I meant to post this a few days ago when it first came out: a fantastic guest blog post on Fooducate by a self-described “soccer mom” taking on the junk food snacks regularly served at her kids’ practices and games.
It was written by Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD, of Real Mom Nutrition, and if you close your eyes (well, don’t do that or you won’t be able to read it), the post may sound remarkably similar to my many (some might say too many) rants against the junk foods regularly brought into public school classrooms.
Just as I often get the “who are you to decide how my kid celebrates his birthday?” argument when I rail against the birthday cupcake tradition, Sally got the same flak from other parents in the arena of organized kids’ sports. Her retort?
When other parents brought this kind of crap to games every week, weren’t they deciding what was best for my child too?
Amen, sister!
And Sally totally gets my concern that, perhaps unlike in our own childhoods, all of these treats are just not “treats” anymore — they’ve become the daily norm for our kids:
The problem is, it’s not just Doritos at soccer. Kids are getting this kind of junk everywhere they go: in preschool, classrooms, church, clubs. And our kids, the ones washing down cupcakes with day-glo fruit drink at 9am every Saturday, belong to the first generation in modern history not expected to live as long as their parents because of their eating habits.
I think I’m in blogger love. 🙂 Check out her post in full here.
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Bri says
Isn’t that a great post? I loved it too, when it first appeared on Fooducate. Sally does excellent work.
Sally Kuzemchak says
Thank you Bettina! This made my day. I’m enjoying reading about your Cupcake Crusade. I love the post title, “STILL Yapping About Birthday Cupcakes”. That’s totally how I feel! “That’s right, it’s me, and I’m STILL griping about this and, based on the response I’ve gotten from my community’s sports leagues, will be griping about it for awhile!” At least we can support each other. Again, thank you!!
Sally Kuzemchak says
And Bri, thank you so much for your nice comment!
Bri says
My pleasure! It’s all about supporting each other in good work, in this blogging community of ours….
Dina says
Here, here! I know when I was younger they only served us oranges and water at soccer games. I can’t believe the junk they are giving to kids now a days. That’s why I won’t put my baby in the day care. I want to ensure what gets put into his mouth is what I want! Not dictated by a menu that someone made. I can’t believe people would get upset with Sally because she choose to not let her child eat what was provided at the soccer games…
Stephany Spencer says
What a great post! We are struggling with this too. We are coaching micro soccer this year. I have been dismayed at what the other team parents are bringing to the games. We give the kids orange slices at half time (hydration + immediate energy boost) and no snacks after games. I was dismayed when other teams handed out cookies and CapriSun juice packet. The four year old just consumed 2x as many calories as they burned off in 24 minutes of game time!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Exactly! I highly recommend the Real Mom Nutrition blog for lots more discussion of the soccer snack issue, including a sample letter to send to your team/coach at the start of each season.