)
Betty Crocker/General Mills: Fruit snacks, fruit roll-up, Dunkaroos

Chips

Old Dutch: All flavors, popcorn twists, pretzels, taco chips
Frito/Lays: All flavors, tortilla, taco chips, cheezies
Pringles: All flavors
Hawkins: Cheezies

Yogurt: Most yogurts are safe except those that contain Muesli

Puddings: Jello, Magic moments, Superstore brands are all safe, Fruit cups and applesauces

Candy/Chocolates

Dare Candy: all Dare candy made in a peanut/nut free facility
Wonka Candy: Sweet tarts, Nerds, Gobstoppers
Hershey's: *some products have peanut free symbol, Twizzlers, Nibs, Tootsie rolls, Kisses (read label for safe flavors), treat size bars
Nestle: Aero, Kit Kat, Coffee Crisp, Mirage, Mint Aero, Smarties, also treat size bars (seasonal or special shaped (heart, or ball) treats may not be safe)
Effem: *Mars bars with peanut free symbol, Skittles
Trebor-Allan: Various candy, Laces, Big foot, Hot lips, Lollipops
Vadeboncoeur: #peanut free symbol. Variety of chocolates

And then, as an afterthought, outside the main list iat the very bottom of the page, is this non-highlighted single line,

"Fruits and Vegetables are healthy choices and are also peanut free"

Hopefully, moving forward, the school will utilize the revised version that Dylan mocked up for them, and if your kid's school sends you a similar list, free free to share it with them as well.

Junior Kindergarteners and The Unnecessary Crutch of Junk Food

Sent to me by a reader and I wanted to share.

It's part of a school newsletter for her kid's Junior Kindergarten class. Here's what caught her (and my) eye. On Wednesday's the school has a "WOW" day - where the students are encouraged to walk to school.

Those who did most recently received a free hot chocolate.

Also, kids who rode the bus to school received a free hot chocolate, because though not walkers, their use of public transport reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Oh, and to raise money for the Canadian Wildlife Federation, the children were able to purchase hot chocolate. In all they raised $166.

In looking for a photo for this post, I came across another school's page discussing how, "Math plus Zippers equals Hot Chocolate Party!" whereby the kids in the class ate cookies and then learned how to graph by plotting how delicious they were, and then completed a second graph of whether or not they enjoyed marshmallows in their hot chocolate. Later that same week, to celebrate the fact that every kid learned how to do up their own jacket's zipper they were rewarded with a "Zipper Party" to celebrate the achievement with cookies and hot chocolate.

To be very clear, these schools aren't examples of schools that don't care about their kids, they're just examples of how normalized the use of junk food has become in rewarding and entertaining our children. Bet all of these kids would have had just as much, or more enjoyment, with an extra gym class, extended recess, a dress up day, a dance party, helping with the school's morning announcements, etc.

Just because junk food works, doesn't mean we need to use it.

School "Hot Lunches" Are Beyond Awful. How Did We Let Them Happen?

A friend on Twitter sent the photo up above to me. It's this week's hot lunch offering for his kid's school's kindergartners through Grade 6ers.

Hot dogs, donuts, and juice.

Really?

And then of course there's pizza days, sub days, and various other awful food days that not only serve kids literal fast food, but in so doing also teach kids that it's a totally normal/alright to have fast food each and every week.

Parents would jump in front of buses for their children, and yet packing them a healthy lunch everyday isn't doable? Clearly it's not a money thing as $5 for a hot dog, a donut and a juice box certainly doesn't make this hot lunch a value proposition.

How did we get here as a society?

More importantly, how do we leave?

Teachers, Stop Teaching Kids To Reward Anything and Everything With Junk!

The past 50 years of so have seen scads of unhealthy societal changes to how we use food, and near the top of that heap lies our now normalized use of junk food to reward, pacify, and entertain our children at every turn.

Take the jelly bean prayer up above. That was sent home with RD Nadine Devine's Junior Kindergartener in honour of Easter.

WWJD? Not that.

Or this needs-to-be-seen-to-be-believed note that was sent home with another friend's 5 year old.

I imagine that the teachers responsible for those two examples don't see either as unwise as why question normal behaviours? If everyone does them, they must be ok.

Yet I'd wager that if those same two Kindergarten teachers reflected on the lesson their use of classroom junk food is teaching their incredibly impressionable, young, students, they would recognize that teaching incredibly young children that it is normal to reward even the smallest of victories or celebrations with junk food is not in their students' best interests.

Teachers, if you're reading this, so far as rewarding kids go, it's not difficult to do so without candy. Extra-recess, dressing your teacher up in funny clothing, being in charge of school announcements, a classroom dance party, have a class outside, hand out "no-homework" passes, stickers, bookmarks, etc...

I know that teachers care deeply about their students, which is why I genuinely believe that putting an end to junk-food classroom rewards is something that society, and teachers, can fix.

[And for some suggestions as to how you might begin to approach this with one your children's teachers, coaches, whatever, here's something I wrote a few years ago about shutting down your children's sugar pushers]

Is The "100th Day" of School Really Worth Celebrating (With Junk)?

It's called "100th Day", and the first reference I could find to it was a kindergartner geared book published by Scholastic in 1996 called, "100th Day of School". Perhaps it hit the big time in 1999 when the New York Times featured a letter to the editor calling 100th Day "another February holiday".

It's meant to celebrate the kids being "100 days smarter", and for the younger kids, to provide an opportunity to practice counting to 100.

It's turned into yet another school sanctioned excuse to share junk food.

The letter up above was sent home to a friend of mine in Illinois with her kindergartner. Putting aside the fact that the teacher misspelled Froot Loops and seems to be a bit math challenged, here we've got a kindergarten teacher who seems to have just given up. 5 year olds are entertained by pretty much anything and consequently leaning on junk food to serve as a source of excitement and fun, beyond teaching 5 year olds that junk food serves as a source of excitement and fun, is also incredibly lazy. Or is the teacher just doing what one does on the 100th Day, and following through with what's considered normal?

Looking online it could be either.

I found plenty of similar letters:

But I also found plenty of ideas and celebrations that didn't involve food including this one that focused on activity

Add this to the pile of "just ones" that ultimately add up to a near constant parade of junk food being pushing on our kids. Birthday cupcakes, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Easter, Christmas, class-based rewards, and many, many, more - the opportunities for school based junk are plentiful.

Would love it if you'd head over to the Weighty Matters Facebook Page and let me know what the most ridiculous junk food tie-in your kids have had. I think mine would be when my eldest, at the age of 8, joined a school book club and instead of coming home and talking about the books, came home and talked about the help-yourself bowl of Twizzlers.

[Teachers, for a gazillion different 100th Day ideas, including tons of those that exclude junk food, here's a massive Pinterest collection of them, and if you're curious, the snacks in the first letter up above add up to 268 calories coming in part from their 5.4 teaspoons of sugar]

Children's Hospital Colorado Sponsors 9,000lb Candy Giveaway #NotTheOnion

Children's Hospital Colorado, along with, I kid you not, Colorado Springs Pediatric Dentistry have teamed up to sponsor "Boo at the Zoo", a Halloween extension program that has the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo hosting 6 days of Halloween whereby the zoo's "trick-or-treat stations" will hand out "over 9,000lbs of candy".

Oh how I wish I could have been at one of the board meetings where a Children's Hospital and a pediatric dentistry clinic decided this was an important activity to get behind. Perhaps these arguments came up?

"Kids don't get enough candy these days, how can we help to get them more?"

or

"What could be better than candy to promote our hospital and dental clinics?"

or,

"Anyone else think Halloween's too short?"

And unless there's something I'm missing, other than brand exposure for the hospital and the dental clinic, I can't figure out a tie-in. I mean this isn't even junk food fundraising, it's just a candy giveaway!

Honestly, The Onion's got nothing on these guys.

[Thanks to Jen on Facebook for sending my way]

Sarnia School Rewards Reading Kindergartners with Pizza

Because apparently learning to read and the many magical worlds that unlocks aren't reward enough, St. Michael's School in Sarnia, Ontario sent this Boston Pizza "Partners in Reading" reward sheet home with their kindergarten students.

And as I mentioned to the mom who sent the sheet my way, these sorts of partnerships are so commonplace nowadays that they can be considered the norm.

People tend not to question norms.

Our new norms are awful.

Ontario Schools Allow Dairy to Shamelessly Target Kindergartners

Thanks to fellow Ottawan Sarah Wise for sending these my way.

They're photos of the milk propaganda provided to her 5 and 7 year olds at school in support of their school milk program.

Putting aside your stance on whether you think milk is a magical beverage or the devil's brew, can we at least agree that providing the dairy industry with direct access to children who can't discern truth from advertising, let alone advertising from actual teaching at school, is plainly wrong?

For a story worthy of teaching kids in school, have a peek at pediatrician Aaron Carroll's short video on how the milk emperor has no clothes.



Schools should not be places that industries can pay or partner with to provide children with advertising collateral.

Parental No Files: Welcome to School Dance and "Candy Bar" Edition

I think the problem is the notion that "fun" requires junk food or candy.

Certainly food is celebratory and comforting, and while indeed it is and can be "fun", the use of junk food to supply entertainment at events that ought to be fun on their own have become endemic.

Take this welcome back to school "Dance and Candy Bar" that was put on through the Calgary Board of Education. Kids from Kindergarten through Grade 4 were tasked to bring different types of candy to school so that the "dance" would have a candy bar for them to eat from, whereas the associated school picnic - optional.

The photos below are from the party and were sent to me by an RD/parent who'd prefer anonymity and who in the end chose not to exclude her children from this wholly unnecessary elementary school/kindergarten event.

Odd, last time I checked with my Grade 1 and 3 year olds, helping them to have "fun" wasn't a high bar. While it's true that it might have taken a teeny tiny bit of thought, creativity, effort, and caring, I have to imagine that the administration involved could have found ways for kids to have "fun" that didn't include organizing for them a school sponsored Halloween in September.

Medicine Hat Ringette Association: Buy a Case of Chocolate Or Your Kid Can't Play

Really?

"All families are required to purchase 1 case of Chocolate Covered Almonds at a cost of $90 at the time of registration"

I'm struggling to understand this, and thanks to Canada Research Chair in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management Dr. Jeff Vallance for sending it my way.

Apparently the Medicine Hat Ringette Association, in a bid presumably to raise money, in addition to their registration fees, has required every family of every child playing to buy a case of chocolate covered almonds.

Bonkers.

Dr. Vallance sent in his comment about the whole business and it's straight to the point.

"Given all we know of the obesity rates among our youth, it's appalling that the ties between youth sport and the junk food industry keep getting stronger. We as parents and sport organizations need to be creative and start thinking outside of the box to generate new revenue streams to support our kids in sport and keep fees reasonable. Propping up the pizza, chocolate almond, and gambling industry makes absolutely no sense. What's next...selling cigarettes?"

Couldn't agree more.

The Post Game "Snack" Local Little League Coach Hands 9 Year Old Players

Thanks to a reader who would prefer to remain anonymous up above is a photo of what her 9 year old's little league coach gave the team at the end of their game last week. 238 totally non-sating calories packed with 5.3 teaspoons of sugar that also teach kids that exercise should be rewarded with food, and/or that teeny bits of exercise require "refuelling".

Given the sheer volume of email I get about this specific topic, it makes me wonder whether or not trying to tackle the ridiculous, but wholly normalized practice of providing kids who do the teeniest bit of sport with post-game "snacks" would be better approached by trying to ban the practice league-wide? Clearly our however well-intentioned status quo at best has health-washed junk food like granola bars and juice being handed out, and at worst, like up above, frank junk. And that's not to say I think junk should be banned from fields, but rather that we require parents who want their kids to have snacks to bring them with for their kids' own use, but end post game snacks' totally unnecessary and routinized provision to the entire team.

Pretty sure that if done, the kids will still have just as much fun, and if parents are desperate to be tasked to bring something, each week one can be responsible for bringing a bag of ice for a cooler full of water.

Should Ontario Provincial Police Really Be Handing Out Candy to Children?

Since 2010 the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have partnered with Mac's Milk convenience stores in what the OPP call a "positive ticketing program".

The gist of the program is simple. Police give out "positive tickets" to reward good behaviour and/or influence desired behaviour - and generally they give them to children. Since 2010 they've given out somewhere in the neighbourhood of 500,000 such tickets.

Sounds good so far, right?

But they're not really tickets, they're junk food advertisements. Only they're not just junk food advertisements, they're also junk food coupons. They're junk food coupons that entitle the recipient to a free 710mL Mac's Milk Froster (their version of a Slurpee) which in turn packs 444 calories and 26 teaspoons of sugar - the same number of calories as you'd find in 1.1 litres of Coke and the sugar of more than 10 Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnuts.

I completely understand the concept of "positive tickets", but the further normalization of junk food (and especially liquid candy) in Ontario's children's lives simply isn't positive.

And honestly, how difficult would it be for the OPP to partner up with Ontario's municipal governments and instead of rewarding kids with sugar, instead reward them with free skates and swims at local arenas and pools?

Guest Post: Since When Did School Become All About The Food?

Cartoon by Politico's Matt Wuerker

Received an email the other day and reached out to the sender to ask if I could share. It's so frustrating that the institutions that are supposed to care about our kids the most (schools, coaches, camps, etc.) contradict their caring by being promoters and providers of junk. Sadder still that these sorts of occurrences are more often the norm than the exception:

Love your blog & book, wanted to let you know the struggles of a frustrated mom of 2 boys, 10 & 11 in Ontario who is trying to teach her kids healthy eating and moderation. Are we perfect? Not even close but we try.

True events over the last 5 weeks for one grade 6 boy.

Week 1 – hot lunch day at school – Mac & Cheese, there were leftovers so my child had 5 helpings. Hence a discussion that night about moderation.

Week 2 – EQAO testing. The tests are about 1-2 hours long. The teacher allowed the kids to bring in snacks. Then, another discussion about food choices and your performance. Plus the fact that I thought he could go 2 hours without eating. We agreed he could bring in plain popped popcorn no toppings. Did I mention the testing lasted 3 days. By the third day he asked if he could bring chips and pop because that is what everyone else was bringing in. I caved and chips could be purchased only if he bought them with his money. He woke up early the next day just so he could ride his bike to the store to purchase them.

Week 3 – Hot lunch again at school. Our school has 1 hot lunch a month plus a pizza lunch. A discussion at the beginning of the year about finances & food choices allows them to have one or the other but not both. Today it was hot dogs, cookie and drink box.

Week 4 – School fun day at lunch time. What was on the menu? Pizza, pop, jumbo freezies, chips and ice cream sandwiches. Another discussion the night before about how much money they could bring & what could be purchased. Each took $5, my youngest returned with $2 change, by oldest spent it all. 3 pieces of pizza, jumbo freezie, pop ,chips and ice cream. (He received $2 extra when a boy gave him money if he could cut in front of him in the pizza line) Hence a discussion about gluttony. And the fact that he didn’t eat any dinner and had a stomach ache.

Week 5 – School dance in the afternoon for grade 6,7 & 8. No interest in girls yet but the snack table of pop, chips and sour keys was a huge success .

Next week – Year-end trip to the movies. The note home said

“the concession stand will be open if you child would like to purchase refreshments”

Did I mention they are going at 9:00 am in the morning? Then another discussion about how you don’t NEED popcorn or pop in the morning. That’s OK mom he said because afterwards when we get back to school we are having a pizza party & everyone will be so full from the movies there will be more pizza for me. Then, like a broken record we repeated our discussion about moderation.

Since when did school become all about the food?

Frustrated Mother,
Melissa Parsons

Words Cannot Describe This Idiocy From The BC Children's Hospital Foundation

In a world awash with nearly never ending opportunities for society (and especially kids) to eat candy and junk food, wouldn't you think that children's hospitals would be among those working diligently to provide us with fewer, not more, opportunities to consume it?

And the icing on the BC Children's Hospital Foundation's incredibly shortsighted and painfully stupid chocolate bar fundraising campaign pictured up above?

Each bar not only contains 520 calories (more than 2 Twix bars) packed with 13 teaspoons of sugar (nearly 16 Oreo's worth) but the damn things also contain 0.4g of artery-clogging trans-fat.

The mind boggles.

Thanks to Jean Burrows for sharing.

Parental No Files: 9:00AM Class Trip to Disney's Frozen Edition

The institution of eating food at the movies. Where did it come from? Is it just a great excuse (as if we need excuses these days) to snack on junk food?

And it would seem it doesn't matter when we head there, or how old the movie goers might be, the snacks must go on!

Have a peek at that form up above. It was sent to me by a Niagara Region RD named Sandy Maxwell. It was the form sent home from school to one of her friends whose 5 and 7 year olds were slated to take a school trip to see Frozen....at 9am in the morning!

As you can see, no worries about them not having access to junk, and of course, Mom could just say "no" - I'm sure her kids won't mind being the only ones left out of the junky festivities and heck if they do, that couldn't affect their long term relationship with food, could it? Definitely making moms and dads say "no" is the far wiser course of action than a no-junk default and instead requiring moms or dads who want their kids to have junk at 9am in the morning to have to actively seek it out.

Ugh.

Why Are There So Many Junk Food Events at Community Centers?

Or at libraries, schools, offices.....pretty much anywhere there are events, junk food follows.

I took that photo up above this past December in Sanibel Florida. Cookie construction, Subway, snow cones, pizza, hot dogs, Chick-fil-A, and frozen yogurt - and all during a month no doubt rife with (understandable) indulgences.

I realize providing junk food is easier than coming up with compelling,engaging, creative programming, in fact I'd argue the provision of candy and junk food for entertainment (especially of children) has become our new normal, but organizations, especially those involved in the promotion of healthful living, should not be adding to the number of opportunities we have to eat it.

Our new normal is anything but healthful.

Parental "No" Files: Doctor Specific/My Life Edition

This past weekend MD Management, a physician specific investment group, generously hosted Ottawa MDs and their children to a sneak preview of Disney's new movie Frozen (it was great BTW, and only one very indirect body image reference and no weight bias/stigma).

We were invited to arrive at 9:30am.

Along with our free passes, MD Management generously gave out stuffed bears to the kids.

But their generosity didn't stop there.

Free kid's combos for all kids which appeared to consist of 4 cups of movie popcorn, 16oz of sugared soda, and 1 tube of M&M minis for a total of 641 calories and 18 teaspoons of sugar at 9:30 in the morning!

Yes of course, parents can say "No" (and I did - my daughter and I shared half a small bag of popcorn (which when ordered resulted in a great deal of confusion behind the counter) and we brought water along), and yes, I get that movies and junk food are synonymous, and no doubt MD Management was just trying to be a good host (which they certainly were), but here's looking forward to the day when being a good host doesn't include the automated provision of junk food.