Thursday, October 04, 2012

Parental "No" Files: iPod Edition

My oldest daughter is 8.

For her birthday this year she told us she wanted an iPod Touch - all her friends had them and she wanted one too. We told her she could choose between all of her closest relatives chipping in and buying her one, or her getting a more traditional and more voluminous haul of gifts.

She chose the iPod.

So what did she show us the other day?

The photo up above which also came along with this automated note from her also 8 year old sender,
"This is a cool app I found. You should download it too. Here is the Apple iTunes App Store Link:"
I emailed the developer to ask whether or not it was a licensed McDonald's app, but never did hear back.

In investigating the app, I found dozens of others - all geared towards elementary students. All involved the "fun" use of junk food.

Yes indeed, parents can police a child's apps (though the impact that might have on trust isn't necessarily trivial or easily discountable in the grand scheme of parenting), but what a sad statement that junk food is so normalized that there's literally a genre of apps, specifically targeting kids under 10, that serve only to further glorify dietary crap.